A Nice Quiet Day

When you or a family member are in the hospital you forget what day it is and what time it is. You also forget there are really people who work Monday-Friday. The weekends at the hospital are so quiet! There isn't the large number of "White Coats" walking the halls as on a weekday. This is very nice. Saturday was a very busy, but quiet day. Mallory continued to do well when her vent settings were lowered. She had a line taken out of her groin, and she participated in her Chest Percussion Therapy (CPT). She was awake most of the day and at 5pm decided to finally take a rest.

Scott and I made the hard decision that it was time for him to go home for a week. Logan and Madison have a concert at school and Madison's 6th birthday is coming up, so she is having a friend birthday party, Scott also has to catch up on some work and farm things. When Scott was out of Mallory's room getting something to eat I had a little talk with my nursing friends. I asked if it was against the rules to hold Mallory while she was intabated. She was laying in bed reaching her arms out to us to be held and I couldn't stand it any longer. You know what they said? They said GO FOR IT! :) When Scott got back to the room the stage was set and I told him he was going to hold his little girl. I wanted Scott to do the first holding since he didn't get to see her prior to her going into surgery. You should have seen his face! He was so excited! You would have thought I just told him I bought him a new backhoe. With the help of three nurses, Burt, Tara and Corrie,to move Mallory and all her "stuff" that is attached she was in her Daddy's arms and so content. She even slept for awhile. Daddy didn't want to let go of her either.

Since we knew Scott would be going home I had called my Mom. So Larry, Marilyn and my Uncle Bob Brown came to St. Louis on Saturday. Uncle Bobby came to ride home with my dad. Thanks Bobby!! My Mom is going to stay with Mallory and I for the week. This way I can spend the night at the hospital with Mallory and when my mom gets to the hospital in the morning, I can go shower and she will stay with Mal. Scott is planning to bring Logan and Madison to STL with him on Saturday so they can see Mallory and me.

This morning (Saturday) Mallory was weighed and she is now 10.8kg. Take that times 2.2 and you have her weight in pounds. :) The vent and nitrous have been decreased (Vent to 8 and Nitrous to 1 for those medical people reading) and Mallory is a pooping machine! She has pooped 5 times already today. It's so nice I get a break from taking care of the poop. The nurses change the diapers and then have to weigh them to chart Mallory's output for the day.

The plan for the rest of Saturday is to continue to take the baby steps. Turn the Nitrous off, continue to go down on vent Rate and peep, and plan on doing pressure support. Pressure support is when they turn the vent and peep almost off, let Mallory do the breathing on her own and only give her the support when she absolutely needs it. The doctors would like the vent to come out on Monday. Mallory will also start some Physical Therapy on Monday so we can get her moving again.

A good friend of mine, Jo Schmidt, sent these words of encouragement to me. "The will of God will never take you where the power of God will not protect you". I remind myself and Mallory of this each day. God's blessings to you all!!