Gabi is 8 days old!

Hi Everyone
Well last night we hit another downhill slide. We had left the hospital at about 10:30pm and at about 11:15pm they called us at the Ronald McDonald House and told us to come back. Her oxygen was at 100% and her saturation levels dipped into the 40's, lower than on Sunday night. We really thought she was going to be with God. They had to bag her and she responded well. The doctor told us about dopamine which would raise her blood pressure and increase her blood profusion in her lungs. It was her only chance with only a few side effects (one of them being a hemorrhage of the brain) we decided to take the chance since we would know within an hour if it worked. Well it did! She was stable through the night and finally at 5am they sent us back to Ronald McDonald house to rest. We got about 5 hours of sleep last night and just spoke with the doctor. She is on a new ventilator, a jet ventilator, which puffs about 400 puffs of air per minute into her lungs. She has something called Pulmonary emphysema (sp?) and this will help retract her lungs to a normal state. She was on an oscillating ventilator which puffed over 1000 puff of air per minute. Later this afternoon they are going to start her on nitric oxide as well to help the lungs. Her Ultrasound of her belly showed know bleeding as well which is good. She is swollen from just the fluids she has been on. Her kidneys are good, and the nurses love it when she has "Gabi Poops!" And she has gained 3 oz so she is just over 1lb.

She is stable and is really giving us a run for our money. They kept telling us what a rollercoaster ride this was but words can't explain how emotionally draining this is for us. I know many of you want to do things for us. We are good as far as food goes for a couple of days. We have to save space since we share the refrigerator with the other families. What you can do is donate blood if you have 0+ blood. Here is what you do:
Go to the blood bank and say you would like to donate blood for Gabriella Bencomo
Tell them she is in the NICU at Florida Hospital Orlando and she is a preemie *they have to screen it and diffuse it specifically for preemies)
Her doctor is Dr. Goldberg.
Hopefully that is all the info they need, if it doesn't work please let me know and I will get you more info.
Another thing you can do is collect "pop tabs" for the Ronald McDonald House (soda tops). You can pick up the boxes at the Ronald McDonald house anytime. Put them in your office, church etc. They collect them for money. Anthony and I had no idea how much they do for families in need until we started staying there. They do have target registry under "RonaldMcdonaldHouseOrlando" for simple things like ziploc bags, soap, laundry detergent etc. Or you could also go to costco for bulk items to donate as well!!

I think thats about it! We found a family lounge in the NICU with a TV refrigerator and internet! Keep the prayers coming everyone.

Check out Gabi's new website. Thanks to Uncle Jay you can keep up to date on Gabi's progress.
Visit: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gabi