Good News

Lola and I have been here at the hospital since late Monday afternoon. I think it's really starting to wear on both of us. I didn't realize until this morning when they wheeled us down for another chest x-ray, that that was the first time I'd left our little room. I needed some good news today and praise the Lord, I got it.

Right around lunch time we got a visit from a NICU doctor. Our pediatrician had asked him to come and check Lola's condition to determine whether or not she might need to be moved to the university hospital in Iowa City. He took a few minutes to check her over and determined that because Lola was requiring only a small amount of oxygen and only had small indentations around her rib cage when she took a breath, that she didn't need to be moved and could continue to be treated in Davenport. He also said that the worst stage of RSV is between days 5 and 7 and he believed that we had passed the worst of it.

Hallelujah!

Then later in the afternoon one of the nurses reported to us that Lola's pertussis test came back negative.

Praise Jesus!

Our pediatrician came in after that and told us that the x-rays show no pneumonia.

Glory to God!

So now they're continuing to give her antibiotics to prevent infection and breathing treatments to keep her comfortable. They have to suction her nose every now and then to clear out the mucus so she can breath and eat more easily. Tomorrow they'll remove her IV (she can only have it in for four days) and depending on how much more antibiotic she needs, they'll either leave it out or put a new one in her other hand. I hope to avoid that.

The goal now is to wean her off of the oxygen. When she can go a night without it and still keep her levels up where they want them, they'll feel more comfortable about sending her home. I'm glad we're here and she's receiving such excellent care, but I'm praying that'll be soon because I really miss my bed!