CPAP

This morning at the 9am visiting session, we walked in Victoria’s room to see what looked like a ventilator back on her face. I felt my heart drop. But, come to find out it was not a ventilator. It is something called a CPAP. It gives Victoria oxygen and puts a little more pressure in her lungs.

The reason why they had to use this on her is because her left lung collapsed early this morning. Dr. Alten (see him in the photo to the left) believes this was due to all the secretions she has had in her lungs. They are constantly sucking stuff out of her lungs, nose and mouth. They believe that her lung has already inflated back to it’s normal size so they will probably take the CPAP out in the next few hours.

Just continue to pray for our sweet baby. She is taking a little longer in her recovery than we thought she would. It may be a few more days before she is in a real room. We’ve told Dr. Alten that we want her to be in CICU until they are really ready for her to graduate to a room. We are not in a rush to get her out of there. He agrees and assures us that he will keep her as long as necessary. He’s a great doctor and we have really enjoyed getting to know him.

Dr. Alten asked me today if Victoria is always so active. I told him that at home, even with a heart condition, she was pretty active. She always loved to lay in her cradle and just look all around. Her arms and legs would be going everywhere. She is just as active now in CICU, which can be a problem with some of the things hooked up to her. But, Mark and I love to see her wiggling around!

We are going to move out of the hotel we have been in and spend a night or two with a friend. We are not really sure how many more nights that Victoria will be in CICU, so we just play each day by ear. We are thankful, though, to have so many people offer their homes to us. We are blessed!

Thanks for your prayers and know that we thank God for all of you!

PS – Here is a little video of Victoria with her CPAP.

May 17, 2008
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Trippin’











I was able to hold Victoria today for the first time since her surgery. I was afraid I would hurt her! The nurse helped me with knowing how to hold her. Victoria’s little eyes were rolling around and she looked like she was “trippin’!” The drugs are still keeping her in la-la land, but they are weening her off. She was moving around quite a bit and kept licking her lips. There is no telling what she was thinking about! But, Mark and I have to say … no matter how out of it she is right now, we are glad to see her awake and moving around!

May 16, 2008
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B- (minus)

Today when we visited Victoria (at 9am) the doctor said he would give her a B- (minus). She was not exactly where he wanted her to be today. He did remove her chest tube, so that was one improvement. However, they are still in the process of weening her off of the drugs she has been administered. They were hoping to start bottle-feeding her today, but that will probably be put off another day. Actually, right now they decided to stop feeding her milk and just give her a drip until she levels out a little more. When we visited her this morning, she was sleeping. The doctor wants her to be more awake than she is but not as agitated as she has been while awake. They are trying to find a happy medium for her. Our hope was to be a room with Victoria today, but that looks to be put off until tomorrow unless she shows signs of needing to be held in CICU a little longer. In this picture, you can see where her incision was.

This morning we saw the surgeon again, Dr. Knott-Craig. Each time we’ve seen him he describes Victoria as his “difficult little baby” because of her delicate surgery. We took a picture with him so you can see what he looks like. He’s a very nice man. You can see an interview with him on http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3895075412000707339.

Marie Harbison dropped by today and treated us to lunch. She’s been a great blessing to us. When we returned for our 1pm visit, we were surprised by some of Mark’s family. Here is a photo of Mark with his cousin, Stella, and her children (Harrison, Caroline and Mallory). It was great to see them, even if it was for a short period of time.

Mark and I had a visit from one of his life-long friends, Lloyd White, yesterday. Lloyd was so sweet to take us out for dinner. We had a great time visiting with him.

I believe that the adrenaline from the past week is wearing off and I’m feeling tired and at times, a little down. It’s been such an emotional week that it’s worn me out. For this reason, it sure has been a blessing to receive all the visits from old friends and new friends that we have met during our stay here in Birmingham. I cannot say enough that God is good. He has sustained us during a crazy time. When we thought we were at the end of our rope, He would show us that either the rope was a little longer or that His hand was right under us when we couldn’t hold onto the rope any longer. He has never let us fall and He has never left us alone. He has shown us His love through His Word, our circumstances and His children. He is a great God!

PS – Look at these claws! Mama needs to clip those nails!

  1 COMMENT

Pretty Girl



Victoria is looking better and better each time we see her. Her breathing tube is out and the chest tubes are still in, with hopes they will be removed sometime tomorrow. They have been able to get a lot of the fluid out of her lungs and she is sounding much better. We took pictures and a video of her tonight. She looks so pretty. It’s still hard to believe she has been through so much in a week. God has been so gracious to her and us. We hope in the next day or so that she will be transfered into a room.

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