A friend from Winfield sent this scripture to us today.
Day of Life: 14
What Happened Last Night
Tera recovered easily from her stomach issues last night. Early this morning, Dianne was told to increase her feeds back up to 10cc. She had not had a bowel movement all night (I know this is gross to talk about, but this is our issue right now . . . making sure the girl can poop on her own). She gained 18 grams last night and is up to 1017, which roughly converts to 2 pounds 4 ounces. She's almost back to her birth weight of 2 pounds 5 ounces! Her bilirubines are down to 3.2, so we are waiting on the doctors to round to decide whether or not to take her off the lights.
The Plan for the Day
Here is our sweet baby first thing this morning. Still blue because she misses her daddy and big brother at home. As do I.
We were actually in the room when the doctors came to round this morning. This is the first time we have seen them since coming to the CCN because they do not round on a regular basis down here. The only real plans for the day are to take her off the bilirubin lights and increase her TFI (Total Fluid Intake - since her feeds are increasing). Simple enough.
What Actually Happened Today
When we arrived in Tera's room this morning, her new nurse Lindsey came around with the Scary Yellow Bag.
We have seen these bags outside of other babies rooms, and we didn't know exactly what they were about. All we knew is that if you have a yellow bag, it means your nurse must cover up in gloves and a big yellow coverall to protect herself and the other babies from whatever you have. We figured out what the "whatever you have" is called. Tera tested positive for MRSA. This is a bacteria that is resistant to most antibiotics that treat staph infections. Right now, Tera is just "colonized" or carrying the bacteria. If it were to get in her bloodstream, she would become infected with it. Colonization is ok. Apparently, most people have MRSA but never know it. Infection, however, would be terrible. So, the nurses will be watching her behavior a bit more closely to make sure that she doesn't show signs of fever or any other symptoms of infection.
I hate that word "infection." It's what we're constantly fighting against but never know if we're winning the fight because we can't see the infection until it's made its move. Invisible enemies are so obnoxious!
Lindsey took her off the lights almost immediately, and we were able to see her beautiful skin again. I love this picture of her. It's probably odd, but the more things she does that remind me of a real baby, the more comforted I am that everything is, and will continue to be ok.
For example, here is a video of Tera moving around. She had been really squirmy all morning, and I tried to catch it on video.
The rest of Tera's day was very relaxed. She slept most of the time and actually seemed a little irritated when I tried to touch her or hold her hand. So, I tried to back off, but it was so hard. I just want to scoop her up and squeeze her!
Just after lunch, my friend Anna picked me up to take me to tour her children's daycare. When Tera was born so unexpectedly, Anna realized that there was an opening in the two-year-old classroom at Our Lady of Sorrows in Homewood. After some investigating, she found out that the boy who previously held that spot had recently moved, and though the school tried to find another child to fill the spot immediately, no one was able to come. There is a boy coming in July, but until then, the class has an open spot. This is one of those obvious God Things I've written about before. I called last week to talk to the Director at the Daycare, and she was so wonderful to offer us the spot for whenever we want it. If we need to bring Canon one day but not bring him the next, no problem. Whatever we need, they are willing to provide that service to us. We don't even have to pay for a whole month or even a week. We will only pay for those days that Canon actually comes to school. Her exact words were, "Your blessing is our blessing." In other words, it was a blessing that we were allowing them to do this for us. Of course, I feel the blessing is all on this end of the relationship.
The school is amazing. There are multiple playrooms and constant activities to keep the children busy and entertained. I know that Canon is going to love it. I hope it works out that he can stay in Birmingham with me for at least a couple of weeks, maybe more. I would love to do that for Barry, but I also just want him here. I miss our morning and night-time routines, and I am so excited to possibly take him to some fun places while he is here with me. There is the Birmingham Zoo, the McWane Center, the Botanical Gardens. Just so much that I know he would love.
What About Barry and Canon
Tonight, Barry and Canon hung out with Ed and, I'm guessing, watched basketball. We are quickly approaching Barry's favorite time of year . . . March Madness. The NCAA tournament actually starts next week, but this is the week for all the Conference tournaments. It is Barry's favorite time of the whole month. He loves to see underdogs fighting their guts out for a chance to go to the NCAA tournament. Canon was actually born in the midst of one of these conference tournament games two years ago. The game went into six overtimes, which gave Barry just enough time to stay conscious during Canon's delivery. He stayed focused on the game instead of the sounds coming from a few feet away and thus, was able to stick it out with me during the birth of our first child. What a hero!
I also managed to squeeze out of Barry that they ate Chick-fil-A and that Canon cried for about 8 seconds before falling asleep when Barry put him to bed. Man, that guy is just loaded with good information about how my family is doing. Maybe tomorrow I'll find out what he wore to school.
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