Big Steps

Sorry I have not posted anything since Thursday... Life has been a little hectic lately!  I was at school all day on Friday trying to catch up/get ahead, then coached Friday night (Go Hawks... 2-0 on the season, so far), worked the garlic stand bright and early on Saturday and tried to catch up on some Harper time the rest of the day (with a small break for the Buckeyes).

So... here is an update on Harper...
* Thursday she had her 'permanent' line put in for the supplemental nutrition she needs from lack of feeding.  The procedure went well and the doctor only needed to put in a small incision in her chest, not in her neck like we thought.
* Friday was a great day because she got extubated!  Harper's levels were all great and they were confident she was ready to be on her own.  Since the ventilator went away on Friday, she has been doing excellent with no set-backs.
* Friday night, feeds were started up again.  The volume she has been receiving has been increasing  and she is now over 50% full feeds.  When she reached 50% they were going to clamp her chest tube and then monitor for another day before taking it out...
* BUT... they took an x-ray of her this morning and it showed that the chest tube had already slipped out of her and was hidden behind the dressing!  So, they took it off, put a new dressing over the hole and didn't bother putting a new one in.  She is doing great and is showing no signs of fluid build-up in her chest cavity!


* Since the chest tube is out she can now wear clothes!  Also, they took her out of her plastic box and she is now in a 'crib' that we can take her out of any time and hold her!  It is nice having less restrictions on when and how we can hold Harper!

We are so excited to see everything going in the right direction.  We are hoping that Harper will keep tolerating her feeds and increasing in volume so that she can get off of the 'supplemental' fluids all together and then begin working on adding in some of Karen's milk for her.  The milk will be the true test because it contains all of the fats and contribute to the production of the fluid.  But, as of right now, the doctors think that as long as she tolerates the formula well at full, then the milk should not be a problem for her.

We are keeping our fingers crossed and looking forward to what this upcoming week will bring for Harper.  Tuesday will be a big decision day to see when they think that Harper can start on some of the milk and truly test her duct, but as of right now we are happy to see her happy and improving each day!