Prayer Request

Mercy has had a tougher day today. 

The main worry is that her belly is concerningly full of air, and it is trapped in her intestines. 

She has also had a lot more desaturation events, and many with a dropped heart rate as well, which, though common in preemies, is unusual for Mercy. 

The air is getting in her tummy from the added pressure of her bubble cpap. She needs the pressure to help keep her lungs open, which in turn helps her to breathe better and also promotes the lung growth that she desperately needs. Since they bumped up her pressure a few days ago, she's been saturating better and needing less supplemental oxygen. However, today she has struggled to maintain good oxygen levels even with the added pressure and has gone from 24-27% oxygen up to needing 34%. 

The docs tell us that her need for more respiratory support today could be in part because her belly is so distended: it's likely keeping her lungs from being able to fully expand. Or it could just be one of those "normal" preemie fluctuations- some days they just need more help. 

We keep asking what can be done to help keep air out of her belly and deal with what's already in there. Putting her on her belly and "just watching it" is pretty much all they've said so far, but they have been concerned enough to take an X-ray this morning and plan to do another this evening to monitor the situation. They always say "It's a fine balance" of what they do for her- one needed intervention creates problems in another area, but solutions to the new problems aren't always readily available. 

Ways to pray:

-That Mercy's intestines stay safe and healthy, that she can expel the air, and that somehow we can come up with a solution to not just keep on pumping air into her tiny little gut, while still supporting her respiratory needs. 

-That she is able to breathe well again, and that her heart functions well too.

-That Mercy's lungs will develop and grow miraculously well so we can ditch the Cpap and move on to less problematic respiratory support. High flow nasal cannula would be fantastic!!

-That our girl will pack on the grams and grow healthily in every way!

Here she is today, spending time on her tummy.