There was an accident today...

and that's the short of it.  Today overall was a very long day.  When we got up this morning, we called the NICU to check and see how Shiloh was doing with the "big boy vent."  Unfortunately, we did not hear the news we wanted to hear.  He was doing okay, but had made no progress toward getting off of the vent.  So, when we got to the NICU, we were already in a disgruntled and upset mood.  After we were there 10 minutes, a nurse walks in and asks if we are the Stricklands and informs us that the pediatric cardiologist is on the phone needing our number and needed to talk with me immediately.  I got on the phone having no idea why the heart doctor needed to talk with me for.  They had already scanned his heart several times and things looked good.  Now what were they going to tell me?

I picked up the phone and said hello.  The lady on the other end then asked me for Shiloh's full name, and then she wanted our First Care number.  That was it.  That was the entire important, "have to talk with me now" conversation.  They needed to make sure they were going to get paid!

I got off the phone even more frustrated and then the doctor came into the next room.  She said hi and took the other child's charts and went to go over them.  It seemed like we waited on her forever, but when she came in she asked what was going on.  LOL  I answered (kind of sarcastically), "Nothing unfortunately."  She then said, "He's stuck isn't he?  We're gonna get him unstuck!"  She then began to wean his vent a little.  She said we would watch those settings and they were going to put a peripheral arterial line in his wrist in order to draw more accurate blood gas readings to help in the weaning process.  She then left, but I felt better because something was being done and she was going to get more accurate for better results.

Carrie and I then made the trek to Babies R Us and Target.  We have been blessed through gifts from our church family, our family, and friends with enough extra money that we could go and buy most of the necessities we will need when Shiloh comes home today.  Since we have no idea really how soon that could be, we needed to be prepared, and getting these things done makes us feel like we're doing something!

As we stood in Babies R Us, my phone rang and I saw the number: the NICU.  I took a deep breath and answered the phone.  This is the NICU side of the conversation (just imagine a bunch of uh huh's for me).  "Mr. Strickland, this is Nurse from NICU.  I needed to call and let you know that when Doctor was trying to put the arterial line in his hand, she accidentally extubated him.  We aren't immediately putting him back on the vent.  We are going to watch him on the nasal cannulas for a while.  I am not saying he won't be going back on the vent, but for now he is off."  Yeah, that was the conversation.

Of course, Carrie wanted to run back over there, but we stopped and talked about it.  We wanted to wait to be sure what was happening before getting our hopes up.  So, we finished the shopping and waited until the 8pm window to see him.  When we got there, he was still off of the vent.  He was being given his last round of antibiotics, and he seemed to be doing good.  They will be doing another blood gas at 3am which will determine whether or not he stays off the vent or goes back on.

Tonight was a wonderful night due to a happy accident.  Carrie got to change his diaper.  We got to hear him cry.  He opened his eyes a lot more.  Now we are holding our breath and praying until 3am.  This blood gas determines a lot.  So here are our prayer requests:

1. Pray for a good blood gas at 3am.  If we achieve that, we will not need the ventilator anymore
2. pray advances stay advances
3. Pray that Carrie can be comfortable staying in the 5th wheel so she can be there full time
4. Pray for our travels

Thank you all for your prayer and support

BTW.  Here is a picture of our day!