What a difference a week can make...

This past week has been a roller coaster of emotions thanks to the uncertainty of the NICU, lack of sleep, and a handful of hormones. We are truly blessed on the big steps our little angel is taking. We spend the majority of our day/evening in the NICU at Adelyn's bedside, and we are happy to report that each day she surprises us with yet another step forward. She stopped the CPAP machine over the weekend, and started on nasal cannula. Today she went down to 1/2 liter of oxygen and if everything looks good for the next 12 hours the cannula will be removed. She had two bilirubin lights this weekend, went down to one on Sunday, and yesterday went to the blanket - for a couple of days we had our very own glow worm. Today they removed the blanket! Her TPN was stopped at the end of last week, and she has been steadily increasing the amount of breast milk she is eating - she is now up to 2 ounces every 3 hours. Yesterday she started to work on latching while she was getting the feedings through her NG tube. Today she was actually able to get a little bit of milk before getting sleepy. The lactation consultant said everything looked good, and she was surprised how well she did on her first try this morning. If things continue in this direction, tomorrow the only tube she will have is the NG tube to feed her (through her nose to her stomach). This will probably stay in place until she gets better at breastfeeding. We are so proud of Adelyn, and love spending our day at her bedside. We just wish we could take her home soon. We try not to get our hopes up on when she can come home, since she is in complete control of the timeline.

I realized yesterday that having a little girl is absolutely wonderful, but I do have to share my Valentine! Tim went to work for part of the day yesterday, and came home with roses for me and a cute little stuffed animal for Adelyn. He said he wanted to get a little something for his Valentines. I hope one day she realizes how fortunate she is to have Tim for her daddy.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We absolutely appreciate it, and see the amazing work of God everyday we see Adelyn. Thank you also for your patience with us, this was an unexpected bump in our road and it is very difficult for us to express what we are going through. Although our baby girl is doing well, we don't want to introduce unnecessary germs and potential problems before she is well enough to leave considering she is still very fragile. There is still a period of time once we are home that we have to be extremely careful due to her prematurity. There will definitely be plenty of time to hold Adelyn once she is strong enough to protect herself! Thank you for the understanding during this roller coaster of emotions.