Oh the sweet sound of our baby’s cry!

Ella was extubated at 9:15am EST this morning. Dr. Kays indicated that he didn’t expect her to make much of any noise at first because of her vocal cords being so separated. To our surprise, including Dr. Kays, Ella did in fact cry…and continues to do so as I write this =).

At the moment nurse Andrea and Tina are doing what they can to console her. Her saturations look good, hovering around 100%, but she’s still trying to get used to this contraption around her head and up her nose. Fortunately, the cannula’s they are using are not very long, about a centimeter.

She has moments where she will calm down, but then starts fussing again. This is pretty typical with a baby on CPAP; they just don’t like it.

We hope that she’ll get used to it enough to settle down and sleep. They’re trying a binky (pacifier) right now, but it isn’t helping. Also, trying various positions to try to get her comfortable: right side, left side and now she’s on her back.

The blood gas they just took at 10:45am was not the best: pH=7.14, cO2=60, pO2=80. She has been breathing quite heavy for the last hour at 77% oxygen support, but we hope she can calm down.

Nurse Andrea just gave her some versed (sedation medicine) to see if that will do the trick.

Praising God for this huge step and continue to pray for Ella’s forward progress, and for improved saturations. They will continue to monitor her and take blood gases throughout the day, to see if she can remain on CPAP.

p.s. If anyone has heard from Tina’s Mom or Jack within the last 18 hours, please let us know. As of noon yesterday, they were stuck in the middle of the fires at their house in San Diego. We heard that they were able to fight them off with the well water they had until the power went out and the pump stopped. Then, they resorted to shoveling dirt on the fires to protect their house. From what we could tell from the news reports, the fire looks to have burned all around them. Please join us in praying for their safety.

UPDATE (2:30pm EST) by Tina: Once we left the hospital this morning, Ella remained fussy for a bit. Nurse Andrea suctioned her mouth and nose. Once she did that, Ella could breathe better and fell right asleep. Maybe that is what she was trying to communicate to us this morning! Anyway, sleeping for her is really good right now – – it keeps her calm and when she is calm, she breathes better.

Ella remained asleep for about 1.5 hours, then she just woke up and calmly looked around. They took another blood gas and it was a little bit improved, ph=7.21, cO2=65, pO2=120. Dr. Kays says that these blood gases are acceptable for her right now and it is a good sign that she is slowly moving in the right direction. As I type this, she is sleeping and her saturations are 100/100.

Nurse Andrea thinks she is doing really well and feels that she just needed some time to figure out this breathing thing on her own with the nose cannula.

Psalm 28:6
6 Praise be to the LORD,
for he has heard my cry for mercy.

Thank you for continuing to pray for sweet Ella. In addition, thank you for lifting up my Mom and Jack. My heart is heavy and I am very concerned for them right now. But as the last 13 weeks has certainly taught us, it is wise to rest in Him during these times.

Philippians 4:6
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

UPDATE (3:30pm EST) by Josh: Uncle Cliff just sent a text message to my phone letting me know that: “The fire sheriff said the area already burned (where Mary and Jack live) so they should be OK. He will go check on them soon and call (aunt) Diane back.” This sounds like good news because the last update, from them yesterday morning, indicated that the area around their house was already scorched, but they were OK.

UPDATE (6:30pm EST) by Josh: Mary and Jack are ok. Uncle Cliff just talked to Mary. Click here to see the email with the details.