Closing In...

Emma has had a couple more good days since I last wrote on Sunday night.  I believe she was on 7.5ml of milk at that time, and as of 8pm this evening, she is now on 12ml of milk every 3 hours.  So she's now over a daily total of 3 ounces!!  Go Emma Go!!  Due to this vast increase in her food intake, she's starting to pack on some weight as well.  She's now up to 1 pound 15 ounces, a mere one ounce shy of 2 pounds.  Hopefully before the week is out she'll reach that milestone.  But again, we'll take this one day at a time.

She was having a little difficulty breathing yesterday so they had to slightly increase the pressure on her nasal cannula.  It wasn't a big increase, but pretty much instantly it helped calm her down last night and she went right to sleep.  She's still nowhere near the pressure she was receiving on the CPAP.  Her little lungs still aren't mature yet.  Tomorrow she'll be 32 weeks gestational age, which is where they say the lungs are typically viable.  But still, in 2 weeks of life she's been on a ventilator for only 24 hours.  That's pretty darn good for someone her size.

This whole adventure is definitely a learning experience.  We learn more and more every day.  Her heart rate was a little elevated at times tonight when we were there with her and the nurse said it could have been a little reflux.  The increase in her feeds is a good thing but again, it's just another example of a necessary evil.  They have to increase her feeds to help her gain weight and also to help her get off the IV fluids (which she's still on track for tomorrow at 6pm for that) but she may be having a little discomfort in the form of reflux.  Her big sister had reflux as well when she was a baby, so we already know that it's totally normal.  But she's still digesting her feeds very well so they're going to continue to increase them per the feeding protocol that she's on.  Increasing her intake will help her gain weight, which will help her put some fat on her frame, which will help her regulate her own body temperature.  That's the long term goal.  Each day increasing the feeds is the short term goal.  So we're taking it one day at a time, but we know that the doctors and nurses have the big picture in mind as well.

So the reflux and the slight increase in the nasal cannula pressure are just minor setbacks and we're very encouraged with the progress she's made up to this point.  We are sticking strong to our stance of being cautiously optimistic.  I don't think any baby has ever had a completely positive experience in the NICU, not one born at Emma's size and age anyway.  We are very aware of that, and because of that we are able to keep the positive attitude we have.  Knowing that Emma is in a world class facility getting care from some of the smartest people on the planet helps give us peace of mind.  And I'm not just saying that because she's at UNC and I'm a UNC grad!  These people really are geniuses.  They do this each and every day of their life. They're very passionate about their work and it shows in the care that Emma receives there.  We couldn't say enough nice things about the folks there.

Finally, we want to say thank you to everyone reading this for the prayers, but especially to our families.  You guys have bent over backwards to help us out recently.  There is absolutely no way we would make it through this ordeal without you.  You've kept us positive, you've kept us sane, and you've been absolutely amazing every step of the way.  Emma is definitely going to be spoiled with the love of her entire family when she comes home.  So thank you guys so much.  We love all of you!!

Status Quo

Uneventful is good, as I said last night.  Today Emma was a good patient again for the doctors and nurses at the NICU.  She kept up her trend of increasing her feedings.  She's up to 7.5ml per feeding today and tomorrow morning the plan is to increase her again to at least 8ml.  Also, as planned, they began fortifying her feeds today to add more nutrients to it.  The average caloric intake for an ounce of Mommy's milk is 20 calories.  They are starting off slowly with the fortification, making each ounce 22 calories.  I believe the plan is to slowly increase that as they also decrease the amount of IV fluids she take each day.  As previously stated, she should be completely off of IV fluids by Wednesday of this week.  She gained another ounce today, so she's now up to 1 pound 12 ounces, 6 ounces higher than her low weight.  That's right in line with their goal of adding an ounce to her frame every day.  So all in all, another good day for Emma today.

