Line Free ! ! !

What an eventful morning!!! This morning in 'rounds' the docs gave the orders to go ahead and pull both arterial IV lines.  I didn't realize how monumental this was until it actually happened. Why you ask?  Well, this is absolutely great news because if you will recall from last night, Scarlett pulled out her right foot IV, and nurse Tiffany had already removed her left foot IV.  So after removing both art lines this means that Scarlett is officially LINE FREE!!!

This means Scarlett is currently not receiving any intravenous medication! She still has an IV line in her left wrist that nurse Scott put in this morning, but it isn't hooked to any medicine line/drips. yeeeeee haw! Such an important milestone!

AND.....drumroll.... I WAS ABLE TO HOLD MY BABY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 5 1/2 DAYS!!! Nurse Tiffany brought me a chair and a foot stool, and propped my arm on a pillow and handed me my IV-free baby. I was soooooo happy. Pure heaven.

I was able to feed her another 1 ounce bottle. At first she showed no interest. I tried again in 10 minutes and she still wasn't interested. But then 10 minutes later, she drank the whole thing in 15 seconds. Yay baby girl! I was starting to get worried that she'd have to be tube fed again. But thank God she showed interest again and drank her bottle on her own.

More exciting news, while I was feeding and holding Scarlett, nurse Tiffany took away Scarlett's bed, the ventilator machine, the cerebral oximeter machine and the pole holding 10 IV drip machines. When all the equipment was gone and the room was practically empty, nurse Shauna brought in a freshly changed crib for Scarlett.

I called Todd and said I was holding Scarlett and she was tube free [well... except for the oxygen, pulse-ox, heart monitor and blood pressure cuff ; )] No more IV lines and machines associated with the IV lines, no more ventilator machine or cerebral oximeter machines in the corner. She's like a new baby and I couldn't be happier. :)