She's "Flying!"

Step 1. Stop the sedation and wait for her to wake up. She was "snowed" so this took a bit. I was so excited for her to wake up. It felt like I was anticipating her being born.
Step 2. Wean ventilation. She picked up her own breathing and smiled at us.
Step 3. Remove breathing tube and apparatus.
Step 4. Wait. This was tough. I think they were thisclose to re-intubating. K was breathing really hard and grunting and arching her back. I was sure she wouldn't settle down. The nurses looked nervous. The doc kept coming in and advising that we wait it out. I was not confident. But then the head nurse changed Keira's dirty diaper and she settled to a much more tolerable level. Who knows how much that really had to do with it, but it was kinda funny.

Now she's resting. She has to be monitored very closely as she'll be withdrawing from narcotics. She'll likely be pretty cranky. I hope to get to hold her (finally- after over a week!) later today.