Extubated at last!

Finally Juliana has been extubated. Yesterday was a great day. I finally was able to see Juliana's mouth for the first time without a big blue clip over it holding her et tube. So far she has been handling the extubation just fine. She has nasal prongs that look something like CPAP but it is called NIPPV. She gets puffs of air through her nose at a set rate. When she moves on to CPAP she will get a steady flow of air but she will be in charge of the rate at which her breaths are taken. She has been sucking on her pacifer alot and even was mad at me yesterday when I took it out for a second. Her voice is still a bit hoarse but within a couple of days I should be able to actually hear her cry. Omar and I have been waiting to hear her cry since she was born.






















Since she has had a big change in her respiratory right now the surgeons are going to hold off till at least the weekend with their tests. The surgeons are going to perform a test on her intestines where they will put a dye into her belly and take an xray as it travels through her intestines. This way they can clearly see if there are any blockages and if each part of her intestines is functional. This requires a lot of handling which is why they will wait a few days to let her settle in to her new ventilator set up. They are being very careful as to when to start her feeds again. If she is fed too soon and her intestines are not ready she will get sick all over again. It is still very important that she gets off her TPN soon. The TPN is very hard on her liver and she will have to go back on Actigall to help her liver function but she can't have this medication unless she is feeding. Even though she is not feeding she is still gining weight and is now 2lb 10oz. I know it may still seem small to many of you but to go from 1lb 2oz to where she is now is incredible. She seems like such a big girl to me.























I am so proud of Juliana. She is really handling the change well. Congratulations to Juliana for taking one step closer to going home. Please continue to pray for her.