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.