This was a big weekend for Emma.  She got to see all 4 of her grandparents, her aunt, and her sister twice!  Not to mention Mommy and Daddy.  All agreed that she seems to be filling out her tiny frame nicely as she packs on the "OZ's"...a phrase properly coined by the one and only Mommy.  Her chest and stomach definitely look to be beefier and her little arms and legs, and even her face appear to be plumping some as the days go on.  Britne and I see her every day, but even we can tell a difference.  We're so proud of our little fighter!!

I'm keeping this one short tonight, it's been a long week and the thought of having to face a Monday morning tomorrow is making me even more exhausted.  I hope all of you folks have a great night!  Thanks again for all your prayers.  I can't state enough how appreciated and important they are to us.

First Contact

At this stage in the game, an uneventful day is a good day.  Emma behaved herself wonderfully today.  Following her blood transfusion yesterday, she followed that up today with having zero A's and B's.  In terms of Emma alone, the big event today was the increase in her feedings both this morning and this evening.  This morning they increased her to 6.5ml of milk and tonight they upped it again to 7ml.  She's up to almost 2 ounces a day at that pace, a far cry from her initial pace of 1 ounce every 4 days.  The increase in her feedings is already paying dividends.  Little Emma has packed on a few ounces and is now up to 1 pound 11 ounces!!  After being born at 1 pound 9 ounces, she dipped all the way down to 1 pound 6 ounces last weekend.  Since then she's definitely trended in the right direction.  Here's hoping that trend continues!

As I mentioned a few days ago, they will begin fortifying her milk tomorrow.  That is, they are going to add calories to it to help her gain a few more ounces.  They've informed us that if she keeps tolerating her increased feedings, they expect her to be completely off of IV fluids by Wednesday and she will be getting all of her nutrients from her milk, so fortifying it will help even more.  The substance they use to fortify the milk will contain extra protein, fat, and carbohydrates, all the building blocks for gaining weight!  This little girl is going to be on the anti-Atkins diet.  It will also contain other essential nutrients such as calcium to help develop her bones better and grow even more.

She got some good time again with Mommy today.  The two spent an hour and fifteen minutes cuddled together in a recliner for what they call kangaroo time, which is what I've described before as the skin to skin contact.  This contact is beneficial for both Emma and Britne as it helps develop the bond between mother and daughter.  I've also gotten to do it a couple times myself, and it is amazing.

So through all that today with no A's and B's, the increased feedings, the weight gain, and the kangaroo time with Mommy, the absolutely thrilling highlight of the day was Emma and her big sister Eden holding hands for the first time ever.  The nurse who is in charge of taking care of Emma tonight was nice enough to allow Eden to sanitize her hands and reach into the isolette and touch little Emma's tiny hand.  It was one of the most touching moments of my life.  Eden put her finger on Emma's hand and Emma wrapped her tiny little fingers around Eden's finger.  It was brief, but she definitely grabbed her big sister's finger.  Eden grinned from ear to ear.  She loves her little sister so much.

Emma continues to fight hard.  It amazes us every day just how hard this little girl is working.  As Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”  She's going to be one tough cookie, Eden better watch out!  Eden's pretty tough herself though, so we are in for some battles over the years to come.  Thanks again to all of you folks out there who are praying for not only Emma, but our whole family.  We wouldn't have the strength to go through this without you guys.

Harmful Benefits

You might recall the other day I posted about Emma's CPAP.  It was great for providing support to her little lungs, but was also pushing air into her stomach, making it difficult for her to be regular.  Well, another such situation reared its ugly head this morning.  They have to test Emma's blood daily to make sure everything is looking good and make adjustments in her IV fluids when things get a little off.  All of these blood tests are great at letting the doctors know what adjustments need to be made, but they also deplete her blood supply.  Our red blood cells are made in the bone marrow.  When we lose some blood, the bone marrow simply makes more to replenish our supply.  In a preemie this is just another example of something that is immature.  The bone marrow hasn't fully matured to the point of being able to create enough red blood cells to make up for the amount they withdraw every day, so she will need a little boost to help her with this.  And this morning, Emma received a blood transfusion.

