Well, I was discharged and had to find a place to sleep to be able to stay at the hospital with Miss Arianna. A social worker helped and said she found me a room! Hooray! She gave me location within the hospital where I would be spending the next two nights: "3rd floor, South, Day Room, Sofa #3". Ummmmmm. It's basically a big room filled with fold out sofas. Well, considering that I'm only sleeping 1.5 hours at a time, I guess it will do. Really reminded me of my hostel days though. Luckily only one other guy showed up, so it was fine.
On to our pequena...well, the cardiologist stopped by yesterday and said that after the latest echo cardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) on Monday, apparently Arianna has Patent ductus Arterius...which *could* cause problems. Essentially, all babies are born with this blood vessel open. Most babies have this close within minutes or days and all normal heart functions continue. However, sometimes it takes awhile for it to close, which allows oxygen-rich blood from the aorta to mix with oxygen-poor blood from the pulmonary artery. This can strain the heart and increase blood pressure in the lung arteries. The doctors say they have no idea how long this will take to close-they've seen it take weeks! Our goal right now is to look at the heart again on Thursday to see if it has closed. Keep your fingers crossed!
Other than that, our pink little friend has turned a bit yellow/orange-Jaundice. She does not have the levels necessary to be put under the lights but is extremely border line. Aside from that, it's extremely common, so that is the least of my worries. I told them that since we are stuck in the hospital anyways, might as well put her under the lights to help her pass the jaundice. So there she is with her sunglasses, dressed only in a diaper--she LOVES it! This is a beach kid if I've ever seen one. Jesus says all she needs now is a margarita to be complete!
They also took her back off of the IV fluids and she is doing AMAZING. She's eating a ton and having lots of wet diapers. The nurse who was in charge of her a few days ago said she has seen a huge improvement, so that's good.
Despite the open heart vessel issue, I think she's back to being the healthiest in the NICU. YAY! Every day there is some sort of drama in there-it really gives you so much to be grateful for. There are families on either side of Arianna that we've become friends with. One of their babies had to have to their stomach pumped in front of them yesterday (talk about super scary), and the other found out that their seemingly improving little boy has a genetic defect. :( Both of these family's babies have the same tetralogy of fallot as we do, so it really shows the variety of cases. Basically, there is at least one family crying hysterically at all times in the NICU. We also met some Spaniards today (Jesus manages to meet Spaniards no matter where he is) and they were told last Saturday that their baby would probably not survive!!! Yet, then on Sunday, the same doctors said they guaranteed he WOULD survive. It just gives you so, so much to be grateful for.
Also, today my two big girls came to visit Arianna and I in the hospital. Alazne LOVED holding her teeny tiny sister and Lexi seemed a little sad. We thought she was a little jealous, but when we asked her why she was sad, she said she didn't want to leave her baby in the hospital. I love my girls. :)
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