Counting the days

41 days of NICU today....it is hard to believe. On one hand it seems like it can't be possible that 41 days have passed since Amelia was born, on the other hand it has been 41 of the slowest days we have ever experienced.  Today I am thankful for the nurses and doctors taking care of Amelia. All of this has been so overwhelming and so different than what we imagined our first month with our baby being. The nurses and our pediatrician friends (thanks Katherine & Bethany) have helped guide us through it and make the experience easier.

This week Amelia has continued to do great. She did have to get her oxygen placed back on after a few days because her oxygen level was too low, but they have already began weaning it off again.  She has been gaining weight better than expected ( a trait that surely comes from her mother..haha!) She is up to 4 lbs 12 oz today!  That is 2 full pounds up from her birth weight!  We are so proud of her! Now that she is bigger and able to maintain her temperature we are able to hold her more frequent than before. This also has allowed her to come out of her isolette and graduate to a big girl crib. I remember asking one of our friends at the very beginning of our 41 days ( that had a baby premature like Amelia), "does it get easier to leave your baby in the NICU at night?" her response was "it actually gets harder." At the time I appreciated her honesty, but also couldn't imagine it getting any harder...now I know.

 Another concern this week is Amelia's eyes.  She had her 2nd eye exam and it showed some retinopathy of prematurity. Hopefully this will regress and she will not have any major complications, but if it continues to progress the other way it could cause some major vision loss and she could need surgery.  We are praying that God protect her little eyes and heals any  signs of retinopathy.  Please pray for healing of her eyes and God's protection of her vision.  She will have a repeat eye exam next week to follow up on the changes.

This week please pray specifically for Amelia's eyes and that her lungs continue to grow stronger and she is able to come off the oxygen for good. Also pray that she continues to do well with her bottle feeds and able to transition to all of her feeds via bottle or breast.