NICU Day 48 (January 24th)

Noelle had a wonderful today, and we are praising God for her continued progress.  She gained 20 grams putting her at 630 grams / 1 lb. 6 oz.  We tried her bottle again with her today, and she again took it like a champ.  We discovered that the trick is to make sure she is really awake and then she does just fine.  We just spent the day enjoying her, holding her, comforting her, reading to her and just being with her.  I could just stand and watch her all day long!!  We are so incredibly grateful for her progress in the past few weeks--it is hard to believe that she is almost 7 weeks old and thank God that not only has she come that far but she is doing so well.  Our prayer right now is that she continues to grow at a steady rate and can start weaning on her oxygen levels soon.  I hope we can report another fantastic day again tomorrow!!

NICU Day 47 (January 23rd)

Today was pretty uneventful overall, and the main focus was just to help Noelle grow as much as possible.  She had one scary episode today where she dropped her heart rate, and they had to assist her breathing for a minute (she did NOT like the feeding tube being put down her nose...so they switched it back to her mouth instead).   We tried her bottle again tonight but she mainly just blew bubbles with it and wanted to sleep.  The nurse said it is normal for them to do well and then not do so well--it will just take some time to get used to the different "normal" baby things.  So we will try again tomorrow and keep going one day at a time.  Other than that, there is not much else to report today!!  Thanks again for praying!!

NICU Day 46 (January 22nd)

NICU Day 45 (January 21st)

It was another really good day in the NICU with Noelle.  We are getting spoiled with so many good days in a row, but we hope it continues.  Noelle was doing so well on the cannula this morning that they finally quit switching her between that and the CPAP and just left her on the cannula.  So far, she has continued to do really well with it!!  We even got to hold her tonight for a little while and thoroughly enjoyed watching her tiny face (I wore a mask and gown as I have never developed any other symptoms than the pressure in my ears, but we wanted to play it safe).  She absolutely loves her pacifier!!  It fills her mouth, but it definitely quiets her down when she starts to get a little fussy.  She has definitely starting to build up muscle tone as well.  Tonight, as she lay on her tummy, she pushed herself up and completely turned her head from one side to the other.  It is incredible to watch such a tiny baby do something like that!!  They decided to leave the PICC line in for one more day so we are really hoping that it does come out tomorrow.  She will also receive an echocardiogram tomorrow to double check the function of her heart since they stopped her heart medication today.  Other than that, we are just enjoying these good days with her and watching her grow.  God has been so gracious to us, and we thank Him for another day of Noelle's little life.

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.

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!!

NICU Day 42 (January 18th)

Noelle had another really good day, and it is so nice to be able to report that so many days in a row!!  There still was not much going on today although we are told that very soon the doctors will be setting larger goals for her to reach since she has been doing well for so many days.  She weighed in this morning at 710 grams so just 2 grams shy of doubling her birth weight!!  She will probably drop again and go back and forth for a bit, but it's nice to see that 700 number.  In other words, 1 lb. 9 oz.!  They are almost finished either weaning her meds or transferring them to oral meds so that her PICC line can be removed.  We are pretty excited for that to come out.  A huge praise is that the echocardiogram results came back to today and revealed that her heart is doing significantly better!!  They were able to cut her heart medication in half and will discontinue it by the end of the week.  It's amazing what a different baby she is from two weeks ago today.  Two weeks ago we were faced with the prospect of possibly losing her, and today she is almost fully recovered from that issue and beginning to tackle so many others.  God has been so gracious to us, and we thank and praise Him for how He has worked in her tiny body.  Our hope and prayer is that she starts steadily growing at this point and that she can exceed the goals that the doctors set for her each day.  I am still not visiting the hospital although this cold still hasn't really onset as of yet.  Hopefully it gets better before getting worse.  Thank you so much for praying for all of us as a family.  It is amazing to see the evidence of those prayers right before our eyes as we watch Noelle, and we truly appreciate it.

***HUGE Praise: the "cold" turned out to be simply allergies***