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Her Way or the Highway

Eleanor had an eventful day to say the least. When Mommy got to the NICU, nurse Kathy gave her the game plan for the day and shared that they intended on taking Eleanor's ventilator tube out and replacing it with a nose mask, which would require her to do more work. Mom was nervous, but listens to the doctors.

So, at 11:45, the respiratory team came in to remove her tube and place the mask (which is a whole head contraption that made Eleanor resemble an elephant lady). Eleanor absolutely hated the entire ordeal. Her heart rate was awful, she was taking an enormous number of breaths, and Mom was borderline having a heart attack. 

She was left on the elephant tube for about 10 minutes before they had to re-intubate. Another heart attack for mommy (who was also starving and had low blood sugar and was turning pale, according to Nonna). They gave Eleanor morphine to ease her annoyance and got the fresh new tube back in just fine. Eleanor’s stats came back up and she was quite restful afterwards. They will try again in a couple of weeks when she is bigger and stronger.

Later on in the afternoon they came in to remove her PICC line. She is getting all of her nutrients from Mom's breast milk now, and it is no longer required. Eleanor tolerated this like a champ and her stats have been outstanding ever since. Doctors wanted to remove the sutures in her right side, but given how eventful the day had already been, Mom said let's wait until tomorrow.

Eleanor is enjoying her tummy time immensely and now throws a fit in all other positions. She is getting 18 cc's of milk every 3 hours and loving all her nums. She will let you know immediately upon having a poopy diaper and calms down once it is clean.

Today's update kindly provided to Auntie Pam by Mom! 

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