The roller coaster continues

The last couple of days have been very up and down for Lauren. She was having many episodes of desaturation and some bradycardia on Monday and was given another blood transfusion. They also took another blood culture because sometimes increased episodes of apnea or desaturation can be related to an infection. Her last blood culture was negative and this one is still not growing anything, which is good news. The doctors & nurses don't really think she has an infection, but it's better to safe than sorry. Today was a little better day for Lauren since they increased her CPAP to 7 and changed her nasal cannula to a size 2. The size 2 seems to not leak nearly as much as what she had before and she seems happier with the change. I have been able to kangaroo her the last few visits too. I only got about 1.5 hours in today because she had to go back to her warmer sincer her oxygen saturation fell and did not want to come up. It is so hard to watch your child lose color and have to stimulate her to breathe. The nurses always keep calm and I try to keep calm too, but it is so hard to try and not panic. The PDA is still present and we are on a holding pattern to see if we need to surgically repair it. On a happier note, Lauren has been off Insulin for almost 2 days now. Her feedings are at 5ml every 2 hours and her IV nutrition is down to 1ml per hour. Her weight is currently 1lb 10.4oz. Go Lauren! She has been becoming more vocal when the nurses mess with her too. She has such a tiny cry and it is so cute. The bad thing is that she gets so worked up, she tires herself out and then has a hard time breathing after. She likes to make the nurses earn their paycheck. :) I keep telling her that she has to be nice to the nurses (especially since mommy is one too!)
I just wanted to add that two of my best friends (Anna & Annalisa) came over tonight with so much food and goodies and cards. Many from people Adam and I have never even met. I know that many of you who were part of the basket read this, so we just wanted to take the opportunity to say a huge THANK YOU! The love & support we have from family, friends and strangers is amazing. We are so thankful for it.