hello friends.
seth and i are at the hospital together this morning, it is a rare quiet time here - only 6 babys in our room and everyone seems to be sleeping soundly. it has been a really good week for elida...
we were quite worried about elida's ability to swallow last weekend as she was having a very difficult time "managing" some thicker saliva that would pool in the back of her throat and limit her ability to breath normally. while the nurses take great care of elida... they join us in our observation of how elida reacts to new challenges - we all must wait and see. after a few days the thick mucus went away - and we all sigh in relief.
we are very thankful that she bounced back and marvel at her ability to swallow normally without needing assistance... again she proves to us what a fighter she is! we do certainly pray a lot about the weakness she has in her ability to swallow. strength in this area will impact her greatly in the future.
the rest of her body is growing bigger and stronger! she is now up to 5 lbs 13 oz. and though her weight gain is slow, it seems to be steady. seth and i are always here to weigh her in the evenings... i am not going to lie, this is always one of the highlights of our day.
elida's broken arm is now healed completely and out of the sling. the occupational therapists will begin splinting it after the holiday weekend... the range of motion in her left arm - which has been splinted for 2 weeks now- is just astounding. we are excited to see her right arm catch up!
last week elida was in a full body harness to help with her "shallow" hips. she is no longer in this harness as it was not successful in deepening those sockets. this is good news now, because her little body is no longer constricted... but it does mean that when she is 2-3 months old she will need to be in cast for a few months to make sure her hips are growing appropriately. the curious thing about the harness is that if it is not working it can cause damage to the hips, so off it came...
the doctors and nurses are beginning to talk a bit more about what it will be like when we take elida home. this is an exciting and terrifying prospect to us at this point. she needs to gain more weight - but the doctors are now saying it will only be a week or two before she will be ready for her surgery for the "g-tube". (again, this is a port that will be put into her stomach for us to feed her safely for next year or so.) we will be here post surgery at least another week to observe and learn this new way of feeding her before we can take her home.
we have come to value her safe little place here in the NICU... and pray for peace of mind as we begin thinking about what life will be like for the 3 of us when we take her home.
thank you for continuing to send your encouraging words and support to our family.. we know elida feels it and so do we! our apologies for not getting back in touch with each of you personally - we love you all so much - and could not imagine going through all of this without you.
with love,
seth elida and amelea
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