Her first drugs

She wasn't breathing very well when she was first born so they intubated her and put her on a respirator.

We started learning about prostaglandins and dopamine. They were the first drugs administered. Prostaglandin is used to keep her patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) open. It normally seals off soon after birth, but in Ellie's case it needs to stay open so that both the right and left sides of her heart can pump blood through the body.

Dopamine is used to make her heart pump harder, in an effort to get that left ventrical to push blood better.