Demanding Wisdom and Knowledge

Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, And the strength of your salvation. Isaiah 33:6



Day of Life: 16



What Happened Last Night
Another uneventful night. A call in to the nurse this morning proved that Tera had remained calm and stable throughout the night. The doctors finally withdrew the last remnants of IV fluids she was receiving, so she is now only eating my milk with an added fortifier. She is also receiving the diuretic for fluid and meds to prevent sleep apnea. Her bilirubins were back up to 5.6, so to be safe, Dr. Sims ordered her back under the lights. I found out from the nurse later this morning that when this number gets too high, it can cause mental retardation. Tera's number is nowhere near that point, but no need in testing it out. I do think, though, that they are a little surprised that she is still on the lights after this much time. Tera's weight is up to 1020 grams. Only 50 more grams until she reaches her birth weight! Carol explained that once she reaches 1200 grams, we'll be able to start introducing her to the bottle. I can't wait for this. Though, as slow as she is gaining weight, it might take some time to get there.



What Actually Happened Today
As instructed, I got my picture of Tera as soon as we arrived. I can't wait until these blue pictures are gone for good!

She was breathing very well and really seemed to be doing great. MyGoo and I, on the other hand, were still a little anxious about being on this floor. We arrived at the hospital a little later than usual at 10:00. By 11:00, we still had not seen a nurse. At first, I was fine with it. Tera's monitors were not going off, and even if they were, the nurses can see them from their stations. But as time went on, it bugged me more and more. She's two weeks old, born three months too early, and you can't even walk in the room and look at her? Granted I don't have all the machines at my house, but I don't think 15 minutes went by without me checking on Canon when he was this young.

Finally, I went out to the nurse's desk to say hey. Her response was, "Oh, they didn't call to tell me you were here." I don't really care if they didn't tell you I was here. You can't just walk in and check on her without me being here? Of course, I never said any of this but just politely stated that we had been there for "awhile" and Tera was doing fine. She was in the room much more after that.

When I was behind "the curtain of Oz" this morning, the nurse showed MyGoo that Tera's umbilical cord had fallen off. I asked MyGoo to take a picture so I could see it.

Of course, it's difficult to tell with all the blue, but hopefully she will have an in-y! One thing those blue lights don't hide are the millions of wrinkles and patches of dry skin on Tera's frail little body. Check out that left leg. Maybe instead of running and push-ups, we'll make Tera do squats when she gets in troubl.

Melanie came by later that morning and took me to lunch. As always, it was good to get out for a little while. Melanie has visited us once before, but this was the first time we've really gotten to hang out in a really long time . . . like, years. It was so much fun to catch up.

When I got back, Carol told me that after Tera ate, I could hold her again. She told me that I would probably get to hold her everyday if I wanted to, as long as she was stable and would cooperate.

It's really wonderful to hold Tera, but because she is still on oxygen, it is also difficult to get completely comfortable. I constantly look at the monitors to know when to give her more oxygen and when to back off. The monitors begin beeping when it falls above or below a ten-point range, so you can imagine that they go off a lot when she is not in her regular environment. Otherwise, however, she seems completely comfortable. She always falls right to sleep as soon as she hits my skin and, besides a little twitching, doesn't move too much while there. She did get the hiccups again today.

While I held Tera, one of the doctors finally came to talk to me. It only took 30 hours or so to get him there. He was not at all worried about either the MRSA or the fluid in her lungs. I tried to explain that I wasn't too worried about it either, but that every new thing that happens to Tera is also new to me. I just need a little extra information to ease my nerves. We also talked about her PDA. The cardiologists report had finally arrived, and it showed the status of the PDA has changed from "large" to "small" and again, not to worry about it. Bob told me later that if for some strange reason it never closed completely, it would probably be two years before we had to take any other actions to fix it. Thank goodness, no baby surgery scheduled just yet!

Once Tera was put back in her bed, she quickly found a comfortable position, which I found to be pretty hilarious.

How did she get that arm under her head. Earlier today, Carol said that she was facing the sink. Carol turned around to wash her hands, and when she turned back, Tera had picked up her head and was then facing the wall. I had no idea their necks could be so strong already.

The rest of the day was fairly relaxed. We had a few visitors, then went to visit Bob and Jamie. We have been trying to meet their new baby, Caroline, since Monday, but something always keeps us from going. We were determined to go tonight. Of course, neither of us would touch her considering where we had been. Besides just the normal hospital germs, this whole MRSA thing is still a little scary to both MyGoo and myself.

What About Barry and Canon
While at lunch with Melanie today, I got a call from Sharon that Canon had to be picked up from school because he had had some really terrible diapers. He'd had one the day before, but there were multiples this morning, and they seemed to be getting worse. I asked Sharon to pick up some Pedialyte and just to let him rest. She reported in later that he was acting completely normal (he was running around when she got there, and he got so excited when he saw her), and that he had eaten well at lunch. We're thinking it's related to getting new teeth.

Later tonight, I got this video via text from Kyle.

Kyle, Mandy, and Luke had taken dinner to Barry and Canon and stayed to hang out. Things must have gotten a little messy.

They're finally coming to Birmingham tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed that there is no major outbreak of pink eye or any other fungus that will keep Barry from seeing his daughter. Canon's birthday is Saturday, so the three of us are going to take Canon to do something fun. We're thinking we'll probably go to the zoo. I can't wait!