The doctors briefly talked to me about this yesterday, but did not indicate that anything was this imminent.  So when Britne received a phone call this morning asking for her consent to give Emma this transfusion, we were a little shocked and scared.  But due to the big bad book on preemies they gave us yesterday, and a good friend who has gone through this exact same thing with his oldest child being born premature, our fears were quickly resolved.  Thanks J!  It's very common for preemies to have to get blood transfusions due to the fact that they have immature bone marrow, as I mentioned above.  There is a medicine they can give instead, but transfusions are faster acting.  They solve the problem pretty much immediately.  The red blood cells are responsible for delivering oxygen to the body, so this should also help reduce the amount of apnea spells she has.  There was apparently an increase in those episodes over the 24 hours leading up to her transfusion, so that coupled with the low count they received when they tested her blood led to the decision to go ahead and go forward with the procedure.

This is just another example of things that we had no idea we were getting into.  Each day is more and more of a learning experience and we hear more stuff from the doctors and nurses every day.  We know they've been through this a million times and for them to sit down and tell us everything to expect would not only take too long, but it would scare us even more because some of the things they've seen with other kids will not happen to Emma.  All kids are different and move along at their own pace.  We wish there was a cheat sheet, but unfortunately there isn't.  We just have to keep learning on the fly with the understanding that the doctors and nurses are NOT learning as they go.  They have seen it before, they know how to handle it, and they have everything under control.  It's a difficult thing for a parent to do to place your child's life in someone else's hands.  But in this situation, we simply have no other choice.

Emma was in great spirits when we got there early this evening, though.  The nurse told us that since the transfusion she had zero apnea and bradycardia episodes, so it seems that the transfusion did indeed help with that as they indicated it should.  Both Britne and I got to hold her tonight, which was downright awesome.  Britne held her for about an hour and a half and then I held her for about an hour.  She was getting a little uncomfortable near the end of that, as I'm pretty sure that's the longest she's ever been out of her isolette.  But it was great that they let both of us hold her.  And as soon as they put her back in her isolette she calmed right back down and was doing great.

Both Britne and I looked at her today and agreed that she seems to really be starting to fill out some.  She gained another 20 grams this evening, so maybe there is something to our perception.  They upped her feeds again this morning to 4.5ml each feeding and then at the 8pm feeding tonight they increased it again to 5ml.  This gradual increase will continue every day for quite a while as long as Emma tolerates it and continues digesting her milk well.

So a day that got off to a rocky start quickly calmed down and turned out to be another good day.  Brit and I both thought that she looked better today than she did yesterday.  Her eyes were open very wide, the widest I've ever seen them open.  Even though we were a bit concerned when they mentioned a blood transfusion, it seems to really have perked her up.  She reacted well to it and had a great day afterwards!  Hopefully she'll enjoy seeing her big sister again tomorrow.  I know Eden will be excited to see her.  Thanks for the concern and the continued prayers!  We all appreciate it, especially little Emma.  Goodnight everyone!

The ABC's of Preemies

Emma's older sister Eden is so excited that she's learned her ABC's.  She sings them all the time and ecourages Britne and myself, and frankly anyone else who is around her, to sing with her.  She's so proud of herself for learning them, and we must say that we are proud of her as well.  Emma, being a preemie, is working on a different kind.  Instead of the ABC's, it's just the A's and B's.  That stands for apnea (when the baby stops breathing) and bradycardia (a decreased heart rate), which is very, very common in premature babies.  In fact, 80% of babies born before 30 weeks of gestation have this problem.  In most cases it gradually becomes better and resolves itself prior to 36 to 38 weeks gestational age.  It's considered mild if the following criteria are met:  the baby doesn't stop breathing for 20 seconds (try holding your breath for 20 seconds and see how tough that is), her heart rate doesn't dip below 60 beats per minute, she resolves it on her own by beginning to breathe again, and she has fewer than 10 to 12 a day.  So far, Emma meets all the criteria for mild A's and B's.  She's having about 4 to 6 episodes a day and each time she's resolved it on her own without any intervention.

