NICU Day 111 ~ (March 27th)

Noelle had another good and "boring" day today and just continues to cruise along in her progress.  Her contrast x-ray was scheduled, and it actually worked best with the doctor to do it Wednesday evening at 5:15.  I'm not certain how fast we will have the results, but we will certainly keep everyone posted.  In the meantime, thank you for your continued prayers.  We are still learning to trust and wait only upon God, for our expectation is from Him.

We love how Noelle's nurses spend time with her at night when we are not able to be there.  Some of them even come visit her and play with her when they take a break from the babies for which they are responsible that night.  She is going to miss all of them!!

~Taking a bottle from Kayla~

~Talking to Oneicesa~

~You might remember some "Rodeo Giraffe" pictures from several weeks ago which a couple of Noelle's nurses took one night as they took care of Noelle and played with her (Post can be viewed here).  Well, last night was somewhat of a repeat, and we were presented with new Rodeo pictures today from the adventures of last night.  Here are a few of them alongside some of the pictures from a couple of months ago.  We love seeing the changes!~

...and the comparison:

NICU Day 65 ~ (February 10th)

After a bit of a rough night last night, Noelle recovered well and had a pretty good day today.  Her acid reflux is still causing issues, but they were able to give her something to help clear out her intestines last night, and that seemed to help her for now.  She had a busy night with x-rays and lab work, but the results from both of those came back normal, so we're grateful that she seems to be feeling better today.  Many have wondered about her acid reflux and what might affect her, but after much discussion with the medical staff, it is not related to my diet.  The acid reflux is caused because she is so tiny, and her stomach just has difficulty handling all of that milk at one time.  She needs all that milk to grow, and yet the high amount causes the acid reflux, so "we can't win for losing" on this one.  Thankfully, she is continuing to grow and now weighs 870 grams / 1 lb. 14 oz.  We are getting so close to 2 lbs. and are excited to be reaching another milestone with her!!  Our time with her today was really special.  She is becoming so alert and responsive to us, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching her respond to Tom as he read to her this afternoon.  She completely turned her head toward his voice and just stared with eyes wide open.  It was incredibly sweet to watch such a tiny little person respond like that.  She definitely knows her daddy!!

~Listening to Daddy Read~

We also discovered today that "when the parents are away, the nurses will play!!"  Noelle has a little stuffed giraffe given to her by Kaci, one of our nurses' daughters, and it sits on her isolette.  We have commented before, that she is small enough to ride it, but last night our nurse decided to have some fun and play with Noelle and her giraffe.  The result was a CD of pictures for us entitled "Rodeo Noelle,"  and the pictures are just too cute not to share.  We love our nurses and are glad they have fun with our little girl while they are taking such good care of her.  

Thank you for continuing to pray for our sweet little girl, and we look forward to sharing more of these moments that God gives us with her.