GiGi and Grandpa Al

  This past weekend was nice, partly because I had a three day weekend off from work and because Michael's parents drove down to visit. Michael took his mom in first while his dad and I waited and talked in the NICU lobby. Michael later told me that while they were visiting Emma her heart rate dropped again (the third time in 24 hours, it got down to the 50's when normally its around 140-160) and she passed out until the nurse gave her some puffs from the Neo ventilator and rubbed her chest over her heart before she was okay again. I was so glad that I was not in the room for that. Although very scary, they believe it was purely mechanical due to Emma straining too hard while trying to poop, so it looked like she held her breath to push it out, or will clamp her gums down on the breathing tube, which caused her to lose oxygen to her brain.

   On Saturday we drove back to the hospital to see Baby Emma. I went in with Michael's dad again, then Michael and his mom went in after us. She was doing better and still has not had any issues since Friday night. I've been eating a lot of quinoa salad and the nurse (Sunny) asked if I was vegetarian because that can cause extra gas, so I guess I need to find something else to eat. 

   We went to see Emma again from 8:30-9:30pm. There have been a few days where we get to see her more than once. We dropped his parents off at their hotel and gave our goodbye hugs since they were leaving early the next morning so they could get home by 4pm. 

   On Sunday, Michael and I visited Emma from 3:30-4:15 and got to meet Cori, the Nurse Practitioner. She was very nice and explained things well and kept asking if we had more questions even though Michael talked to her on the phone that morning. Emma has been on steroids on and off for the past few weeks, but since they need her to gain more weight (she has to be 2 kilos/ about 4 pounds and 7 ounces) before they can do the bronchoscopy (putting the camera tube down her throat), they decided to take her off the steroids until she hits that weight since the steroids make her fussy and she moves around more, burning calories. Hopefully they can extubate her this weekend, but her latest weight is 4 pounds, 2 ounces. If they find that the top half of her airway is blocked, they will perform a tracheotomy so she can breathe through her throat. Obviously it's not ideal, but if it has to be done so she can breathe on her own and we can take her home, then that is fine with us!!