It is very nerve wracking to be in the NICU spending time with her and look up at the beeping monitor and realize that her respiratory rate is 0 and her heart rate is dropping.  You're looking around wondering why all the nurses are just sitting at their computers charting or doing whatever it is they're doing instead of rushing to help your child come out of one of these episodes.  But the reason they have that job and the parents don't is because they have years and years of not only training, but dealing with this on a daily basis.  One such occurrence happened to me this afternoon when I went to visit Emma.  I was just standing there watching her when all of a sudden one of the alarms on her monitor started to beep.  I looked up to realize that she had stopped breathing and her heart rate was dropping...117, 102, 85.  Finally, 2 nurses who were covering for Emma's nurse, who happened to be on her lunch break at the time, came casually walking over, one of them saying to the other "She's bradying."  The second they made it over to Emma's isolette, she resolved this herself and started breathing again, and I watched as her heart rate climbed back up to its normal 140 to 150 rate (yes, that does seem high as the normal adult heart rate is about 60 - 90 beats per minute, I believe, but it's totally normal for young babies).  The nurses wait to intervene not only because they realize better than the parents when it's time to be alarmed, but because it's good for the baby to learn how to come out of these episodes on their own.

About 5 minutes later, the doctors were making their rounds and were so excited to report that since the increase in her caffeine the day before she'd had no more bradies.  I was a little disappointed to have to tell them that she'd just had one.  But that was the first one she'd had all day, and the first she'd had since 4pm the day before.  She did have a few more after that a little later in the afternoon, but she was still under the 10 per day that raises an alarm from the doctors.  Britne was with her later in the afternoon and said her heart rate didn't even drop below 100 on any of the ones she observed.  So Emma is still going along as expected.

Dr. Price, the chief in charge of the NICU, was one of the doctors who was making rounds when I was there this afternoon.  After he'd gotten the full update from the nurse practitioner on Emma's overall condition, he turned to me and said "We are still cautiously optimistic.  As you know things can change in an instant in premature babies, but up to this point, she's done exceedingly well."  That was a big boost for me, and it put a smile on my face about as wide as I can possibly imagine!  Still, he prefaced everything by saying that he and the entire team remain cautiously optimistic.  Emma's Mother and I share that same stance.  We know that at the drop of a hat anything can happen, but we cherish each and every good report we get from the doctors.  We know that we haven't had our last bad report, but that doesn't make the good ones any less enjoyable.

As I mentioned last night, they increased Emma from 1ml of milk every 3 hours to 2ml.  Well this morning they increased her again to 2.5ml.  She tolerated that increase very well, and the plan, as it was told to Britne, was to increase her again this evening at her 8pm feeding to 3ml.  I called for an update at around 8:45 and her nurse told me that they had indeed increased her feeds again, but it was to 3.5ml, even more than they'd told Britne they would give her. 

They weigh Emma every night, sometimes they weigh her prior to her 8pm feeding, sometimes prior to her 11pm feeding.  It all depends on which nurse she has that night.  Last night when they weighed her she was up to 710 grams, up 40 grams from the day before.  That's a little over an ounce gained, and more importantly, it's 2 grams more than her birth weight of 708 grams.  There are approximately 450 grams in a pound, so there's about 28 grams in an ounce.  So a gain of 40 grams is nearly an ounce and a half.  At this point they want the babies to average a weight gain of around an ounce a day, because that's the average gain they would have in Mommy's womb at this gestational age.  So they have a protocol they follow for increasing her milk intake that coincides with their goals of increasing her weight.  In the next few days, definitely before the weekend is out, they will begin fortifying her milk with a supplement to add a few calories to it.  They've told us that Mommy's milk usually averages 20 calories per ounce (again, an ounce is 30 ml, so Emma's still well shy of that volume every feeding) and the substance they add to it will increase that count to 24 to 26 calories per ounce.  This will all aid Emma in adding some weight to her tiny little frame.  It's completely normal, they do it in all babies in the NICU.  They reassured Brit and myself of that yesterday afternoon.

