This morning we awoke to find that Kinley’s lungs had tuckered out and the NICU staff had to quickly work there way up in levels of helping her breathe. As the day progressed, they slowly started to ween her off some of the assistance, starting with the amount of extra oxygen and other gasses she was being given.
We were told that this assistance isn’t all that uncommon. Kinley’s long journey home will likely be filled with hills and valleys. We’ll have to stand back and look at the overall trek and be careful to not to get too engrossed on individual steps — often it will be two forward, one back.
As a family, we did make progress today. Mom managed to get out of bed and eat a little something and these milestones earned her an afternoon wheelchair trip to see her daughter. It was moving to have our family together for the first time.
Late this evening, we graduated from the ICU to a standard recovery room.