Belle Update: Apr 23

She has spent a lot of time on her stomach lately. It's her favourite way to rest. 

She acted like the regular Arabella today, but didn't quite look the same. There's still some fluid retention happening around her face.

To reduce the fluid build-up the doctors would need to give her diuretics but that would only encourage her to lose all of those important vitamins and minerals. Her levels have been fluctuating too much this week already, so diuretics are a no-go right now. 

If there's more fluid around her face, there's likely more fluid in her lungs. The nurse noticed more amounts of blood in Bella's breathing tube, and that's always unnerving news to hear. 

Her PDA issue started a domino effect, and until it's shut Belle won't be able to get better. Hopefully this is the week that we finally put an end to this pesky PDA.

They've raised her morphine dose another notch today too. There's a certain PIPP score that the staff use to assess pain in preemies, and apparently that has increased for Bella so it prompted them to boost her morphine intake. She's also growing a tolerance to it.

What will cause more harm, pain or drugs?

She's been pricked so many times in her heel from all of the blood sugar tests lately. We noticed it today when we took a closer look at her foot. Future battle scars perhaps? 

She's a little soldier!

There's a lot going on with Bella. I'm sorry if I sound like a downer sometimes. 

We just can't help ourselves - we worry, and we begin to notice everything unpleasant. That kind of mentality is dangerous. It can suck you in like a whirlpool. Days like this are always a little tougher, but we do our best to remain resilient and push forward. 

We bought her some mitts to cover her hands today. Belle has a tendency to grab and yank her tube so perhaps the mitts will do the trick. 

We also helped give her a sponge bath in the evening, so we did in fact have some fun and memorable moments today. 

They call it a roller-coaster for a reason. This entire experience will definitely take you on a ride. Everyday is different. They can't all be super-amazing days, and that's perfectly okay.