Weight- 630 grams
Belly Circumference- 19.5cm
Oxygen- Same, except I have what daddy calls my fighter pilot mask because my nose was getting squished
Feeds- Back on for now at a very low and slow rate!
Disposition- Back in fighting shape
Today was much better.
Much much better.
After a night of bad dreams, many tears and fears, Juan and I went early to see how our baby girl was doing. And to our surprise, she was almost a new baby...Her episodes have cut way back for now and she is waking herself up more and more instead of relying on the nurses. A huge relief. So for now the biphasic C-PAP is holding steady and keeping my girl's lungs moving along. The doctors felt that she could probably restart her tube feedings and after a few she was still doing well. We are going pretty low and slow with those. She also had a substantial poopie. And in micropreemie world, poop is a HUGE deal.
We finally got her PICC line in. For those that don't know, a PICC line is a big IV that goes into your arm or leg and then travels up veins and stops ideally pretty close to the heart. These are great because they feed into the larger veins that are stronger in babies Prudence's size. Prudence's line didn't make it in as close to the heart as they hoped so it is more of a deep IV than a true PICC line, but they feel that it will definitely hold better than the little peripheral IV's that she has and save her vasculature a little bit.
She opened up those big eyes several times today and we actually got to see her without her little mask on her face for a few minutes while they changed out her mask, but I won't post the pictures here because her face looked kinda squished and funny. But we did get to see her head full of dark dark hair again and delight in her little features you can't see with all the straps and what not.
The best part of the day was when the nurse asked me when I wanted to hold her. WHAT!?!?!?!? We went from no you can't because she is unstable to 12 hours later leaving it up to me. I was elated. I sat with her for over an hour this afternoon. It was delightful holding her, breathing in her smell, feeling her little body move against mine. Hearing every soft grunt and sigh and hiccup. Cataloging each delicious moment until it was time for her to go back to her womb with a view.
Then we took an evening and came home to spend time with Lucy. Much needed time with my beautiful big girl. We watched Lilo and Stitch, and painted, and laughed and giggled and had a wonderful afternoon together. I got the first glimpse of Prudence's newborn pictures and it sent me over the moon and made me cry. We got a wonderful home cooked meal compliments of my mom, who has been our biggest supporter, advocate, cleaner, cooker, shoulder to cry on and cheerleader for Prudence in all this. I love you mom. It was a peaceful, happy day.
Tomorrow is the one week mark. That means the big daunting cranial ultrasound. We have been told that this test is a big deal in how the coming weeks are going to look. It will check to see if Prudence has any bleeding in her brain. If she does it will be monitored closely in case they need to place a shunt to drain the excess fluid. Which would mean surgery. Yucky surgery.
Today Juan and I were discussing Psalm 139. Many people are probably very familiar with it. "For I am fearfully and wonderfully made." God knows Prudence. Inside and out. In ways that I can't dream. He knew that she was ready to come into this world and take it head on. And he is walking beside her through micropreemie world, as I know he is with all the other babies. It is so hard sometimes to not ask why. Why was she born so early? Why couldn't they stop the labor? Why me? Such selfish questions. Instead, we try to remind ourselves daily that this isn't a burden to bear. It is an honor to walk down this road. Prudence is so strong and so awe inspiring that it is an honor to be her mother, early or not. So far this has united Juan and I in a way I never thought possible. It has taught us to cherish the small things instead of getting caught up with the drag of day to day. And it has taught us that we don't understand very much in this world. You just have to trust and walk forward in faith instead of hiding behind impossible questions.
Please pray that all go well with the cranial ultrasound tomorrow and that Prudence continues to stay strong and grow. Pray that Lucy and I have a good morning together on our "date" day. Pray for Juan as he restarts his school work in effort to finish his degree. Pray that the peaceful days continue.
Good night from micropreemie world!
No comments:
Post a Comment