Back in

The theme of this post will become very familiar for you readers. Kira is currently in the hospital. She has been there for one week. I tried to blog from my cell phone, but I could not post, only read. I usually get decent sleep when she is admitted. I will usually make sure she is dry, comfy, all meds and meals are given, and crawl on in. I have become used to the middle of the night room traffic, and can sleep right through it. My eyes don't usually pop open unless her alarms are going off or she really needs a good suctioning and she is loud enough to wake me up. For whatever reason, I am not sleeping well, so tonight, Jim and I switched places. He will be on baby girl duty and I get to spend time with my boys and sleep like a rock tonight! Kira has a weak swallow and not much of a spontaneous cough, so the most innocent of colds can and usually do turn into pneumonia for her. It can feel like I am spinning my wheels and fighting against an impossible force, trying to keep the cold from getting nice and cozy in her precious little lungs. I can be as aggressive as possible with her.. shaking and pounding on her lungs, inhaled therapy, deep suctioning down to her toes.. it doesn't seem to matter sometimes.  This admission is not pneumonia however, but more of a viral bronchiolitis.  She has a mild collapse and inflammation going on in there, and her secretions are just ridiculous! TMI warning... if you have a cringe factor, turn away now. Her secretions are so thick, that the suction tubing keeps getting clogged, and stops dead in its tracks when it comes in contact with it. When I am able to pull one of these  ( let's call them critters) critters out, I can literally keep pulling, taking turns with either hand. Heave-ho-heave-ho. Once one of these critters waves it's white flag, and releases it's relentless grips from my daughters nostrils, I like to swing it around the room, like a lasso. this is my celebratory defeat dance. She has been on c-pap for over 24 hours, in hopes to re-inflate her left side. Hopefully, she will tolerate being taken off and moved to either normal wall 02 ( oxygen) or the Vapotherm machine. This piece of equipment is wonderful! It supplies necessary  pressures of 02, while at the same time, giving off a warm humidified affect. I am so sorry, I want to write more, but I exhausted. Will update soon. :)


**** Today is the 25th and she came home this afternoon. Woohoo. I so love this part. Feels amazing. Somehow, it feels like it has been a year since she and I were here with nowhere to go and could cuddle, clean, or just be lazy dogs. In reality, it has only been 10 days. Kira is doing pretty darn good. She no longer requires oxygen support, but is also not satting at 100%, like she does when healthy. She is holding her own, in the mid 90's. She is comfortable, and breathing peacefully. I will continue doing her respiratory therapies, just as they were scheduled in the hospital, until she is back to her Miss Sassy pants self. We met a few new friends and Momma even learned how to do a fish bone braid on her. I think that fish braid seems easier than the french braid. I suck at both, but I suck less at the fishy one.