After a difficult one week stay in the PICU and a long day of waiting, Lucille was discharged from the hospital late this afternoon! We are so thankful! Exhausted, but thankful!
Our number one question to the doctors has been, how could a cold/ virus land Lucie in the PICU for a week, and will this always be the case every time she gets sick?
The doctors explained that Lucie's lungs have not fully developed. As she gets bigger, they will get stronger and a cold will not knock her down like this. They also shared that while she was in the NICU, and on oxygen, (to various degrees for 3 months), that oxygen, although helping her breathe and gain strength every day, was actually impairing or bruising her alveoli in her lungs which is how the oxygen spreads in her lungs. Everyday, new, healthy alveoli form in her lungs, but at this time she did not have enough reserve to fight off this bad cold without extra help from the good ol' folks at Mount Sinai. God willing, as we get out of flu season, we can enjoy a summer with no colds and Lucie will continue to gain strength so that this won't happen in the future.
Now that we've brought our sweet baby home from the hospital for the second time, we also asked if there were any extra precautions we should be taking? Can Bess hang out with her? Can we go for walks in the park? Can we go out to eat or for a quick coffee? Can we have visitors? The answer was, well since she's had her 2-month shots, Yes, absolutely!! The two rules we were given were, #1 - we MUST wash our hands any and every time we come in contact with Lucie, even if it's just to grab her paci and put it back in her mouth. And #2 - if anyone is sick, sneezing, coughing, has active allergies, has a fever, even the inkling of not feeling that great, then they have to steer clear from the Hickson household until they have no symptoms at all so that they don't put Lucie or us at risk of getting sick. Basically they told us to go on living life as normal and trying not to be paranoid about every thing that she could come in contact with but at the same time, to not be foolish and just take the time to do simple things like hand washing which goes a long way.
So, that's all for now! We're hoping we can get back on a good feeding schedule with Lucie again, while managing her congestion that is still lingering a little bit and her coughing that is sometimes very uncomfortable and may hang around for several weeks. Thank you for your continued prayers, keep 'em coming, they are always welcomed and needed.
love,
Los Hicksons
Ps - if you have any pointers on how to help a baby who is congested, let us know! We have a nose frida and a humidifier for starters.
Lucie, free to leave the hospital!
Happy papa bear :)
Even the President wanted to see Lucie today.
Bess missed Lucie sooooo much. Back to her guard post.