This is a blog for my daughter Scarlett. She was born with a complex congenital heart defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia. She is my little hero.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Thriving!

As I mentioned in my last post, I knew Scarlett was really really close to coming off the feeding tube and the oxygen nasal cannula.  This morning Beth (Scarlett's cardiologist) called to check on Scarlett. I told her that last night I had downed Scarlett's oxygen to 1/32 liter for the next 24 hours. I also said that I had started to bottle feed her and she hadn't thrown up yet. She even took a Motrin/Lasix bottle barf-free. So Beth said to go ahead and turn off the oxygen and pull out the tube and see how she does. and I said "you mean right now", and she said "pull it all out!".

Sooooo.... I'm happy to introduce for the first time since she's been home, my tube free happy baby:




After about 10-15 minutes I checked her on the pulse oximeter machine and and she was still above 95!! yahoo!


I went to take another picture of her on the bed and she was on all fours trying to crawl away!





Well, she's still not crawling yet, so I wasn't really worried about her actually crawling away, but she was still on all fours (first time ever) and rocking back and forth like she wanted to crawl. I am sooooo happy.

My baby is happy too. She's at least 50% better than she was yesterday (high maintenance wise). Probably because she's so happy being tube free.  I'm going to continue to spot check her throughout the day to make sure her oxygen levels are above 95, but for now, we're just celebrating that she's happy, she's home and she's tube free. : )

Don't get me wrong, she still can't bear to be separated from us even for a second... but she's so much happier today than she was for the last 3 days. : ) and I'm super happy she can go anywhere in my house instead of in the 6 foot radius in my living room. Yippee!   It's a beautiful day!

3 comments:

  1. GO SCARLETT!!! GO SCARLETT!! GO SCARLETT!! HOORAY!!! You all worked so hard for this! CONGRATULATIONS! I'm sure it feels like it took eons, but it hasn't even been 3 weeks since her surgery! What a HUGE blessing and an affirmative answer to so many prayers! We are thrilled for all of you!

    And that is the BEST Scarlett smile yet, post surgery! Awesome!!

    With Much Love,
    Susan

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  2. It is a beautiful day! She has to be just as happy as you. CONGRATULATIONS!

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  3. Wonderful News!! Way to Go Scarlett!!!

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