A Flashback to the Early Days

This is a video Tom put together during our first several weeks in the NICU to give an idea of what a typical day might look like.  We have come a long way since those days and will have more videos in the future; but I'm proud of the work he put into this to show a timeline of how far we have come in the NICU.  Enjoy!!  (This includes my mom and sister as some of this was filmed during their visit at Christmas).

NICU Day 97 ~ (March 13th)

Today was similar to yesterday in enjoying time with Noelle.  The one thing that is bothering her right now is her acid reflux.  It seemed to get better for a couple of weeks but has returned this past week, although it still doesn't seem to bother her quite as often as it did previously.  Other than that, she continues to grow and do well, weighing in at 1,150 grams / 2 lbs. 8.6 oz.  It's so enjoyable to physically see the changes in her and hold and rock her like a term baby.  We took a lot of pictures tonight...

...as well as another video of her smiling at her daddy (I'm sorry for the angle--I did not realize the camera was in the wrong direction for filming).

We thank God for another "boring" day and another day closer to coming home.

NICU Day 96 ~ (March 12th)

Today was all about cuddle time with our sweet little girl as she has turned into quite the snuggle bunny!!  She still sleeps very well on her own, but she definitely enjoys being held close and rocked (although I think we might still enjoy it even more!).  It was one thing about which I often wondered since we were not able to hold her for such a long period of time after she was born, and even when we were able to begin holding her, it was not very often or for long periods of time.  Now we get to hold her every day, multiple times a day, and we are loving this change and certainly making up for all the weeks we did not get to hold her as well as the many moments even through the night that we do not get to be there and take care of her.  I am so thankful for the perspective on early motherhood which God is shaping in my life right now.  Early in the pregnancy as we began to anticipate the change in our lives that a baby would bring, I remember hoping that our baby would take to a schedule and sleep through the night quickly.  Now, I look forward to the day when she will be home with us and I have the privilege to be the one to hold and feed her and take care of her during the night as well as during the day.  Because she is so small, she will not be allowed to sleep through the night for quite some time, so this schedule of getting up through the night will continue for many weeks to come; but I am looking forward to that day when my baby is in my arms in those wee morning hours!!  She is continuing to grow well, and her doctor even said today that she is on the upper end of growth (as far as a daily average).  Was that ever nice to hear for our baby who is too small to even fall on the range of any "normal" chart!! We measured her tonight, and she is 14" long; so she has increased in length by almost 50% since she was born.  She is smiling all the time now, and we caught part of it on video tonight (of course she did not do it nearly as much once the camera started rolling, but we captured one or two).

Thank you for sharing in our joy and continuing to pray for us.  It continues to bless and encourage our hearts as we take another day, another week at a time.

NICU Days 94 & 95 ~ (March 10th & 11th)

Tonight's post is short and sweet with just a quick update letting everyone know that things are progressing well with Noelle.  She now weighs 2 lbs. 8 oz. and is "growing like a weed" with a gain of 3 oz. in the past 3 days!!  Her care plan has not really been changed over the weekend, so we just enjoyed our time with her as always.  We will post more pictures tomorrow and thank you for your continued prayers!!

NICU Day 93 ~ (March 9th)

Noelle continues to try to grow up and "be a big girl" and prove that she will overcome her small size in other ways.  This is what she looked like for a good portion of last night as she decided to stay awake for about 5 hours straight!!  Today was pretty uneventful with no real changes in her care plan, and we just continue to do everything possible to assist her in growing.  We had the opportunity to be there for her bath tonight, which I really love; but she was not too pleased that we did not feed her first!!

While I do not enjoy seeing her upset, it is fun to see her responding to things just like a term baby, even wanting to be cuddled more often!  She is still a very good baby and does not usually cry unless something is bothering her, but she is definitely enjoying interaction more and more these days.  I am so thankful for that since we were not sure how she would respond after so much of the touch she experienced in her first weeks of life was "negative." She calmed right down after her bath...

...and even more so after Daddy fed her a bottle and snuggled her for a while.

We love our little girl and thank God for another day with our precious miracle!!!

