13 and Counting

This picture was taken Saturday when Isaac got to see and hold his daughter for the first time since she was born over a week earlier. Actually, it was his first time holding her. Today was Emma's 13th day in the hospital and my 13th trip from Fallbrook to San Diego (Rady) Children's Hospital. It was 13 days ago now that I had her. And I am 13,000 times tired and ready to have my little girl at home. Our wonderful nurse yesterday was the first person that I felt was really encouraging. God knows when we need (and by need I mean "have to have!") encouragement. Yesterday was a big day for Emma. She had an MRI in the morning. We got the results really quickly. The neurologist said the MRI didn't show any brain damage due to lack of oxygen. It also didn't show any tubers (what Joel has), so we can pretty much rule out her having TSC. Praise the Lord! Just to avoid any confusion, we did not suspect that she had it, but knowing that she doesn't have it is great. The MRI did show some fluid in part of her brain, but that could be due to the edema that she had for several days after birth and due to normal birth trauma. We are just going to have to watch it to make sure it goes away. Tomorrow she is scheduled for another 24 hour repeat EEG because the first one showed decreased activity. They are thinking this was probably due to the swelling in her body, but want to make sure everything looks normal now. Yesterday her antibiotic ended. Her labs are looking good now so they felt safe ending it. That meant that her Venus line into her belly button was able to come out which makes it much easier to hold her. :) For the last few days her breathing has been really fast, which isn't good. It's going to have to slow before they can start weaning her off of the Canula. She's going to have to be off of the Canula for 2-3 days before we can bring her home. So we're still looking at having her there probably another week. I still have high hopes that she'll be home in time for Christmas, though. The other issue that has to resolve before we can bring her home is eating. She is doing pretty good in this department with the exception of her breathing rate. When she is breathing so fast she can't take a bottle because she could breath in the fluid and get pneumonia, which could kill her. She has to be taking all feedings by bottle before I can try breast feeding her and before she can come home. The good news on this front is that she is very close to her goal amount to eat! She is also waking up hungry at her feeding times. A good thing. Please pray specifically for her breathing to slow and her oxygen rate to be good. These are our main hurdles to taking her home. Thank you for taking the time to care in this busy season. Emma's newest thing is holding her pacifier. :) It's so cute!