11 Days Old

Original Text of an E-mail from Douglas to Family/Friends

Alexandria and I had a long night.  She had one episode which was rough enough I called Kim.  When I say “called Kim” mean that literally.  She sleeps upstairs in our bed and since I insulated the interior walls you can’t hear anything between floors for the most part, at least not enough to wake you up.  We keep a cell phone on the bed upstairs and the house line by the chair (where we sit holding Alexandria during the night) so that should something happen we can literally call each other.  She had a cardiac/respiratory episode which lasted about 15 minutes.  Later that night she had another “odd” cardiac episode where her heart rate began to jump, down to 20, then back up to the 80s, back to 130, back down to 20, back to 130, then 50… it was all over the place.  Alex’s demeanor wasn’t changing either, her respiratory seemed fine, her pulse (just from an observational standpoint) didn’t seem that erratic.  I asked Kim to get my stethoscope (was my mothers, she was a nurse) and I listened to her heart.  She was hammering them out at a normal 130 bpm pace.  Upon inspection the sensors on her body had been moved (probably when I changed her 20 minutes prior).  Panic averted.

Dawn from hospice came by today.  I voiced again how she seems to be doing so well, so much better than when she was in the hospital.  She’s eating, she’s processing food well, etc.  She’s very good at bringing things back home.  She did so by explaining that although Alex is seemingly doing well now, she’s also growing.  Her organs are seemly working well now, but as she grows that may change.  I hadn’t even considered that.  I’m sure that’s what Dr. B was talking about as well, but it never occurred to me that as she grows her body will have trouble keeping up.