What is it like in the Pediatric ICU?

You have to have the clerks open the door for you to get into the PICU.

Emylie's current room has windows that if you stand on your tippy-toes you can see the Salt Lake Valley.

There is a slushy machine and an ice machine that makes the perfect ice...you know the kind you might drive to a specific gas station for

there are medical staff at every turn

parents some with eyes of fear, some with eyes of hope and some with eyes of excitement for they know they are taking their child home

there are tears of joy and sadness

there is the smell of soaps, towels, blankets, etc. that when you leave and smell later in life will bring back the feelings of the current stay

There are a lot of alarms. If you can imagine...Emylie had 6 IV pumps for meds, an iv fluid pump, pump for her milk, her ventilator and then the monitor for her heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate and oxygen saturations. Some pump alarms you get used to and you know they are minor...perhaps a medication needs a refill or her milk has run out. The alarms that you don't get used to are her vent alarm and the monitor alarms for her blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturations. When the monitor alarms go off, the alarm sounds in her room and then also in the hall where the nurses and therapists have desks. These ones make my stomach sick. If I step out of Emylie's room and walk down the hall to get water or use the restroom and hear the alarm overhead I get a pit in my stomach not knowing if Emylie is okay or not. When she was in a room with another child, you couldn't tell who's alarms were going off until you looked directly at the monitor. When you sleep you hear them but cannot see them.

There are cords....tubes....some more cords and more tubes.....
stuffed animals are used to prop legs and arms...

There are kind nurses, nurse practitioners, doctors, respiratory therapists, techs that all help to make a difference in your child's life. Emylie has been on droplet precaution, so when they come in her room they are supposed to wear a yellow gown, mask and gloves.

Caring family and friends stop by, call, text, email, send gifts and sweet valentines, etc. to give support...

There is a darling patient fighting as hard as she can to get better. Her parents, sisters, family, friends and even people we don't know praying every day for her. A little patient who is an amazing little girl who has made the world a better place and who is perfect and a dream come true.

A little girl who makes me so happy! I can't wait to get her back home.