Resting

After the breathing ordeal last night Amelia continued to have a some "stridor" in her breathing this morning (it sounded like a little gasp/squeak at the end of each breath). Right now, she is resting and her breathing has quieted--a very tangible answer to prayer! She has been sleeping a lot, probably due to the frequent doses of morphine she was getting yesterday and last night. The doctors who evaluated her this morning said they'd like to see her more awake, so they are cutting back on the morphine and giving her Tylenol and Oxycodone (sp?) which is also a narcotic but apparently not a strong. It is tricky to figure out how to give someone her age just enough pain meds without over-medicating. She has had two wakeful times this morning during which she took some small bottles of breast milk, the rest of the time she has been asleep.

I think overall Amelia probably feels lousy, but she seems to be comforted quickly by our voices and our touch. She doesn't seem afraid, just really really grumpy. The swelling in her face (and all over) has increased, which I know is hard to imagine, but Dr. Van Aalst assures us that today is the peak day for that and tomorrow we should start to see the swelling go down.

Thank you for praying for her breathing specifically. Please continue to pray that her airway remains open and also that the doctors/nurses can decide on what and how much medication to give her so that she will be more wakeful, but not hurting.

Lastly, please pray for her to breastfeed soon. We've tried a few times, but she is so mad when she's awake that she has actually bitten me twice (ouch!), so I am pumping and giving it to her in little bottles. I'm hoping as the swelling goes down in the days to come she will be more relaxed and feel more "normal" about it. And pray that if at all possible she/we will not develop a thrush infection as a biproduct of the antibiotics she is currently taking.

Mostly just pray for Amelia (and us) to endure these tiring days. We are grateful that her healing has already begun and looking forward to getting over the "peak" tomorrow.