All of our kids have been smiley, giggly, happy babies, but Breanna is all that plus just very content. She rarely fusses at all and most of the time is fine to just lay on the floor looking around while we’re busy with the other kids; she is such an easy baby – other than the medical problems! Her short life has been full of miracles and she just got another one. Last week, she got to do another sleep study to see if her supraglottalplasty had improved her breathing problems. She’s had lots of fasting and prayers on her behalf and we’ve always had faith that things would work out, but you just never know how long it’s going to take or what path you’re going to have to take to get there. When she had her surgery, the ENT had another specialist in the operating room with him. They both agreed that the small amount of extra tissue on her voice box would not cause all the problems she was having and were doubtful the surgery would help much, so we weren’t expecting a miracle yet.
Well, the results are in and show that she had very few dips in her oxygen saturation when they removed her oxygen tube, in fact, not enough to even be a concern. In the previous sleep study she had 97 breathing events an hour (she stopped breathing 97 times an hour) without her oxygen tube and this time it was reduced to 25, so now it’s looking like more of a sleep apnea issue. The doctor says he wouldn’t call it a home run since she still has 25 breathing events an hour while she’s sleeping, but probably a double or a triple. He wants her to stay on oxygen until she’s 10 months old to help lessen those breathing events but said that it’s not essential as it was before so we don’t have to be as panicky as we’ve been about the tube coming out from time to time as she’s starting to reach up and pull it out (that’s how she’s getting all those scratches on her face that you see in the picture). And he said that if she gets to where she can’t tolerate it any more (just keeps pulling it out), we can give him a call and discuss taking her off the oxygen before that 10 month appointment.
We’re not out of the woods yet since she still has a hole in her heart and we have to see if being on the oxygen has put too much stress on her heart but it’s definitely a step in the right direction that we’re happy about. And it means no more doctor appointments (and doctor bills!) until her cardiology appointment when she 9 months old. Thank you for all your prayers and we certainly wouldn’t mind if you keep them coming!
So glad things are looking better. Will continue to keep the whole family in my prayers. she is definitely a cutie!