So we all know that Bella is a strong and stubborn kiddo, but tonight has really proven it even more.  They took her off the paralytic, and the plan is to just keep her as mildly sedated as possible until they can take her off the ventilator.  She feels, though, that the breathing tube, the NG tube, and all of the other i.v.'s are not part of her plan.  She has been fighting like crazy since they took her off the paralytic, so we had to sedate her a bit more.  My 12.7kg daughter needed 3 doses of fentanyl, one dose of methadone, one dose of atavan, and they will now be doing a morphine drip.  This would have knocked a 300lb. man into the next century, but my fighter took it all in without batting an eyelash.  It was finally the third dose of fentanyl that has allowed her to relax and "sleep".  I have a feeling that this is going to be a long night.  The good thing is that she was totally breathing over the ventilator, so hopefully we can have her weaned off it by tomorrow.  Even though she is stitched up, I still can't really hold her because of the breathing tube.  We'll get that pesky thing out of the way a.s.a.p. (if it were up to her it would be by midnight!).
She is now sleeping peacefully, and her vitals look great.  Hopefully the morphine drip will keep her level of sedation a bit more stable, and we can bring her around slowly as we wean her off the vent.  Let's hope for a little bit of sleep tonight...
By the way, has anyone noticed my excessive use of "we".  I refer to the fact that "we" are in the hospital, or "we" are giving Bella meds or some other treatment.  I am assuming that you all understand that Isabella is in the hospital, I am just along for the ride, and her doctors and nurses are performing all medically related tasks.  I will try to stop referring to myself as the main point of the story, and use the proper pronouns in the appropriate situations.