Navy is in a really good place, making for nice, quiet days. Which is awesome, considering the entire outside world is in chaos ??

Things are good, stable but also just slow. She’s a nice opportunity to just slow down; when she’s in your arms, everything is realigned and everything is OK. We still have hurdles, so here’s where we are at. 

The biggest challenges she faces right now are: 1) weaning– she isn’t tolerating it very well this time and we’re moving much slower. She’s also having insane amounts of ? and throw up, which are signs of withdrawal and she’s losing some weight. 2) Her lungs have sustained a lot of trauma. We didn’t understand the severity of the chylo (liquid between her lung and lining) or the damage that the ventilator did to her lungs. We were given an estimate that it may take about two months for them to heal, which was really discouraging to hear. ? 3) Additionally, she isn’t on full feeds and is on a special fat-free breast milk+formula combo to get the fats down. They are still spinning Heather’s milk to remove the fat, then adding formula to increase the calories. Navy is still fed through her NG tube that goes through her nose. ? So that’s a lot to normalize when it comes to feeds.

Covid-19 is also a serious challenge and change for us. We aren’t worried about it entering the NICU, but we are worried about how it will strain the staff/resources. ? We had a few changes this week as far as Primary Children’s is concerned:

• No guest under the age of 18, which is a typical rule during flu season. Applies to us because it also includes siblings, so three-year-old Kai.
• At first it was only two guests at bedside per patient, then it was two guests in the hospital per patient, and it was recently announced only one guest per patient in the hospital for an entire day. Applies to us because on Sat. and/or  Sun, Heather and I both would hang with Navy. Now we just each take a day and alternate. 
• All nurses were asked to list certifications, specialities, and experiences so they could be outsourced to help elsewhere. Since the nurses are in an ICU environment, they will likely be sent to other hospitals’ ICUs to help. 
• They are being more careful about the supplies they hand out and are preparing for a supply shortage. Ventilators are treasured and we are grateful Navy recently got off hers so it could be used elsewhere. 
• Minor detail, but the University of Utah hospital and Primary are connected. Primary’s food is meh, plus they recently started renovating a cafeteria (poor timing) so we would run over to the U’s cafeteria, but now that’s not an option. You can’t go back and forth. 
• All the Ronald stuff shut down. No one is staying in the house on South Temple and the rooms in the hospital are closed, too. Naturally, no more volunteer food groups. Music Therapy, Parent Hour, and Rainbow Kids have all shut down and even our social workers availability has changed. 
• Visitors have to check in to get a day pass anyways, but now a security table is set up in the middle of the front entrance hallway to give hand sanitizer and ask for Corona symptoms to everyone. The flow resembles TSA at the airport. They also verify if you are allowed in with their new restrictions.
• Because of her complex needs, Navy was on a 1:1 ratio–one nurse, one baby. She is now on a 1:2 ratio, and it may even move to a 1:3. A lot of NICUs are that way, but we’ve been spoiled and it just changes the care and attention. 

I know a lot of people think that getting Corona themselves won’t be a big deal, and it won’t, but remember that if you spread it to someone who does land in the hospital, it does have a direct impact on Navy Rose. We believe social distancing will be enough to flatten the curve and keep people out of the ICU, which is why we are taking it seriously.