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Thursday, December 30, 2004

When dad arrived the Doctor and nurse were monitoring little Elizabeth. They were concerned about low mean BP (17) and blood gases were a little off (ph of 7.04). They were trying to correct with higher fluid intake, help from the ventilator, and by lowering her Morphine. At dad's arrival her vent was set to 35% O2 concentration and 40 breaths per minute. Gradually her O2 concentration was lowered to 26%, but her respitory rate stayed at 40.
Elizabeth looked comfortable. While dad was with her the mean blood pressure, which was measured every 15 minutes, improved slightly to 23, 25, 27, 23, and 26. The nurse explained that the BP was an indication of Elizabeth's heart's ability to move oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from her little organs.
After lunch things had not improved. Elizabeth's O2 concentration was increased to 30% and her respitory rate was set to 50. The mean BP was 21,21, and 22. The nurse gave her some Dopamine to help increase the BP. When measured BP was 30.
The fact that she has not peed yet was a concern.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

At 17:55 Elizabeth was transported to the OR on the second floor of the hospital for surgery. The surgeon and his team were going to perform the surgery to correct Elizabeth's PDA and insert a central line. Mom and Dad met the anisthetists who turned out to be the same doctors that looked after mom two weeks earlier during her C-section.
Elizabeth was in OR for two hours, while her mom and dad grabed a bite to eat. The surgeon came to the waiting at 20:30 room to let her parents know that the surgery went well and that Elizabeth was on her way back to the Neonatal nurseries. Her primary nurse was waiting for her there.