Nanette Jo Cooke

Friday, April 21, 2006

Miracles


Miracles happen every day here.

Nanette's right lung has filled its cavity. Her heart is moving back toward the center and her left lung is at about 75%, which is a miracle for this condition, especially so soon after surgery. The doctors are scratching their heads a bit.

But she's not the only happy story going on right now.

Ana arrived three months early. She weighed in at 710 grams - just over a pound and a half, which is about the size and weight of a carton of a dozen eggs. Doctors told her dad, Dustin, that Ana probably wouldn't make it through the first night. Here she is over two weeks later still beating the odds.

Joshua is finally feeding from a bottle, although he's only taking in about a teaspoon of milk so far.

Silas is off the ECMO circuit and his lungs are starting to work. He still has a long way to go, but he's making it.

In Nanette, we're still watching for signs of pulmonary hypertension, but since she made it through the first twenty-four hours without additional oxygen and since her blood gases are normal, it looks like she's mostly past that danger. She did come down with a bit of a fever today, and as the nurses wean her off the morphine, she's grimacing and gumming the respirator tube.

Even though she's doing better, she's still "riding the vent" as they say. The morphine suppresses the respiratory system, so she can't come off the ventilator until she's off the morphine. She's doing well though, breathing mostly on her own. The respirator is set on control assist, which means that it breathes with her to make sure that she gets enough oxygen.

We heard a code called over the PA today and it made me shudder. That's all they say, just "Code in room 3324." The night Nanette was born, we were in a code. Not code red, or code yellow. Just code.

There was a bit of a lull in the NICU over the past few days, but it's filling up again. Most of the cubicles are premature babies of all shapes and colors and sizes. One baby cried today, so soft and raspy that I thought there was a large bee loose in the unit. Later in the afternoon another baby wailed for a while, sounding like the call of a duck across a foggy lake. Those are good sounds, even though they're rare and they're not the big bellow of a full-term baby.

Other than me and Dr. Kirby, there are only two nurses who heard Nanette's little voice that one time, on April 11th at about 8:33PM. Five minutes after she emerged. She let out one gasping whimper before the pediatriction called a code. Even so, there's nothing like the first cry of a newborn baby. It fills you with hope.

The kids are coming down tomorrow to spend the night, and then on Sunday we'll head home. Angie re-arranged her flight schedule so that she can stay with Nanette and JoAnn till next Friday. Josie and I will probably bring the kids back here over next weekend to see sis and mom, and then Josie will stay with JoAnn while Katie and Carter and I head back to Walla Walla. Gramma Cooke will probably come back with us to help me wrangle the day-to-day routine. Sounds complicated. Most likely it will change ten times before next weekend ever gets here.

As much as I want to tuck the kids into their own beds, the thought of going home scares me. I hate to think about our family being apart any longer, but that's the way it will be for at least the next two weeks, maybe more.

If all goes well, they may be able to remove the respirator on Sunday and maybe we'll get to hear Nanette croon a bit. I'd like to hear that sweet sound once more before I go home.

Not a very exciting day, but that's a good day around here.

4 Comments:

  • At 6:33 AM, April 22, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Such wonderful news!
    Thank you thank you thank you for posting "real time" updates for all of us to read.

     
  • At 10:59 AM, April 22, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    It's so good to hear all of the good news from the NICU! Babies and their healing powers are such a mystery to me--but it's excellent how everyone is progressing so well. :)
    We're excited to see you guys back at Unity.

     
  • At 2:01 PM, April 22, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Joe,
    We are thankful for Nanette's progress. Blessings on all of you.
    EP

     
  • At 3:37 PM, April 22, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    What a relief!! Colin's first words when he walked in the door (he brings me Starbuck frapps on weekend mornings) was "Have you checked the blog?" We are so happy to hear that Nanette is doing well. I hope the week flies by.

     

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