Alayna is On Room Air! The Cannula is GONE!

Balloon bouquets from the Ferrari family & Lloyd family. They are wonderful!
Candy bar sundae bouquet from Aunt Maxine & Uncle Rick. The softest teddy bear and balloon bouquet from the Sutton family. We love them!
The best survival kit ever made from Ryan & the entire Stewart family. Thank you so much. I'm in heaven. It's obvious that they've been in a similar situation before.
The cannula is out and I'm still holding on to my hair mom!
I came across this picture of my 3 sweeties at home. I miss you guys! Can't wait to be home. We'll make a batch of cookie dough. And of course make some of the cookies and eat the rest! How's that sound? I love you. Douglas, stop trying to be the tough guy!

Alayna has been on room air through the cannula since 11:30 am this morning. Her stats couldn't be better. So, the RT just removed the cannula at 5:30 pm. I'm so happy about this. And she is happy that she can rub her eyes and face without knocking something loose. Oxygen has been one of the biggest concerns through all of this and I'm seeing the light at the end of the long tunnel.

Right now we have a new challenge. Alayna has been spitting up stomach bile when she gets to coughing hard. This has been happening since this morning. They say it's just extra stomach acid since she doesn't have food in her stomach. The doctors put her on an antacid. Alayna has been on prevacid at home before, so we are just waiting for it to start working. She has only received one dose as of now. Her next dose is at 8 pm. It's just gross and I wish she wouldn't do it! If it's not one thing, it's another. Her stomach tube is still in and they are allowing it to straight drain out. Hopefully this will also help.

The next steps are to remove all the tubes, do the swallow study, and start feedings. I hope this happens tomorrow. I keep saying my prayers, as I know many of you are too, for our little Alayna.

Many of you have sent your well wishes to her room. I wanted to post some photos of these gifts as a way of saying thank you and so you can see what they looked like. I hope you don't mind. They have brightened up the room, given her something to look at, and provided us with snacks & treats. We appreciate each one so very much.

I am so thankful for Dana coming up here this afternoon. Alayna and I were able to take a nap and I was so much more able to completely rest knowing he was here. I didn't realize how unsoundly I had been resting (if that is the correct word). When we get home we have a lot of catching up on sleep to do.