I know that was a lot of information for one post, but the hospital gave us a book yesterday called "Preemies:  The Essential Guide for Parents of Premature Babies."  It's basically an encyclopedia of everything that can happen during a stay in the NICU.  They have encouraged us to read only the parts of the book that pertain to our current situation.  It's got a lot of information in it, and much like googling stuff, if you look up everything, you're going to find stuff that scares the daylights out of you.  But since Emma's been having some episodes of apnea and bradycardia, I looked that up in this book tonight, hence the extraordinarily long post.  All in all, it was another positive day for Emma.  We remain, as they tell us to, cautiously optimistic.  Taking this experience one day at a time is the only way to do it.  I sometimes find myself thinking ahead, then I have to remind myself not to do that.  We never know what's just around the corner.  But so far we're 9 days in, and we're very, very proud of the strides Emma has made.  Keep fighting little girl!!  Your strength is what is keeping us going.  We love you!

Moving Again

Today was a pretty good day for Emma.  She had a couple of teeny tiny bowel movements, and due to that the doctors and nurses decided to start feeding her again.  Not only that, but they upped the amount like they had previously discussed.  Now instead of 1ml of milk at a time, she's receiving 2ml of milk.  For a little perspective, there are 30ml in one ounce, so in 2 days she gets a little over an ounce.  Eden had an ounce over her first 2 feedings of her life.  Now Emma is getting that amount over 2 days.  Nonetheless, it is still progress and we are very excited about it.  We just hope that she tolerates the increase as well as she can.

She is also handling the nasal cannula as opposed to the CPAP pretty well, but she has had a couple spells where she drops her heart rate a little bit.  She hasn't had many, and she hasn't dropped it to any dangerous level.  But this is telling the doctors that she still needs a little help, so they have decided to increase her caffeine intake.  She's been getting a small dose of caffeine every afternoon and it's not uncommon at all for them to have to increase it when they take away the CPAP.  And like I said before, just because the CPAP is currently gone does not necessarily mean it is gone for good.  So they are going to see how she responds to the caffeine and go from there.  If they have to put her back on the CPAP they will.  Hopefully they don't, but if they do, they do.

Mommy got a chance to hold her again today.  Little Emma was cozy and nuzzled in for a good long while.  She was there for about 2 hours!  I think both Mommy and Emma were pretty happy with this time together.  They both look pretty cozy, don't you think?  It's really neat the way the nurses get her all prepared and then place her directly on your skin the way they do.  Emma seems to really love it.  According to the doctors and nurses it is very helpful for her development.  We have been encouraged to do this every day.  Once she is a little bit bigger they will probably encourage us to do it more than once a day but for now they still only want to move her once every day.

That's about all the updates we received today.  We are very pleased with how Emma did today.  She's a good girl!  Goodnight everyone.

1 Step Forward...

From the beginning of Emma's stay in the NICU, the doctors and nurses have been preparing us for setbacks.  They keep warning us that babies in the NICU take 1 step forward and 2 steps back.  Emma took a giant step forward today, they took her off of the CPAP.  She's still got a nasal cannula, but she's still getting just room air and the pressure going into her nose is much lower than when she was on the CPAP.  She's tolerating it very well, keeping her blood oxygen up and keeping her heart rate up as well. 

Now for the 2 steps back that they've been warning us about.  The CPAP was doing a great job helping her breathe, but unfortunately it seems to have been pumping too much air into her stomach as well.  Her bowels aren't working very well, and because of that they have decided to hold her feeds until she can get a little more regular.  It is a very common problem in babies her size.  Their little tummies are just very immature and need some time to get working properly.  She last had a meal on Monday at 5pm.  And this was when they were talking about the possibility of actually increasing her food intake as soon as today.  We are a little disappointed, but we can't say they didn't warn us!  The nurse practitioner told us today that if things weren't going wrong they would be worried because that is how it is always is with these babies.

