Intubation

Our biggest fear was realized when Charlotte woke up from a restful nights sleep and was unresponsive. She was shivering and unable to open her eyes. Laura was sleeping with Charlotte in her crib, and when they woke up and she immediately knew something was very wrong. Laura yelled for the nurse and the nurse checked Charlotte's oxygen saturation. It was 76%. Normal is 90-100. So, they turned Charlotte's oxygen way up and started fluids immediately. The intensive care team was called and Charlotte was transported to their unit. She started responding after they administered fluid. However, when the IV nurses came to place a line in Charlotte's foot for medications, Charlotte started crying hysterically and could not catch her breath. Her oxygen saturations started dropping rapidly again and the doctors decided they needed to intubate Charlotte and use a ventilator to help her breathe. The doctors have explained that Charlotte has gotten an infection which has caused "septic shock" which means bacteria has entered her blood stream and is causing a severe infection that is causing her organs to shut down. The tremendous stress has rendered Charlotte unable to breathe and she will rest while the ventilator breathes for her as her body heals from the infection.