Happy Thanksgiving!!

Rebecca is home! Baby Rebecca came home on Monday, November 24th at 6pm.
She is doing great and we are so thankful she's here.
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

still on a roller coaster

We all woke up so excited because the nurse yesterday said she heard they were discharging Rebecca on Sunday!! Joy changed into several different outfits trying to decide which was appropriate to show her baby sister. Carson claimed his territory of being the one to sit next to baby Rebecca on the car ride home. I was trying not to get my hopes up. Dennis was determined that she was coming home today no matter what. Well, baby Rebecca did not get to come home today. Her lab work came back with a CRP count that was much too high to release her. The CRP count indicates that there is either inflammation in the body (which could be from the surgery) or that she is fighting an infection. Also, her hemoglobin count is low and she may need a blood transfusion. Hopefully, new labs in the morning will be better. One of these days she will come home....

Another Challenge

After many attempts to bottle feed Rebecca we finally decided to go with the G-Tube. Rebecca would always start out with the bottle but, she would poop out toward the end because she just did not have the stamina to finish. I have learned that being in the NICU can be a great thing because it's filled with little angels 24 hrs a day to make sure you baby is okay. It's especially great when your baby has cardiac issues. It's not so great being in the NICU when your baby is being examined under a microscope with feeding issues like finishing every cc of milk. Once I started to consider drinking out of her bottle for just 3 more cc's I knew what we had to do. Rebecca could potentially be in the hospital for another 2-3 more months if we were to wait for her to finish 8 bottles of 50 cc's each time! At this point, which is worse, a G-Tube and being able to come home a lot sooner or be in a hospital with no real world stimulation? We decided to go with the G-Tube. Once we were told about all the potential risks of another surgery and possible complications our heads were spinning. Dennis and I were praying that we were making the right decision for our daughter.

Baby Rebecca did it again! She went in surgery today at 4:20 to have the G-Tube inserted and was out by 4:45. The doctor came out with two thumbs up and said she was great! She was still sedated when we left the hospital but comfortable. I would imagine she will have some discomfort for 24 hrs. We expect to have Baby Rebecca home sometime next week! Just in time for Thanksgiving. We definitely have a lot to be thankful for. :)

One Day At A Time

Rebecca is doing well. She is now 7 lbs!! She looks like a giant in the NICU. Feeding is still the issue but progressing like a turtle.
I had a meeting with the doctors to see WHEN can she come home. The answer again, when she takes all feeds by bottle. She starts out all the feeds by bottle but, she does not finish all of them by bottle. I am finally conceding to the idea of a possible G-tube or Peg to be put in her belly so that she can come home. I should find out more this afternoon or tomorrow morning.
Keep praying for our baby! I forgot how newborns purr like a kitten. She's so cute!

week of 11/10 update

Feeding is still the issue. I did not realize that this was going to be quite the process. Doctors say that when cardiac babies have an interruption like surgery, it interrupts the feeding process. On top of the feeding issue, Baby Rebecca has acid reflux and we have to pay extra attention to it because she's considered a cardiac baby. Doctors have tweaked her formula here and there. She is getting my breast milk but they mix it with a fortifier which I just found out is a fancy name for formula!

Baby Rebecca is growing! She now weighs 6 lbs 10oz. (Her birth weight was 6 lbs. 1 oz. but dropped to 5 lbs 7oz.) Everyday she is a little bit more alert and knows our voices. She is so sweet and precious. She looks a lot like Carson when he was a baby.