Found some down time...

... and here's the update.

It's been.... hectic, anxiety ridden, fast paced, exhausting, smelly, fun... oh wait, this is parenthood!

I know Xina said she would update you on the other things surrounding our care-by-parent days, for it was eventful. But since both girls are finally napping at the moment, I'll take the oppurtunity to update you on where we are at home.

First, AE had big welcome home banners from my parents and Xina's parents and Aunt/uncle with ballons and later had some flowers delivered. Also, our next door neighbor saw us unloading and her young daughter had also made a huge welcome home poster for AE... it was awesome. We are so lucky.

My folks came over to fix dinner and help us get settled in. It was an interesting evening, but AE seemed to enjoy herself.

We finally got home as the delivery van with our oxygen was dricing up, which was good since our tank was not going to last very much longer. We received one big tank and 3 smaller tanks... the big would last about 48-50hrs on the planned rate, and the small ones 9hrs each. Doesn't seem like a lot of time for long term use. Doh. Not really confidence boosting. (The end result was that Thursday morning, I had to call in and have a converter delivered which converts pure O2 out of the room air and runs on electricity. It's makes some noise, but at least we know we have air all the time. And we keep the big tank and smalelr ones for backup and mobility).

Our insurance company denied the claim to cover Amelia's Viagra. It seems they only cover it for men over 18yrs old (I assume as a recreational drug) and not for anyone else who might need it for its original purpose of dilating blood vessels and allowing for a healthy life. That's logical. So, we had to send in an urgent appeal for them to cover the drug for this particular use. Seems easy, eh? Well, when I checked 3 hrs later to find out where things stood, the customer service person said she could not see anything in her system... I asked i she could call someone, but they don't have the phone number to that department or know who to chck with. Well, I worked on her, but after getting the run around for 10 minutes, I was transferred to a supervisor. Since it was past 5pm, I was sent into a general mailbox and disconnected. I found out the process takes 24-48hrs - that's urgency for you. Since we only had enough of the med left over from the hospital for about half a day, I had to front the money for the whole thing. Not a big deal for a needed med, but it's pretty darn expensive - set my break job on the car back a month. And hacked me off.

Anyway, when we hit the hay Wed night, I had to maneuver the crib and monitors so we could actually get to AE if we needed to - our original arrangement wasn't conducive to quick action or monitor monitoring. Unfortunately, the new quick change left about 6 inches between the crib and my side of the bed, so it was a lot of close knit dancing at 3am. (I've since rearranged the room to be more medical friendly). AE slept great, and I got the apnea monitor + leads on well enough so that it didn't go off all night long. However, the sat monitor went off all night long, as AE's sats were just at the cusp of bad and good, and that, combined with our paranoia, was not conducive to a good night's sleep.

Thursday morning started off odd. Our day starts a little before 6am, when Xina has to prepare a few meds and a feed. After her feed, once she was awake and moving, her sats started dropping heavily and she began to turn purple. In calm panic mode, Xina grabbed the saline spray and the bulb suction and started to work on her nose. AE had some massive boogers, big enough to make me proud. We had to boost her Os to 3LPMs though to get her through it. Eventually we weaned her down, but could not get her down below 1.5LPMs all day. This morning was a little of the same, but once her nostrils were suctioned, she did much better. Yet, by the time we were on our way to our first Pedi Dr appointment this morning, she was needing 2LPMs.

Our DRs appointment went well. She said she thought it was nothing more than Houston allergies (and my genetics) which was causing her problems, so as long as we keep on top of the suctioning, she should get over it. We talked about the how to get the pulse sox to read correctly, which ours seemed not to do often. It was brought up that if AE she continued on 2LPMs, and because 2LPMs is not a home pressure, then AE might have to be admitted to the hospital. The Dr was great, going over her thoughts and what we should think about and do, (It's actually AE's "in-laws" favorite Pedi, also!) and we felt a little better when we left. When we got back home and set her down on her belly for a nap, she was already doing better. 30minutes into the nap, we had her back down to 1LPM, which is where she still remains.

And so here we are. Our family room is a mess, with toys and monitors and hoses going everywhere. Our days are long with meds and feeds every two hours from 6am 'til midnight. But for two mornings in a row, I have been able to wake up, go to the crib, grab my daughter, and say hello to her before I do anything else, and there is no reward greater than that.

The next step in her homecoming will occur in about an hour.... I have to go pick up the dogs from boarding and bring them home. Now the chaos will truly begin.