We are really in the ICU now!

Yesterday morning Ruthie was intubated.
It has been one of the possibilities for treatment since Sunday afternoon. It was a well- thought out decision. Her o2 sats had been a bit inconsistent and her heart rate kept creeping up and then staying around 180.
So we had tried antibiotics to see if she had any type of lung infection causing her respiratory issues and there was no change. Her chest x rays continuously looked clear and showed no sign of pneumonia.
We then tried upping her o2 levels through o2 nasal cannulas. We went up to 7 L on 60%. She seemed to settle a bit, but it wasn't the right answer.
So then we tried nesiritide (another heart med), her sats did not improve and her heart rate once again stayed elevated.
Our second to last hope was to stabilize her with an ETT tube and then work from there. Well, stabilizing worked for now. She has already moved down from Volume support to pressure support. She is now at 30% o2 instead of 40% (that they started with). She even slept most of the day yesterday and was pretty easy to settle if she got upset.
We are still unsure what caused her to have these episodes. Almost all fingers point to her heart failure worsening. It is nice to hear that she doesn't have an infection or lung issues. However, also hearing that it is her heart means that we really don't have many other options. She still needs a new heart. Well, that is something we have known! I just hate being reminded by the doctors and nurses that "all we need is a heart!" It makes me feel as though they do not have any other choice but to tell me this since she is getting worse.

So today, we are planning to have a heart cath. However, it is not for sure. Everything depends on what the doctors want to do. They really don't think her sano shunt is the cause of all of her acute decompensating heart failure. They don't want to do a cath if they don't need to. On the other hand, they don't want to wait longer until she is more sick, more tired and then try to do a cath on an already "fragile" baby. So they are waiting until rounds this morning to decide.

So once again we will hurry up and wait.

I ask for purely positive thoughts and prayers. I know God will provide. He has placed so many in my life to give me a glimmer of hope and peace when I have needed it the most. I know HE will be there through it all and that in the end His will will be done.
Trust in the Lord God with all your heart.
Lord, we are trusting in you.

Heart hugs!

THANK YOU for being our support!

Laura