June 4, 2006

We got a phone call from the hospital at 12:30 this morning. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest, as I knew who the call was from before I ever saw it on Caller ID. I didn't want to answer it. But I did. Of course.

Daniella, Faith's nurse from the night before, was on the line with a report on Faith's blood culture. It seemed that they'd found something: staph. It took a few days for the culture to innoculate enough for it to be detectable, but the root of Faith's problems are in a staph infection.

Luckily, the antibiotics (the same ones I complained about just last night...) that she is on cover staph infections, so she is three days ahead of the game on fighting this. As Daniella said, "We nipped it in the bud."

I was so happy. Of course, I have no desire for my daughter to have a staph infection, but I am so, so happy to have an answer as to why she's so sick and to know that we are are on the right path to getting her better. For the first time in months, I slept through the night.

I am on my way out the door to see the girls. I'll give a report today on how they're doing and what the progress is.

Thanks be to God...

Erin

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch...

After my last post, I got the opportunity to spend a few hours with the girls at the hospital. When I got to the pink room, I immediately went to see Faith. I was pleased to see that she'd been moved from a radiant warmer to an isolette and that her nasal cannulas had been taken down to a 2 liter push. She still looked pale to me, but she was much more alert and was moving around more.

I went into the white room to see Grace. There were a ton of people in there and while I was fussing with her and talking to her, I realized that all of those people were Xavier's family. Xavier is the little boy in the crib next to Grace's who had been there for six-and-a-half months. SIX-AND-A-HALF MONTHS. Can you imagine? I don't know his story, but the thought of my child being sick enough to be hospitalized from the day he was born to after his six-month birthday is more than I care to think about.

It turned out that all of these people were there to celebrate Xavier's departure from the NICU. Cameras were flashing, Xavier was being passed around from nurses to family and friends. It was like a party.

I held Grace for about an hour and got to witness the sheer and utter joy that Xavier's family was experiencing. It was incredible. I couldn't stop smiling.

As I put Grace back in her isolette, it was time for Xavier to make his final departure. I moved out of their way and just happened to have a perfect view of the big event from Faith's bed. In true hospital fashion, mom was rolled out in a wheelchair, proudly holding her baby boy. She was crying tears of joy and at least a dozen nurses (if not more) stood around, also crying. This boy was theirs -- they had all witnessed his miraculous recovery and had been a part of his journey. They were sad to see him go and it was obvious that he had touched each of them. It was heartwarming -- these nurses really feel their patients' pain and they share in the parents' joys and sorrows every day.

I know this to be true, personally, as the past few days, nurses that have only known my girls for two weeks have stopped to ask me how Faith is doing and inquire about Grace, as well. This isn't just a job to them -- they are a part of the lives of each of the NICU families.

After Xavier's departure, I got ready to Kangaroo Faith. Her body temperature was slightly down, so I waited about 30 minutes for it to go up. It did, luckily, and she was placed on my chest. At the time, she still had the nasal cannulas in and they are propelled with some water vapor.

Well, it seemed that some of the vapor had been trapped in the tube and Faith's change in position from her bed to my chest caused the vapor to drain down the tube into the cannulas -- and subsequently into her nose.

Oh boy, did she HATE that (wouldn't we all?)! She let out a HUGE cry and pushed herself up off my chest to try to get away from the flood of fluid draining down into her nose! I hated that this happened to her, of course, but I loved hearing that loud cry and seeing that utter strength. She may be sick, but she is strong!

Luckily, we got the water vapor issue worked out and she slept quietly on my chest for a good 75 minutes. It was sheer bliss.

Todd returned to the NICU this afternoon and came back with great reports on our little Faitharoo: She's been taken off the cannulas (no supplemental oxygen at all) and had not had a Brady or Apnea episode all day. She's on the mend, although it's going to take awhile for this to go away completely. Blood work will still be done daily to monitor the progress. All in all, though, things are looking up.

Knock on wood.

And let's not forget Gracie. Our little fighter is barely under the four pound mark and has graduated to wearing clothes (Faith is still in her diaper in the isolette). She will likely start to bottle feed this week and may graduate to an open crib. If all goes well, it could be only a week or two before she's home.

Here's to hoping that both girls stay healthy and continue their awesome progress.

Again, words can't express how much your prayers and thoughts mean to us. It's been a rough few days, but the Lord has seen us through again.

In Him,
Erin