NICU Day 44 (January 20th)

Noelle had an absolutely fantastic day today!!  She graduated to the cannula for a short time and just had oxygen flow.  It was amazing to see her whole face without all the big tubes and hat and things wrapped around it.  We can hardly believe what we are seeing only two weeks after her last big dip in the roller coaster ride.  Everyone is amazed at her progress, and even some of her nurses have said that it could only be of God.  Incredible!!  We never dreamed we would be this far with her only two weeks after such a severe episode, and we know so much of it can be attributed to the power of prayer and cannot thank you enough for the part you have played in her tiny little life.  We still have a long ways to go, but the steps we have been able to take in the last couple of weeks are such an encouragement.  It is fun to dream about the day when she might come home and all the things that go along with that.  We did hear a teeny tiny little cry from her tonight!!  There never was a sweeter sound in all the world.  She is still a little hoarse and raspy from the tube being down her throat, but she is making tiny noises nonetheless, and they are music to our ears.  The main thing now is for her to grow.  She did lose some weight (part of that is due to the fact that she was extubated and all the tubes that go along with that), so we are hoping that she gets back up to doubling her birth weight soon (she is currently 640 grams).  Another prayer request is for her hypothyroidism.  Some babies outgrow this (as is our prayer for her) and others have it the rest of the their lives.  If she does have to deal with this the rest of her life, then we will take it!!  But if God chooses to heal her of this as well, it would be another added blessing.  Other than that, we just enjoyed our time with her today.  She will go back and forth from the CPAP to the cannula until she can just stay on the cannula until she is off oxygen completely (we hope and pray it goes this way...it should, as long as she does not have a setback).  I hope we can put up some great pictures tomorrow in which you can see most of her face!!  Thank you for sharing in our joys and our sorrows through this process and for praying accordingly.