Another Day

Elsie seems like she is over her rough patch from earlier in the week. Thanks to everyone for your kind words, thoughts and prayers.

Yesterday was better. I could tell that Elsie was feeling better after getting a full 24 hours of her antibiotics. She was active in her little box. She is strong. I swear sometimes she is going to push her upper half of her body off of the little bed in her isolette. She lifts her head, and can push her butt up in the air. It is wild to me that a 31 week old baby who is less than 2.5 lbs can be so active. I guess from all the parenting books I read during my pregnancy I wasn't expecting much movement until she was able to hold her head up around 3-4 months of life?

Today was a wonderful afternoon with my little girl. She is now 2 lbs 4 oz, and they are adding calories to her breast milk so she will gain more weight. They do this with a powder supplement that is mixed with my milk. She will get 22 calories. I joked with my mother in law that this was probably less calories than are in a stick of gum. This is a normal procedure for preemies that they want to gain weight.

Her white blood cell count is looking good, and there is no sign of infection in her blood culture, so antibiotics have been stopped. Awesome!

While I was holding her she just slept peacefully and did not have one Brady episode. One of the nurses joked that she was behaving for me after acting up the last few days. It was wonderful to just have her sleep on my chest and me not have to stimulate her. I know this is not the norm; but what a gift after the last few days we've had!

In other news, Ryan took me for my first night out last night! We went to a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at a local wine bar. It was so nice to get out of the house, dress for an occasion, and talk to people about something other than blood counts and poopy diapers. I started out being depressed about my wardrobe options (you moms know post pregnancy bodies can be hard to dress) but left feeling so glad I went. Everyone was so glad I got to come and said very nice things about how I looked having given birth three weeks ago.

At the fundraiser we met the CEO of the hospital Elsie is in. Ryan's boss started talking to him, and when he told her what he did for a living, she called us over and introduced us. He was so nice. Ryan and I told him how happy we have been with the level of care Elsie has received; and how informative and helpful the nursing staff is. Just goes to show you never know who you are going to meet!

Love y'all,

Ellen