So much has happened since this little girl was born, I don't even know where to begin. Last time I wrote, she had just turned 1 week old. She is now 5 weeks old, has been through 3 surgeries, reached 2lbs 4oz only to lose weight while on CPAP and drop to 1lb 15oz, and has had CPAP attempted 3 times now with no success.

Since last time I wrote, Maryn had to have a PDA ligation, which was very scary at the time, but seems to have helped a lot. Most of the time they'd try a medication before attempting surgery, but the side effects of said drug were bleeding and bowel issues. With her brain bleed and perforated bowel, this would not have been a good idea. Luckily the surgery went well and she recovered quickly.

Week 3 of her life had her in a neurosurgeon's hands. The bleed had caused too much damage to repair itself, so they had to place a reservoir to drain excess fluid from her brain. This will be a permanent thing and will more than likely lead to the placement of a shunt once she is over 4lbs and has enough belly fat to absorb the excess fluid safely. (the shunt drains her excess brain fluid to her abdomen). This, too, she seemed to make it through with no problems.

After her reservoir placement surgery, her doctors wanted to try to get her off her vent as soon as possible. The first 2 times weren't successes, and the 3rd attempt was supposed to be tomorrow. Maryn had other plans I guess.

Tonight her vent somehow got stuck in her esophagus, and began irritating and causing swelling. Noticing this, the nurses extubated her and put her on CPAP right then, hoping it would help. The swelling was too much and her stats dropped fast. Her heartrate dropped into the 40s (140-170 is normal for a baby her age) and she began to turn ashy/blue. The nurse had to remove her CPAP and bag her (manually breathe for her with a bag) until they could get another vent for her. This is the closest we've come to losing her since she was born, and it scared the living daylight out of us all. It's still hard for me to think about, but I know that I needed to get it out.

Now off to bed. 7 comes mighty early when you don't get to bed til 1 (though it's midnight now, I know it'll take me that long to get to sleep). Early to work, then off to the hospital to be with the family.