The sincere hope is that with the removal of the CPAP they will be able to get her little tummy working properly again.  They're not concerned at this point that it is anything serious, but they will watch her very closely.  They're keeping her comfortable with IV fluids and she doesn't even know she's hungry due to the nutrients they're giving her through those fluids.  And she was still able to gain an ounce today over where her weight was yesterday!  She's almost back up to her birth weight now, just one week after her birth. 

Britne has gotten to hold her the last couple of days, and tonight it was my turn.  They took her out of her isolette and placed her directly on my chest, where she stayed for about an hour.  The first 20 or so minutes she was looking up at me with her eyes open, and then she went right to sleep for the remainder of the time.  And she even had a little production from her bowels while she was there!  It wasn't enough for them to re-institute the feedings, but hopefully that little bit will get things moving and she can get back to eating again and keep her weight trending in the right direction.

So we know that what's going on right now is completely normal and we're not alarmed.  The doctors have assured us that if there were something to worry about, they would tell us.  But it is definitely an emotional roller coaster having a kid in the NICU.  Just when things are starting to look up, something happens that brings you back down.  We know that this pattern will probably continue for quite a few weeks, but with time the good days will far out number the bad days.  We look forward to those days, but we know that we have the strength to make it through these tougher times.  That's due in large part to the outpouring of support and prayers from everyone we know.  So thank you guys for everything.  We could not make it through this without you!

Another Update

Monday was another good day for little Emma.  The pressure on her CPAP machine was reduced to its lowest level and the next step would be to remove it completely.  That may happen today, it may not.  It will depend on how the doctors feel she handles the reduced pressure.  And if they do remove it there is no guarantee that it will stay away.  They could have to put it back at some point in the future.  They are hoping that they will be able to remove it for many reasons, including the fact that they feel that it could be contributing to her not digesting her food as well as they would like so taking it away should help with that.  Her tummy is still very immature obviously and that could also be a contributing factor.  But removing the CPAP would be a huge accomplishment for our little girl.

We will see what today holds!  With a preemie you just never know, and the doctors and nurses are quick to remind us of that every day.  While they are very encouraged by her progress to this point, they are definitely cautiously optimistic as well.  They do continue to provide encouraging words.  They keep us informed of her progress and the potential developments to come.

Emma has reached the age of 1 week old now!  Happy 1 week birthday little girl!!  You've already fought more in your life than some folks do in an entire lifetime!!  Keep it up baby.  We love you!

More Positive Developments

Today was another positive day for little Emma.  The poor little girl has been getting poked and prodded because they've had to keep moving her IV so that they can deliver nutrients to her other than what comes from her milk.  Well this morning they finally got a central line put in.  The way it was explained to us is that they go in through a vein in her arm and feed a catheter up to near her heart.  This is a very efficient way to get the IV fluids to her and the best part is it is a permanent line in that they will not have to keep moving it like they had to move her IV.  She will have this line until she starts getting bigger feeds and they can remove the line altogether.  We don't know how long that will be, and from the sounds of it the doctors and nurses don't know either.  It all goes back to kids developing at different paces.  Even the little ones are like that.  They go at their own pace.  As the head doctor in charge of the NICU, Dr. Price, told us, Emma is in charge.  They will listen to her and do what she tells them she needs.

She got a visit today from her big sister again.  Little Eden was excited to see her!  The other day when Eden visited, Emma was laying on a bilirubin blanket that was a neon green colored blanket.  Well, yet another positive development is that her jaundice has gone away, so the blanket has also disappeared.  So Eden's first question today was "Where's the green Emma?"  Eden got to spend about 30 minutes with her little sister before she got a little tired and hungry so we had to leave.

