March 10th 2017 (0900)

Just finished rounds and all good news today! After Arlyns rest day a chest X-ray was done at 0400 and it looked better with the reduced Chest PT every 2-4 hours and mobility/positioning. He calcium was a bit better this morning so they will leave her on the 200 mg by mouth calcium supplements
 her calcium went from 7.4 to 7.8. The also added a potassium supplement for a potassium of 2.9. She is Hyperchloremic but it is induced by the aggressive diuresis(getting the fluid off). Currently she is on 3 doses of Lasix/day, Diuril and spiraladactone to help with the fluid and slowly but surely it is working. Arlyn continues to do well with the feedings and today for the first time in many days has gain weight! The fortification is working and the team is really pleased with it. Arlyn is having 4-5 bowel movements a day as well showing us how she digests. We did get official results from Arlyns ECHO yesterday and other than a normal amount of dilation of the Left atrial the structure and function of her heart seems to be doing well as expected. The Cardiologist Dr. Porter did indicated that even within normal range and healing some of the fluid may be a result of not having absolute optimal function but by no means is this outside of where she should be for now.

We have noticed that Arlyn gets quite cranky overnight and is more alert at night time. This makes perfect sense to me because when I would lay down to sleep at night when Arlyn was in utero she would take this as a sign to wake up and play on a jungle gym in my belly. So..following suit with that she is just like herself.

Mommy was able to relax a little bit yesterday and to the advice of nursing, friends and little hearts coffee hour support group Scott and I left the hospital for a few hours yesterday evening and got our hair cut and grabbed a bite to eat. It was extremely anxiety provoking for both of us but getting back to moments where we can do these things is also an important step we both realize. By the time we returned to the hospital we both took a huge breath of relief. Scott is heading back to work soon and we are hopeful that the transition is seamless and Arlyn stays healthy.

 Smiling with daddy last night 

Wide awake at 0300am