22 days old!

 

Our sweet little Caroline is 22 days old! I can't believe that she is over three weeks old..my how quickly time goes by! But, 22 days also means the number of days we have spent in the NICU with her. Like Jeremy had pointed out in the last post, we have gotten to know a lot of doctors, nurses, and other staff there over the past three weeks. We are  so very thankful for the nurses and doctors that are there to take care of our sweet girl. One nurse told me today that I needed to take care of myself because that is important and they are there to take care of Caroline. She also added that they are the most qualified and expensive babysitters! I think really they may just be getting a little tired of me hanging around the NICU all the time and just looking at Caroline. I really could just sit beside her all day and stare at her! Plus, Jeremy had to go back to work this week so I have literally been at the hospital all day long!

Caroline has definitely come a long ways this week! After that downward spiral she made last Wednesday, we have been in awe about her recovery. The cause of everything is still unknown. The doctors make their rounds on Friday with the Neuro team and there were 15 doctors standing around Caroline. (I didn't make that number up, I counted all of them today!) But a couple of the doctors seem to think there may have been some swelling/bleeding on the brainstem that caused her to go downhill last week. They don't know the cause and I asked if it is something that could happen again and they didn't know. Caroline was really fussy all day yesterday and even spit up after one of her feeds so I was on edge all afternoon/night. I thought for sure we were going back down the same road and just became emotional about everything. The nurse last night was telling me that babies are allowed to have bad days like we do and maybe she was just having a bad day. Well that seemed to be the case because she had a much better day today. I am always scared that I will jinx things too. Just when I start to feel comfortable and happy about things, it seems something always happens. I surely hope writing this post about how well she is doing doesn't jinx it! I want her to keep improving and progressing! She has come so far in the past 22 days!

So the NICU doctors today mentioned the word "Discharge" today and I was caught off guard. I didn't think we would ever hear that word in the near future but it was nice to talk about so upcoming events and maybe to start getting the ball rolling with getting her home! It is definitely going to be a long process to get her home but we are excited to at least be talking about it. We were hoping to be home by New Years but seems that will change. It looks as if Caroline will need to get a "G tube" which is a feeding tube in her stomach before they will send her home. The surgeons do the operations on Tueday so we were looking at next Tuesday well because it is the holidays, they aren't operating next week on elective surgeries, only emergencies. So that means we will have the surgery done December 29th.  Then she will to spend a few days recovering from that. So it seems at least another two weeks here for us. We are fine with the G tube because we are hoping it will only be temporary. We can still keep working with her on her oral skills and try to get her to take a bottle but at least with her having the feeding tube, we will be able to take her home! There is also a long checklist we need to check off before we go home but I am glad things are heading in that direction (Again, I don't want to jinx anything!!)

I have been able to stay in Charlottesville with Caroline since she was born. Jeremy had to return to work this week and has made things challenging at times. I didn't realize how exhausting it is sitting in the hospital all day long by myself would really be. Also, I know Jeremy is exhausted from driving back and forth each day. But, we just have to do what we have to do and we know this will only be temporary!

I was talking to the nurse today and she was talking about what great parents we will be and talking about how she just knows the babies that are going to succeed when they go home because of their parents. We have also had a few people tell us what great parents we are but you know what? I don't think we are some extra special wonderful parents that have super powers or something like that... we are just your normal parents. We love this little girl so much and would do anything for her...isn't that what parents are like? You just do what you have to do for your child...and we would! We knew that bringing Caroline into this world would come with challenges and she would need extra things in her life but we want to do that for her. We want to give her the best possible opportunities she can have in this life! That is what any parent would want for their child, no matter the circumstance!

I just want to say thank you again to everyone. It really makes our day to see the wonderful comments, texts, calls, letters, etc from so many people! It amazes me about all the kindness and support we have been given throughout all of this! We have enjoyed the wonderful visits from family and friends (they were much needed!) and all the love our sweet girl has received! She truly is one loved (and probably spoiled!) little girl! Thank you again for everything!!!!

We will keep everyone updated and we hope that she keeps continuing to improve! We are so amazed at everything she has already overcome! She is such a fighter!!