Emma's Mommy stayed behind and visited with her a little longer and she held her again today for the second time.  Instead of skin to skin contact they swaddled Emma and Brit held her in her arms.  Her little body isn't ready to regulate its own temperature though so they had to put her back into her incubator, or as they call it, an isolette.  Her isolette is one designed to create humidity so that she won't lose as much fluid.  She doesn't have a lot of weight to lose, so anything they can do to help her avoid it, they're going to do.

So all in all, this was a pretty positive weekend for Emma.  Here's hoping she starts packing on some pounds pretty soon, or at least a few ounces!  Just like full term kids, it's normal for preemies to lose weight in the first week or so of life.  On Tuesday she'll be a week old so we're hoping that she'll start to turn it around in the next few days.  So keep the prayers coming folks!  Emma's a fighter but she can use all the help she can get!

Saturday, July 21

Like I mentioned the other day, 21 is our lucky number.  Our good luck with that number continued today.  Britne got to hold Emma today for the first time.  The hospital encourages skin to skin contact and they had Emma lay on Britne's chest this afternoon.  She was a bit angry when the nurse was moving her, but the second they placed her on Mommy she stopped crying and was very calm the entire time Brit was holding her.  Hopefully I will get to hold her tomorrow.  They only like to move her once a day since she's still so little and Mommy definitely gets first dibs at holding her!  When she gets bigger we'll both get chances to hold her every day, but for now, only one move every day.

The nurses in the hospital told us this morning that we were welcome to stay as long as we liked so we took full advantage of that.  We didn't leave the hospital until 10:00 pm this evening.  It was definitely difficult to leave her there, but at the same time we know that is the best place for her.  The only place for her at this point.  We'll go back every day, starting tomorrow morning.  We're going to take her big sister back for another visit.

Goodnight everyone!

Emma Meets Her Sister

Today was an exciting day for little Emma.  On our first visit to the NICU this morning to see her, we were told that the plan for the day was to extubate her.  A little after her 2pm feeding, they took the breathing tube out.  We got back in there to see her right after this happened, and she was a little mad!  She was kicking and throwing little punches and crying.  We were a little concerned by this, but the respiratory therapist that was in the room at the time told us that he was very happy to see that.  He explained that it means she's fighting!  She calmed down rather quickly and seems to be adjusting back to life on the C-Pap rather well.

A little later in the day her big sister Eden came to visit her.  Mommy and Daddy took Eden down to the NICU around 5pm this afternoon and she got her first look at baby Emma.  Eden was very excited to see her.  She told Emma that she loved her and kept repeating "She's sleeping Daddy."  Eden calls her Emma Rae.  She also says "That's my sister.  That's not Mommy's sister, that's my sister!  That's Emma Rae."

Another positive development for little Emma today was her bilirubin levels dropped.  High bilirubin means they have jaundice and hers was quite elevated for the first couple days of her life.  They had a very bright bilirubin light shining on her and she was laying on a lighted blanket as well.  Well, they took away the lights today so all that she has left right now is the blanket.  She's continuing to excel in a lot of ways and we are very proud of her.  She's tougher than we are, that's for sure!

Tomorrow is going to be a tough day for us.  The hospital is discharging Britne and we are going to have to go home and leave our little girl here.  It wouldn't be as bad if we lived closer, but we're 45 minutes to an hour away from here, depending on traffic.  I still think we'll find a way to make it over here pretty much every day and spend a good amount of time with her.  But we won't be able to just go see her whenever we want.  I'm sure we'll get used to it, but we are dreading it for now.  So keep us in your prayers along with little Emma. 

Emma update

There was good news and a little less than encouraging news today. Emma had her first meal today. She had one ml of milk at 8am and then again every 3 hours thereafter. Her little tummy is tolerating it as well as can be expected. That amount will be the norm for about a week or so before they start to increase her intake.

Little Emma was working too hard though so they did have to intubate her today. Per the doctors they want to give her surfactant which is a substance our lungs naturally produce. But given the fact that she has immature lungs, they have to give her a little boost. Once she's gotten all the medicine she needs they will be able to take the breathing tube out. Plus with her working so hard she was burning too many calories. She needs rest to help her put on some weight. I'd give her a few pounds of my body fat if I could! But she's getting some rest and looks very peaceful this evening.

