NICU Day 43 (January 19th)

We are so excited to be reaching new milestones with Noelle.  Today she was extubated and graduated to the CPAP machine!!!  They were not planning on doing it quite this soon (they were going to give her a little more time to grow), but her tube had a leak and needed to be changed so they decided to go ahead and switch her over and see how she does.  So far, she has done extremely well and has already been weaned on her settings twice.  They have warned us that this could be temporary.  She could get tired and worn out from breathing on her own after a period of time and may have to go back on the ventilator and grow some more.  We are trying to mentally prepare ourselves for this, but right now we are just rejoicing at her progress!!  It is so fun to see her tiny little mouth, and now we will be able to hear her tiny little cry.  Whoever thought that a cry would be such sweet music to one's ears?!!  Noelle's other milestone was gaining 10 more grams and more than doubling her birth weight.  They are hoping she will continue a steady gain of approximately 1/2 oz. (or 15 grams) per day.  Tomorrow should present yet another milestone as they plan on removing her PICC line.  We are so excited to see machines being moved away from her bedside and others being turned off.  She had a steady stream of nurses coming by this evening checking out her progress...she has quite the fan club (as they themselves put it), and many of them even call in and check on her during their days off.  We are so incredibly grateful for the care that she is receiving and thank God once again for placing us where He did during this time.  It is also encouraging to us to share with the nurses that so many people are praying for Noelle and have them be excited about that and acknowledge how powerful prayer is.  We're praying that it gives us many opportunities to share Christ with all those we are encountering so thank you for being a part of that testimony and praying for us!!