Yesterday’s procedure to put in a drainage line into the left side of Haven’s chest cavity was successful. Everyone was surprised to find just how much fluid they were able to pull out of her chest. They initially pulled out three ounces and since have drained out twice as much!

To put that in perspective: 3 ounces of fluid on a 9-pound baby’s lung would be like a 120-pound adult having 40 ounces of fluid on their lung. That’s more than a large drink from McDonald’s!!! No wonder her lung was collapsed. Her numbers improved almost instantly when that fluid initially came off. So that side is continuing to drain. However, chest x-rays from this morning indicate that the upper lobe of her other lung is partially collapsed as well. They don’t believe there is as much fluid there as was on her left side, so they are attempting to treat that without putting in another drainage tube. We’ll see.

Preliminary results from the “tummy tests” indicate that there doesn’t appear to be any structural abmormalities in her digestive system. However, they also show that her body does digest food VERY slowly. What normally would take 20 to 30 minutes to digest takes hours. Unfortunately, since she is currently having issues with more vital functions (collapsed lungs, breathing, blood pressure, oxygen levels), further examinations have been put on hold until those other issues are resolved. In the meantime, they are replacing her NG feeding tube (which delivers milk and medicines directly to her stomach) with an NJ tube (which bypasses the stomach and delivers straight to the small intestine). This should allow her to have more proper nutrition (mommy’s milk) without fear of it coming back up. The specialists in this area will be consulted about more detailed diagnosis once Haven is more stable.

The plan for the next 24 hours is to try backing off the ventilator settings slowly. The goal here isn’t necessarily to take her completely off the ventilator, but rather to make sure she is not dependent on the ventilator being on maximum support. If this is successful, they will also begin to wean the paralytic and sedation medicines. Haven still has much unneeded fluid on board and is very puffy, so she is receiving extra medication to help get that fluid moving.

As always, thank you so much for your encouragement and support. Don’t forget to check out the new page on the site (see the links at the top of the page). Here’s one of the many passages that gets us through these times:

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:1-6

Sometimes when we tell ourselves the importance of putting on patience and longsuffering (see the end of Galatians 5), we realize through the above passage that patience is not the end goal. Patience is just a beginning step that eventually, through experience,hope, and confidence, leads us back to remebering God’s gift of eternal salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ–apart from any works of our own (see Eph 2:8-9, Rom 5:6, Rom 3:23, and Titus 3:5).