Overall Emma is doing very well. They totally expected to have to intubate her. In fact the first time I saw her the nurse told me that she figured it would happen in her first couple hours of life. So the fact that she made it 48 hours shows how much of a fighter she is. Her older sister's favorite phrase (other than No) is "I do it myself!!". Emma seems to have adopted that same outlook already. I can already see the battles between those two that lie ahead in the years to come. And I look forward to all of it!

Britne and I know that there are a lot of folks out there praying for little Emma. The gratitude that we feel for it cannot be expressed. Please keep the prayers coming. Emma has a long road ahead and any help she can get is great! We love you guys!!

Happy Birthday Emma

On January 21, Britne and I found out the wonderful, exciting news: we were expecting our 2nd child. A month shy of our oldest daughter's 2nd birthday! We said a quick prayer and went to church! 21 has been our lucky number. Britne's birthday is August 21. Mine is December 21. Eden's is February 21. Now on January 21 we got this welcome news.

A few months later we found out that the second baby is another girl. Our joy lasted for quite a few weeks as we planned for her September 26 arrival (but we all knew it would be September 21). Then on July 5 we received terrifying news: our little angel growing inside mommy wasn't growing enough. She was deemed a growth restricted baby estimated to be 1 pound 7 ounces. The normal weight for a baby at 28 weeks is about 2 pounds 4 ounces, nearly a full pound more than our little Emma.

The plan from there was to monitor the baby weekly and estimate her weight again every 3 weeks. So a week later we went back for another ultrasound which Emma passed with flying colors, scoring a perfect 8 out of 8 on a biophysical examination. But Britne pointed out to the doctor the fact that her feet had swollen. A quick blood pressure check for mommy was followed by a quick drive to Chapel Hill and the UNC hospital where we were told soon thereafter that Brit would remain until the baby came, no matter how soon or long it would be.

Fast forward to July 17. Brit's vitals and those of the baby had held steady for the entire time we'd been at UNC, but a couple spikes in Britne's blood pressure and we were told that July 17 would be our baby's birthday. We had about a million different emotions at that point, but we were robbed of the excitement of the moment that every parent should get with the birth of a child. It was replaced by fear for Emma because at 29 weeks 6 days she should have had many more weeks to prep for the outside world.

But at 3pm that afternoon Brit was wheeled into the operating room. A few minutes later the nurses came and got me to join her. Then at 3:22 Emma Rae Gleason joined the world. She weighed 1 pound 9 ounces. Those first few moments were absolutely terrifying. We were waiting to hear that beautiful sound of Emma crying. It took a minute or two but she finally did cry. We both breathed a sigh of relief!

Before we could see her they whisked her away to the Newborn Critical Care Center (NCCC). They got her all hooked up to the different machines that will help keep her alive for the weeks to come. I got to go back and see her about an hour later but due to the C-Section Brit couldn't see her for about 24 hours. I'm sure that was just agonizing for her but I kept her updated the best I could during that time.

Emma is and has been breathing on her own with a tiny little C-Pap machine to just help force the air along. It's been explained to us that the part of the brain that reminds us to breathe isn't fully developed in babies delivered at her gestational age so the C-Pap assists her with that. Overall Emma is doing very well for a baby of her size and age. They have told us that she is excelling for her age. Obviously there is a long road ahead but we are very optimistic and hopeful for the future. No indications have been given as to when we can expect to take her home because all babies grow and develop differently so at this point it's just a guessing game. But we are just going to take it one day at a time.

We plan to use this blog to keep everyone updated with Emma's progress. We will need to lean on many people for support during this very difficult and trying time in our life. We know we have a wonderful support system surrounding us. As scared as we are about the future we are very excited to have another baby girl. So happy birthday Emma, one day late. We love you more than we could ever tell you. Keep fighting the good fight baby girl! We will do everything we can to help you along the way.