Baby Emily

Well, tomorrow my sweet baby girl will be three weeks old. She has continued to make great progress, amazing all her doctors and nurses! She currently weighs in at 3 lbs. 15 oz. and is trying to maintain her own body temperature. They have the top popped on her isolet on a trial basis and if she can keep up her temperature for a few days we will move to an open crib... I guess you don't have to guess what my birthday wish will be this year!! The twins that were keeping her company in the NICU have gone home and a flood of new babies have arrived. The NICU is bustling with eight babies, mostly all term babies with short stays, but it went from peace and quiet to lots of crying and beeping of alarms and monitors! I know eight babies doesn't sound like a lot but Centennial only has a 12 bed unit and this is the most babies they have ever had at once! The babies, parents, and staff are all adjusting to the swarm of new life requiring assistance. Emily is being such a good little girl back in her corner. I have been told the nurses fight over her with the start of each new shift because with the exception of bradys and feedings she just sleeps and doesn't make a peep! I have actually only heard her cry a handful of times and that has only been when they have been working on her. The other day she decided to pull out her gavage tube and was screaming mad when they had to put it back in her tiny nose! I know I have said this before but I love her little cry because it reminds me that she is here and feisty! I had to love this particular cry from the other side of the curtain though because it was just too hard to watch that procedure with Emily fighting it every step of the way! I have been told we are still looking at another four to five weeks before we make it home because we are still having bradys. If it weren't for those awful moments of forgetting to breathe and dropping her heart rate she would be coming home a couple of weeks sooner. So please help us pray that her nervous and respiratory systems will grow and catch up quickly so we can outgrow these bradys and bring our baby girl home sooner. There is nothing they can do for the bradys and apnea. Emily just has to grow and mature and eventually she will outgrow this terrible spell. She has been dubbed the 'Senior Citizen' of the NICU since she is now the baby that has been there the longest. It still breaks my heart but is endearing that the nurses try so hard to make me smile!

She just keeps getting more and more beautiful with each passing day (I'm not biased or anything)! Her little cheeks are starting to fill out and she is growing eyelashes! The cartilage in her ears is slowly but surely forming making the tiniest of ears perfect! She still has the teeniest little feet I have ever seen and small, delicate fingers. I am constantly amazed at God's good works. He could not have done a better job creating my beautiful Emily. Her tiny nose, sweet little mouth, and dark hair are just a few of my favorites!

I cannot tell you all how touched I have been by the calls we have received for updates since my last email. I will admit that several days this past week I felt as though I was hanging on by a thread. Although we have had nothing but good news with Emily it has been a slightly different story with myself. I noticed I still had a huge knot in my neck that I had been told over two months ago was a strained muscle by a nurse at the hospital during a 24 hour observation for high blood pressure and a terrible stomach bug. My doctor was quite concerned when I mentioned it to her last week and sent me for an ultrasound to see what was going on. I was preparing for either an under active or overactive thyroid and adding one more medication to the nice assortment I am already taking. Nothing goes as planned and we were told I had cysts on my thyroid. I have an appointment with a specialist in two weeks for a biopsy and we will discuss our course of treatment from there. Needless to say I have been quite discouraged with my body and the falling apart it seems to be doing at the present time. I am so thankful however that I can bear this burden instead of my sweet girls. I have prayed since Emily's birth that if something were to go wrong that it would happen to me and God would spare Emily from any further setbacks or discomfort. I am strong and can handle this as long as I keep my eyes on the Lord and my thoughts on his promises. Please keep us all in your prayers as we sort through yet another health crisis. Pray for Wayne specifically for this news has broken his strong spirit and made our rock crumble just a bit. Pray for his strength and faith for I can't get through a day without him. Pray for my mom who is taking such wonderful care of us all...cooking, cleaning, running errands and taking care of Lila. Our God is so good, faithful and true. He lifts my head off the pillow each morning and gives me the strength I know I don't have alone to get through each day and be the best mommy I can be to both my girls! Praise him for his goodness for he has not deserted us through this difficult trial. I feel so blessed to have so many who care and tend to our every need. Please continue to pray for us all! We appreciate it more than you will ever know.