Wednesday, 01 September: Here are two photos of Gabriella sleeping (the red aloha mittens are to keep her from pulling out her feeding tube). We believe she prefers this position because it makes it easier for her breathe.
Each day her heart must work a little bit harder as it becomes less efficient in pumping blood out to the rest of her body. As you can imagine, we monitor her closely; looking for any indications she may be experiencing additional stress.
Typically, high stress incidents begin with coughing spells, which usually last 3 to 4 four minutes. After such an incident, Gabriella’s respiration rate remains high for several minutes – until she restores the oxygen saturation (O2%) levels in her blood. Gabriella’s resting O2% level is usually in the high 80’s; which is similar to O2% levels of newborns in Leadville, Colorado (Altitude: 10,000 feet).
During high stress incidents, Gabriella’s O2% levels drop into the 70’s and her heart must work very hard (180+ bpm) to restore her resting O2% level. Each coughing incident is somewhat disturbing as we know from experience (see 24 August below) that any high-stress incident has the potential to quickly become serious.
Gabriella usually has 6 to 10 such coughing incidents each day. Ironically, we are not allowed to give her supplemental oxygen as it tends to worsen her condition – Go figure? Please keep Gabriella in your thoughts and prayers each day and know that we are praying for you and your family also. Have a great day.
Thank you for your prayers.