Update on Miss Emma

It has been a while since we last updated the blog and I apologize.  Emma's birthday went well and she continued to improve and we were discharged on the 8th.  We went home and enjoyed watching the OU/Texas game.  After the game, we put Emma down for a nap.  Everything was going great and we were excited to be home, but when Emma woke up from her nap, we noticed she was having a little more difficult time breathing.  So, we called up to the hospital and told them what was going on.  They called back and told us to just watch her and see if she got any better or if it got worse.  So, we watched her through the night and then through the daytime on Sunday.  We decided Sunday night, that we needed to take her in as she had not gotten any better and looked a little worse than on Saturday.  So, at around 11:45pm, we headed up to the ER at Children's to get her looked at.  Sarah and I thought that more than likely she had developed another effusion on the left side, and so it was no surprise to us that when we saw the xray, an effusion was glaring out at us from on the left side.  We were admitted to the 8th floor for them to attempt to diurese off the effusion.  Once on the 8th floor,  they decided to send us down to the ICU in case she would require a chest tube placed.  After a few days of intense diuretic therapy, the team decided that a pigtail chest tube would be the best option as her electrolytes were starting to become abnormal and possibly difficult to try and normalize as well as her effusion not improving significantly.  So, on Wednesday of this week, she got another pigtail chest tube.  It has dramatically helped her improve as her breathing has normalized, her sats have increased back to baseline, and her xray has cleared up quite nicely.  Now the big question at hand is going to be when to remove the chest tube....  Last time her xray looked great before we left the hospital and she somehow re-accumulated fluid in her chest.  So, as you might imagine, the team is not wanting to make any rash decisions. Today, we have been enjoying the OSU and OU games up in our room on the 8th floor.  Emma is very happy, but at times still quite fussy from teething (she is cutting around 8 teeth at once).  Amazingly, with all Emma has been through, teething is by far one of the worst things for her.  She cries and moans which just breaks our hearts!  We feel so sorry for her because we try everything that you can think of to help with the teething and it just doesn't help her that much.  Thankfully though, teething doesn't last forever and we look forward to the day when her pain from this subsides and she is our happy go lucky baby again!

Some prayer requests:
1) Pray for her effusion to go away for good so that when we remove the chest tube, she will not need another one placed.
2) Pray that her teething pain lessens.
3) Pray for all the doctors, nurses, and other medical staff as they take care of her and all these other precious children each day.

As always, we are so thankful to God for blessing us each and everyday with this sweet little princess!

God is good, all the time.  And all the time, God is good!