This weekend...

First let me give brief explanation to the pictures - The top I was able to hold Payton, the next is her sweet little face, Aaron holding her, and then momma giving her a bath - she wasn't very happy about it.
Now, here's where we're at... They did extubate her (breathing tube out) yesterday morning. She was a little shaky in the beginning but then did really well. Then she got shaky again aroun noonish. So, they let me hold her a few minutes before they intubated her again (breathing tube back in). She just wasn't getting the carbon dioxide out of her system very well. Her lungs looked great (and still look great), and so, the doctor was thinking that maybe there was something wrong with her trachea or something else related to ear/nose/throat that's hindering her breathing. So he called her heart surgeon who came by this morning. We got here early today to speak with her doctors (they travel in clusters) to see what they said. Her heart surgeon agreed that we need to have the ENT doctors (ear/nose/throat) look at her to see if there's an explanation from that end for why she struggles with getting off her breathing tube. So they should be looking at her sometime in the next day or two. She has to go to the OR for them to look at her so they can remove the breathing tube to look at her throat and vocal chords - the OR is needed for adequate respiration and anesthesia with the breathing tube out - they don't need to make any incisions. When they're able to schedule her down there is when she'll get checked out.
So, yesterday was my first Mother's Day. It was pretty disappointing to have to have that breathing tube put back in. I was really looking forward to finally being able to hold her for awhile, but it was fun to give her a little sponge bath and fuss with her a bit. With her tube out they needed to keep her awake, even upset, to keep her breathing good. So the bath worked at keeping her somewhat upset :). After they intubated her, though, she was out. She didn't sleep a lot on Sat., and we had to keep her awake all Sun. morning. So she was just exhausted and slept the rest of the day.
We'll let you know what happens with the ENT doctors when she goes in - we don't know when that'll be. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Again, thank you so much for all your prayers and encouragement - cards, emails, posts, and packages - we really appreciate it. Much love, Aaron and Heather :)