Update, I'm Home....

First of all, thank you all for all the phone calls, emails, comments, and prayers that you all have sent. I do want to apologize for not responding personally to emails and that Ivan and I haven't returned a lot of calls. Our days are pretty busy now and we try to spend most of the time with Sofia. I came home tonight cause I wanted to be able to post and to get away from the hospital. When Ivan and I pulled up and starting carrying everything in the apartment it really hit me and I had a hard time going in. I didn't want to come home until my baby was walking in with me, but I just needed to get away and so I had to suck it up. I will most likely be staying at the Ronald McDonald House for the remainder of Sofia's stay at the hospital.

Now, I may repeat some of the things my Mom has said, but I am just going to tell you what I know for now.

Sofia is doing great! The night she was born, the Doctor came in after a while and didn't look too happy. It was very scary. He had said it would be a long while before we would be able to see her. So, Ivan and I went to bed. Then at 2am they came in to take us to see her. She was so beautiful. They let us stay with her for about 30 minutes and then we went back to our room. Of course it was hard to sleep. Then at 6am they came and made us move rooms. That was about all the sleep we got. When we went in to see her the next time they told us that she had a very rough night and that she was very agitated when they touched her. They then placed another chest tube in on her right side because there was too much free air on that side. After they placed the third chest tube she did fine. They even were able to adjust it some more last night and she is doing even better. Her blood gases are very good so they have been weaning her every 2 hours off the oscillator. When she was born it was at 45 which is the highest they are okay letting it go, but when Ivan and I left this evening it was at 30. So that is good. Her 02 is at 58 and is also being weaned. When I walked in this morning the first thing I noticed was that the other CDH baby born the same day as Sofia had been placed on ECMO over night. So, now if Sofia requires it, which we hope she won't, then they will transfer her to Wilford Hall. When the Doctor came to talk to us this morning she had a big smile on her face. I can't tell you how nice that was to see. She said that she was so happy with how Sofia was doing. We asked to see Sofia's xrays and have them explained to us. It wasn't until then that we found out that Sofia has a good amount of left lung tissue. Most of the free air is almost gone. She also said that the reason that they don't think that Sofia's liver is up is because of the way that the lines have been placed inside of her. They wouldn't be able to run certain ways if there was liver there. So, lets hope that it isn't up. The Doc said that late tomorrow night or on Saturday that they would start waking Sofia up to see how she will tolerate everything. Ivan and I can't wait to see her awake. Right now the Doc anticipates that Sofia may have her operation sometime towards the end of next week. Things can change very quickly, though so please don't hold me to that. The only big problem Sofia is having right now is that her blood pressure is too low. They are maxed out on the amount of drugs that they can give her for it so we will find out what they have decided to do about that. She is just absolutely beautiful though. She looks perfect and I really don't even notice all the tubes when I see her. I can't wait to hold her. She is a lot smaller then what we thought, but looks big! She is also in a bed next to a baby that only weighs 14oz, so that could be why she looks so big. The NICU is closed from 6am to 12pm, so we have to wait a while to see her again. Sofia's baptism was beautiful last night. Thank you Charles for flying in for this!

I am sure that I forgot to mention something, but I am very tired and still want to try and add some pictures for you all to see. I will only post a few on this actual page, but you can see all the pictures we have of our Sofia by clicking on the link to Sofia's Pictures in the column on the right. Thank you again for all the prayers and please keep them coming. Sofia's fight has only just begun and we still have a long road ahead of us. She needs all the prayers she can get. Please also keep all CDH babies in your prayers.

Love, Catherine