Our baby girl is doing well this morning. Overall she had a stable night and her fluid output continues to decrease. Her total for the 24hour period (9/1/07) was 390, down from 440 yesterday. Her blood gases taken at 8am were so good, they were surprising (cO2 = 33, pO2 = 118)!

Since Ella has had a rough couple of days, it is good to see these numbers; they are a definite improvement over her previous levels. However while these numbers are good, her FiO2 (Fraction of Inspired Oxygen) is at 75. This is the amount of oxygen she receives via the ventilator. This amount was increased from 60 after her rough evening and morning early yesterday. Now that she’s doing better, I would expect Dr. Kays to ween this number down again (she was as low as 46 in the previous days). Being able to reduce this number will help her come off the ventilator, but she needs to maintain her stats to do so.

Ella still has a ways to go in reducing her fluids, but we’re thankful that she’s going in the right direction. While her main fluids are dropping (chylothorax condition improving), her head is still very swollen. This is more related to her superior vena cava condition. If her head does not reduce in size, they may consider performing another SVC procedure. Due to the risks of damaging her vein with the “balloon”, we hope that she does not need to have this done.

Please continue to pray for Ella’s overall fluid reduction (390 is still too high), reduction in her head swelling, and for her stats to remain stable enough so they can ween her off the ventilator.

Praise the Lord that we’re this far along in our journey, and Glory to God for the victories along the way! Thank you Jesus for our baby girl.