NICU Day 92 ~ (March 8th)

Noelle turned 3 months / 13 weeks old today!!  It is amazing to look back and remember what this day was like only a few months ago and to see where we are now.  So much has happened, and it has been quite the roller coaster; but God has been ever faithful to carry us through and bring us to where we are now with Noelle.  His infinite grace has been so evident and especially overwhelming as we know of other friends/believers who are walking through deep waters right now or others with children who did not experience the same miracle which we experienced.  Sometimes I have wondered "why us?"  "Why did we experience a miracle and these other people did not?"  "What makes us so 'special' to have our circumstances changed for the better?"  But God gently reminds me that even that line of questioning is not correct as it puts the focus back on ourselves and not on Him.  For His own reasons, He has chosen to work His sovereign will in such a way as to grant life to our baby girl.  Ultimately, it is not about us but about Him and His glory; and we are overwhelmingly thankful for how He has chosen to demonstrate His grace in our lives through Noelle.  Even more incredible to me is that this grace, which sustains us through our situation, is also the same grace that carries the believer through tremendous loss and heartache.  I cannot even begin to put it into words but can only stand in awe of God and this truly amazing grace.

We came into Noelle's room today and discovered that she had already been celebrating her birthday with her nurse, Emily, all through the night.  Her whiteboard was decorated by one of the nurses, and they had also been busy making hand prints and snapping photos (even capturing a smile!) to decorate her isolette.  It is such a joy and a comfort to our hearts to have nurses like this taking care of our precious bundle.  We so appreciate the love they show and the fun that they have with our little girl while we cannot be with her. 

Noelle weighed 1,060 grams today (or 2 lbs. 5 oz.).  She seems to be cruising along in her progress, and we are hoping that she keeps up this pace of growth.  As promised, I am including more pictures of her sitting up in her new doll chair.  The chair portion usually sits on a frame...

...but her nurse, Donna (or Aunt Donna as Noelle now calls her), took the little chair seat (which is adjustable in and of itself) off the frame so that it would fit in her isolette, and she could sit up during her wakeful periods.

She is so happy to be able to look around and yet still be able to stay warm.  Plus, it is so cute that it causes all of the people she loves in the NICU to stop by for an extra little visit to see her sitting in her new chair.  All in all, she had a great day and thoroughly enjoyed her birthday.  Thank you for continuing to pray for our little family!!

NICU Day 91 ~ (March 7th)

Today was yet another pretty good day overall for Noelle.  She did have another episode with her tummy last night in which her intestines were dilated full of air.  They had to insert a tube down her throat again and draw some of it out; but thankfully, they did not stop her feeds.  We will not know until she grows more, but it is looking more and more like she will have at least a short visit (if not a longer one) at Baptist before she is able to go home.  While there are some other issues that will be dealt with later in her first couple years of life, intestinal issues are not something they want unsolved before she is home with us.  We are still praying that God will work yet another miracle and solve this without surgery; but we also know that if she needs any sort of procedure that Baptist is the best place to be in such a case.  In the meantime, Noelle seems to have regulated out her amounts and is not taking quite so much food as she was the last two days; but she is still eating more than her minimum requirement, so that is great for her growth.  She now weighs 1,020 grams!!  The 1,000 gram mark is quite the milestone in the NICU, and we are very excited for her to reach it, wave goodbye, and keep on going!!  Translated into pounds, this means she weighs 2 lbs. 4 oz., and she is not so very far from tripling her birth weight.

It's difficult to see in this picture, but if you look closely, you can see that Noelle is sitting up inside her isolette.  One of our nurses was kind of enough to take this picture with her phone as I forgot our camera at home today.  I will get a lot more pictures tomorrow of the entire thing, but I'm thankful to have this picture of her first time in her doll seat.  Because she is getting older, she often has wakeful periods in which she likes to interact more and not just lie down in her bed.   However, we cannot keep her out of her isolette for long periods of time because she gets too cold; so the nurses have looked for and tried several different options of bouncy seats which they have in the NICU but all of them were too large to fit inside her isolette.  Tom and I had the thought the other day to check the doll section at the store and came across a little doll high chair that also converted into a swing and a bassinet.  The full thing was still too large to fit, but one of her other nurses figured out to pop the seat portion off (which is soft and adjustable in and of itself) and just use that inside her isolette.  So Noelle had personal playtime today!  She really enjoyed sitting up and looking around at the pictures we taped inside for her to see while listening to stories on her recorder.  It is such a joy to see her "growing up" and doing normal baby things, even while she is still so tiny.  We cannot thank you enough for your continued prayers and look forward to posting more pictures tomorrow!!