Happy Homecoming!

After five exhausting weeks in the NICU we were able to bring our little Emily home. Our whole NICU experience was a whirlwind of emotions and steady progress. As we look back at pictures of Emily's first few days and weeks we are in awe of what our Great Lord has done! In Emily's first few days we were merely spectators in her life, not being able to hold her and our touch not soothing and comforting to her delicate skin. In no time at all we were able to hold her but oh so gently because of all the tubes and wires that accompanied her tiny body. We progressed to yet another phase where we felt a little more at ease as we held her and fed her having lost the tubes and wires helping her to breathe. Towards the end of our stay we were required to be more 'hands on' to get familiar with our new little baby and her special care. Now we are home, the final phase, and I find myself holding my breath all over again! I find myself constantly watching her little chest rise and fall both nervous and excited about her breathing on her own without the monitors. With each feeding we make sure she gets down the required 40 ccs in the 30 minute time frame so that she doesn't burn more calories eating than she consumes. Now it's all on us.. there isn't a nurse to take over or a gavage tube to make sure she gets down her minimum requirement. It is a very nervous and exciting time but all is well. Dreams do come true for I have dreamed and longed... my heart ached for this moment... the moment I could leave that hospital for the last time and bring our sweet baby home with us at last! Now I finally have my family together. We are doing very well, Emily adjusting to the loving "pokes" from her big sister and the squeals Lila makes when Emily moves after her poke. Yes Lila, she is a REAL baby! She pretty much sleeps all day and has to be woken up every three hours to eat. Four of her eight feeding each day are with a bottle so that she can get fortified milk (extra calories) and vitamins that turn her milk a lovely shade of green. Bottle feeding Emily can be a little difficult because she has a hard time pacing herself, choking easily and thus forgetting to breathe. There is a certain way in which we have to hold her for these feedings and that in itself is unnatural and adds to the difficulty. All in all we are all adjusting to her special care and getting use to life with a preemie. She sleeps with an apnea monitor, more for my own peace of mind than her needs but I know without it Wayne and I would be getting very little if any sleep at all.

Our discharge instructions had a long list of doctors we will need to follow up with in the next few days, weeks and months. Emily's development will be watched carefully over the next two years until she catches up to other babies her same age. For now we are to always keep her adjusted or corrected age into consideration when hitting developmental milestones. We are told she will more than likely be three months behind when it comes to all the baby milestones such as holding her head up, crawling, walking, etc. Shortly before our discharge from the hospital we learned that Emily did in fact have a grade one brain bleed which was detected in her repeat neuro sonogram. If you remember the first sono was difficult to perform making it hard to get a good picture of her brain due to her overlapping sutures. We have been assured that a grade one bleed is really nothing to be too concerned about. Grades one and two could possibly mean delays in development and learning disabilities. Bleeds of grades three and four could lead to mental retardation, cerebral palsy or even death so we feel fortunate to be on the bottom of the scale. We were told the bleed most likely happened in her first few days of life when her brain was working so hard to try and figure out how to regulate her blood pressure, heartbeat and breathe on her own. Needless to say our hearts were troubled over this news but I know in my heart she will be able to overcome any developmental obstacles and delays this may put in her future. The morning of our discharge she passed her hearing screening (on her fourth attempt) and we joyfully marked our appointment with the audiologist off our list. God was faithful and good to us once again with this great news! The pediatric ophthalmologist could not make it to the hospital for her eye exam before discharge ( I was a little eager to get my baby home) so we had our first outing this morning to his office for the exam. As expected the blood vessels in her eyes are not completely formed yet but "are well on their way" according to the doc. We will follow up with him in two months. We will also be seeing a Developmental Pediatrician so that Emily can be monitored for early detection of delays so that we can do whatever is necessary to get right back on track. We are ever mindful of the power our Great Lord has and rejoice in the blessings He has bestowed on our family. Emily has been a constant amazement to the doctors and nurses in charge of her care and we were told this week that her homecoming was two weeks early at the least. She has always hit the milestones they put in front of her in days, if not weeks ahead of their timeline. We are overwhelmed at the great love and faithfulness our God has for His sweet creation... the miracle of Emily. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers for our sweet baby. The Lord heard our cries and answered our prayers swiftly and diligently. His grace and mercy is unceasing. His steady hand always on us for protection and guidance, his loving arms around us to comfort and ease our burdens.

Not only has the Lord been merciful with Emily but with me as well. The ultrasound on my thyroid showed a mass of both fluid and tissue measuring 6cm on the left side and 2cm on the right. Basically my whole thyroid is a cyst/tumor. My doctor ordered further tests to determine if my thyroid was functioning and did a biopsy in his office. He told us surgery was necessary for the left side but he was hopeful he could save the right side of my thyroid. I was scheduled to have a thyroid imaging test done on Wednesday but Wayne and I decided to forgo this test when we learned I would not be able to nurse or be around my children for four days because of the radioactive iodine they use in the test which is emitted from the tissue that absorbs it. With Emily's discharge that same day I felt the test was too much to ask of me and decided to just schedule the surgery and have my whole thyroid removed. We found out this morning that my biopsy came back benign and the lab results show my thyroid is slightly overactive, which means it is functioning but having to work a little too hard. I have an appointment on Monday to discuss possible surgery and treatment. We are hopeful surgery will not be necessary. I am overwhelmed once again at all the kind words, thoughts, prayers, cards and emails as we have dealt with yet another unexpected hurdle with this whole thyroid situation. I will send out another update (hopefully our last one) on Monday when we meet with the doctor and decide our course of treatment from here. We look forward to the day when this is all behind us and we can settle into life as a family of four and enjoy our two sweet, precious girls!

I'm attaching a few pictures... Thanks Aunt Shannon for the cute bow! You know my motto... The bigger the bow the better!