Update on Faith and Makaila 2

Today was a rougher day for Faith and Makaila. Their first week up to today has pretty much been a "honeymoon period" with a few little hiccups (jaundice). Today has been the first day that the reality of their very young gestational age has really become apparent. Faith has been running a higher than normal temperature (aka, a fever) and has been getting fluid backing up in her tracheotomy tube (the tube that enters the top of her throat that pushes air into her lungs from the respirator). These are the early signs of an infection, which will most likely end up leading to pneumonia. Once the blood cultures come back and they know for sure, they will immediately start Faith on antibiotics before a serious infection sets in. She is still relying heavily on the respirator and still needs oxygen to keep her going, so it is not looking like she will be going to CPAP any time soon.

Starting last night, Makaila has been having significant apneas (periods of time where her breathing slows down drastically or stops all together), several of which have required the nurses to intervene by bagging her (start manually pushing air into her lungs using a rubber balloon shaped back attached to tube attached to a plastic mask that covers Makaila's mouth and nose) and adding oxygen to her CPAP. During these "crashes", Makaila stops breathing, her heart rate drops from 160 (average) to 40, and her oxygen saturation (the oxygen being brought in and added to her blood by her lungs) drops off quickly. The last time she crashed was around 6:00pm this evening when Karyn, her brother, Daryl, and I were visiting. This is the first time we have seen her crash and it was hard to watch. They poke and prod her and lifted her up to "wake her up" so she starts breathing again. It took a little while for her to respond and it was a pretty weak response at that, so they had to bag her. It was decided after this crash that Makaila needs to come off CPAP and go back on the respirator. Switching her over is quite a process and requires that she be sedated (they remove her nose tubes and then put a tracheotomy tube down the top of her throat - not a pleasant experience I'm sure). When I went back this evening, she was on oxygen and the respirator was set to 50 breathes per minute (which is high and means the respirator is doing a lot of work for her). Makaila was still sedated which probably explains why the oxygen was needed and the breathing rate so high.

While both Faith and Makaila's change in conditions today are hard to watch and take, they are expected. Our nurses and doctors assured us that these are normal and expected setbacks that the vast majority of infants at this gestational age experience. Their immune systems are very weak (if existent at all) and so they cannot fight off a lot of the bugs that you or I would not even notice we had in our systems. So it is very common for them to get sick and need antibiotics. Just as their immune systems are weak, so are their lungs. They are nowhere near developed enough, and their little bodies nowhere near hearty enough to be able to sustain breathing at high enough rates with high enough oxygen saturation for an extended period of time. Makaila has simply worn herself out trying to breathe on her own for so long (5 days). It is amazing that she was able to go onto CPAP as early as she did and last as long as she did. The respirator will give her a much earned Sabbath (time of rest) until she is ready to get back on the CPAP.

Both of our little girls are fighters, but they continue to need our prayers. The medical staff is second to none, the medical equipment they rely on is top notch, but it is God who gives and sustains life. We are confident that He will see Faith and Makaila through these current trials, and the many future trials they will no doubt face. Thank you for your continued vigilance in praying for them!