Mitton Clan

Victoria had kind of a hard night last night.  She had remained stable, and was improving slowly, as they were slowly increasing her sodium...so they decided to speed it up a bit yesterday.  Around 5 in the evening, they moved us upstairs to the regular children's hospital area.  When Bruce came in to visit in the early evening, he noticed that her stomach was more distended than it had been...and her heart rate and resperations were going up...she was showing signs of discomfort.  Then we looked at her feet...they had been swollen...but this was worse than the ankles of a lady who is nine and a half months pregnant.   We called in the nurse, who in turn called in the 'on call' doctor...they decided that she was not able to handle the quicker flow of the fluids, and so turned them down.  She didn't really settle down until after midnight...I was able to hold her...wires and all and help get her settled down and more comfortable.  When her breathing slowed down and she started to doze...it was SO peaceful!  I was so VERY thankful.  I had them tuck pillows around my back where support was needed, (I wasn't going to mess up the spot that was giving her perfect comfort)...and cuddled her until about 2:30....when they had to do something which required her to be back in her crib.  When they were done, she remained at rest...so I pulled out my lovely "pull out" bed/chair...and got a very peaceful rest for most of the rest of the night.  Victoria slept peacefully most of the rest of the night, as well.

The doctor was in this morning, and said that she is definitely having trouble processing sodium properly.  He is hoping when we get it a little more normal, that her body will be able to go back to processing it as it should, but of course we don't know.  In order to help her today, he is turning down her IV to 2/3 hydration, and not allowing bottle feeding...I had already fed her once this morning, but that will be it until tomorrow.
He is hoping that this will help her to deal with some of the retained water, which is diluting the sodium concentrations in her body.  He does not feel that she has any respiratory infections which are bothering her right now...and his main concern is this sodium problem.  Her fontanelle is still harder than it had leveled off at, but though I do not notice a decrease in size right now, at the same time, I do not notice an increase in pressure, either.  This also is not one of their concerns at the moment.

Well...there is Victoria's update...may you all have a truly blessed and restful Sunday. 

"O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth forever."
Ps 136:1-3