Day 11...

Yesterday was such a wonderful day because I got to hold Briana for the first time (Kangaroo) and we also received good reports from the doc's and nurses. Today was quite the opposite.

Today Malia and I witnessed Briana's worst Apnea spell thus far. At first she was being very fussy and was squirming all over the place working herself up pretty good. After her little fit, she became very relaxed and then the spell hit. She just wouldn't wake up and/or breathe. I started pinching her foot and Malia was rubbing her back trying to stimulate her so she'd wake up and start breathing again which usually works. The nurse came over and began trying to revive her. After what seemed like 5-10 minutes of trying to revive Briana, the nurse had to bag her. She also had to sit Briana up and pat her on the back to get her breathing and heart beating. Briana's skin went from a beautiful olive color to a grayish color and began turning purple due to lack of oxygen in her body. Malia and I looked at each other in shock, we were mortified.

After the nurse bagged her, she got the suction tube out and suctioned Briana's throat and nose. She also switched her back to the CPAP that has the prongs that goes into her nostrils. Briana's little nose is badly bruised and is completely purple due to the pronged CPAP being so tight over the last 11 days. It broke my heart. They are going to keep her on the triangle shaped CPAP which has no prongs so her nose can get a rest and can heal. The downfall to the triangle CPAP is the seal isn't as good as the pronged seal. She also has bruises on her forehead from it being on so tight. When they took the CPAP off to switch the adapter to the triangle we noticed another two bruises on her head. Malia asked what they are from. The nurse said they are there from the medical staff poking her with needles when attempting to find a new vein for her IV. She's really been through a lot today.

They did another Echo of Briana's heart this morning and found that the PDA is bigger than it was 11 days ago. They started her on Ibuprofen today to help close the PDA. The PDA is a chamber between the Aorta and Pulmonary artery of her heart. She will get 2 more Ibuprofen doses over the next two days for a total of 3 days of treatment. They will do another Echo of her heart on Tuesday or Wednesday to see if the PDA has closed. Hopefully with 1-3 treatments of Ibuprofen it will close and we can overcome that issue. If the Ibuprofen does not close the PDA after 2-3 treatments, they will have to do surgery on Briana's heart to close it.

The PDA is a major cause to Briana's apnea spells. If we can get the PDA to close, she will have much less apnea spells. This is the next big benchmark Briana needs to reach. Please join us in praying that the treatments work and the PDA closes so her heart can be healthy.

We talked with the attending doctor this evening and he said over the next 3 months, the experience we will have with Briana being in the NICU will be the hardest thing Malia and I will ever deal with in our lives. I've been through a lot and I have to say, I agree with him. One day will be great and our spirits will be high and the next could be too or it could be the complete opposite, just like the last 48 hours. It seems like we consistently have to overcome adversity, which is more emotionally draining than what Malia and I expected. There is no worse feeling for a parent than being completely helpless and powerless when your baby is going through so much. We wish there was more we could do.