First Day Away

Good Evening!

Well, I didn't cry all day, nor did I call Elise's nurse every hour. Mommy and Daddy held their own today. Dad went into the hospital to round for the morning and I stayed super busy around the house. It actually felt very rejuvenating to be at home for a day. Tomorrow we will get to be with our sweet pea again. I'm starting to think an "every other" NICU day is what might work best. We will trial and error this week. I am really looking forward to getting driving privileges Wednesday at my 2 week post surgery appointment with Dr. Deaton. As an independent woman, I hate asking people for rides...especially all the way to Indianapolis and back!

Update on Miss E: when we called the nurse after 2:00 hands on time, we got a very wonderful surprise! The nurse finally caught Elise with her eyes open AND got a picture for us! So tomorrow we will get to see our little lady with her eyes open--- Simply. Cannot. Wait! We will make sure to post the picture on tomorrow's blog post.

She's had another good day today! They are weaning her down to the lowest of the low settings on the oscillator. Her chest x-ray looked great this morning and she even got some tummy time :) One of the risks of laying one way for so long is her little head. We don't want her to have flat head or bald spots, so the nurses are always turning her head, or like today- giving her some tummy time so the back of her head can have a rest. Again, if she were in the womb, she'd be rolling around and not having a mattress under her. All these little things the nurses are so good at and help Mommy learn how to be great. Love those NICU nurses!

Tomorrow is a BIG day: we will get the results of the latest doses of indomethacin and whether or not they worked to close Elise's PDA. We are going to hope, hope, hope that it's at least smaller, if not CLOSED tomorrow. We shall wait and see. When we asked the doctors what would be the next step if the PDA is still moderate, the doctors answered honestly with "We don't know." We think they hate to do the surgery, BUT she would be going into the surgery fairly strong and healthy, just very young. By resolving the PDA issue, she could start getting my milk and get off the TPN. That would be a major plus. Again, let's just hope and pray the medicine does the trick tomorrow. We'll worry about the surgery if/when we know more.

Until Next Time....
G & J & E