DOING WELL

Emma continues to do very well. We are bottle feeding 3 feedings a day and I am hoping they will increase it to 4 as of today. She is 4lb 8oz and 16 1/2 inches long!!! She continues to do very well and just keeps growing on us!!!

Yea Emma!!!

Whew!!!! What a wirlwind of activity these alst few days have been!!! Sorry it has taken so long to post anything... mom and dad have been busy!!! Emma continues to grow and do well!!! She had her eye exam today which didn't show anything new... she remains on the high flow oxygen but they decreased it to 2 liters. She now weighs 4lb 7 oz. She continues to take the bottle pretty well but hasn't really breastfed well in the last few days... gotta work on that. She's doing fabulous!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the LORD appeared to them, and the glory of the LORD shown around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, " Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is CHRIST the LORD. 12 This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly hosts appeared with the angel, praising GOD and saying, "Glory to GOD in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom HIS favor rests."
Luke 2:8-14
Hope you have a Merry Christmas!!!

She's Doing So Well

Emma continues to do well. Drank all of here bottle again today, no real problems. Weight was 4lb 2oz- we lost a few ounces because they are giving her a diuretic... She has been very swollen for a few days now and they were trying to let her little system get rid of all the fluid but she just couldn't keep up. She continues to grow a little bit everyday!!!

What a big girl!!!

Emma continues to grow everyday. She is now at 4lb 1oz, up to 32cc every 3 hours on her feedings and the last 2 times I have fed her she has taken the whole bottle!!! It took her some time to learn what to do but she has the hang of it now!!!! She has such a beautiful personality already and I can't wait for everyone to meet her!!!

And HE does it again..

The results from Emma's MRI scan came back yesterday and were negative!!! There is no damage we can see on the scan!!! Such a HUGE praise and a weight lifted from our shoulders!! She continues to do very well. Still on IV antibiotics, feedings to 30cc/hr and still breastfeeding once a day and bottle feeding once a day... Daddy even gave her a bottle last night!!!! Weight is 3lb 15 oz. She's doing great!!!

Chi-Chi-Chi-Chia!!!!

Emma is growing like mad!!! She is now 3lb 13oz. Yesterday was such a neat day for mom, I was able to breastfeed her for the first time. She did so amazingly well!!! Last night she was able to wear clothes for the first time and today when we got here she is offically in an open crib!!!! Such a big girl!!! They are gonna do an MRI this evening to see if there is any residual damage from the meningitis, we will have results in the am.

WOW!!!

Emma is doing sooooo well!!! Her weight is now 3lb 11oz!!! CHUBBS! She really just had a chill day today. Nothing really new. They are saying she could be in an open crib instead of the incubator in a week or so! She continues to get so big!

Such Blessings!!!

Emma had a very productive day yesterday. She had a cat scan of her head to check for any damage from her meningitis which came back negative. She had a repeat spinal tap which showed improvement and a much lower bacteria and wbc count. She had her weekly eye exam which showed stage 1 damage which from what I have been told just about all babies born this early have this. She weighs 3lb 8oz, 15 1/3"long. She hasn't had any episodes all day or night!!! She is really doing fabulous!!!!

Wonderful Progress!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb4YM7fo660

Emma continues to do incredibly well. They were able to wean her down to a nasal cannula on her oxygen today. They are continuing her antibiotics but other than that nothing is really going in her iv. She is back to her full feedings and tolerating them well... she weighs a whopping 3lb 7oz!!!! Plan for tomorrow... CT scan of her brain to check for any abnormalities and her weekly eye exam. Praise GOD!!!

P.S. (This is from Robert) I finally figured out how to load a video on here. The video files are too large to upload on here so I had to load them using Youtube. You can click on the link at the top of this post to view a little video of Emma after she was taken off the resipirator on Saturday. You can also click on the HD button to view the video in HD. I am still learning how to use this new camera so better videos to come!!! Sorry for the delay everybody.....enjoy.

Ok, it's dad's turn to blog! Emma has made such an improvement!! As of this morning, she had the EEG scan done of her head at approximately 11:30 a.m. The EEG scans the brain for seizures and possible neurological damage to the brain cells caused by the Meningitis. The test results came back negative, which is awesome!!!!! It has been a true testament to God's amazing power that Emma has made such an amazing recovery, in record time no less.

This does not mean that we are out of the woods by any means, but it definitely means that Emma is well on her way to full recovery. As of 3:30 p.m., Emma was taken off the respirator and was placed on a C-Pap machine. This machine takes place of the respirator, and instead of providing breaths for Emma, it alows Emma to breath on her own. It just provided gentle constant pressure so she has plenty of available oxygen and a little reminder to breath on her own. As of this post she is responding really well. So well in fact that mom was able to hold her again, hence my post!!! If she keeps this up, she will hopefully be off the machine and back to the nasal canula by tomorrow.....hopefully!

We are both so happy and so very thankful for all the prayers that were said and have been said for Emma's speedy recovery. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for everything everybody has done to help Emma progress as she has.

I posted a little video to show the area where we have been spending all of our time, enjoy!!! More good new to come, stay tuned!

Not to be a Downer but...

We have learned alot today about Emma's infection. She has a staph infection, the group b strep infection, pneumonia from the group b, and bacterial meningitis. We had a new picc line placed, a central iv line that will last a much longer time. They did a head ultrasound looking for any swelling from the meningitis. They consulted an infectious disease doc who spoke with us at legnth about our course of action. 21 days of antibiotics and a wait and see attitude. We will have an EEG done to check the brains electrical pathways for damage. Eventually we will have an MRI of the brain... when she is more stable. She is very sick still and has a long road ahead... we covet your prayers.

Please Continue to Pray...

So Emma officially has group B strep which is actually worse than the doctor was thinking it was gonna be but it is good that we know what it is, it's easier to treat. They decided to do a lumbar puncture today to see if it is in the spinal fluid which would not be so good and low and behold it is... We are looking at a 21 day course of antibiotics. She continues to be on the breathing machine, still to sick to breath on her own. They restarted her feedings. She still weighs 3lb 1oz. She has been more active and alert today which is very good!!! Please Please Please continue to pray for her! We have an even longer road ahead than we thought.

Some Setbacks...

So we have had a very rough last 2 days... sorry about not posting anything but it's been hectic. Emma had a tough day on Tuesday. She was having her episodes all day, pretty much constant. She would be OK for a few minutes at a time only. She normally has 4-5 a day, she was having 4-5 an hour... She was not being her normal self. I noticed a small area behind her right ear that was hard and red and raised and hot... all signs of inflammation. Showed the nurse and the Doc. They started the workup to see if she has an infection and it looks like she does. We ended up having to go back on the breathing machine. She is still so small and her body can only focus on one thing at a time... if it is fighting an infection she can't focus on breathing too!!! So the issue was not that she wasn't getting enough oxygen, it was that she was not trying to breath at all!

So the news today is that it is an infected and inflamed salivary gland, who knew that was an option!!! She remains on the breathing machine, she is not getting her food in her tube but in her iv, she will be on the antibiotics for 10 days. She continues to fight this infection and has not been her usual feisty self!! On a semi- positive note she is now 3lb 1oz but i think she may loose some weight with all this going on. Please pray the infection will go away and we can get off the breathing machine as soon as possible!

Beautiful Eyes!

Emma's sailing along doing amazing!!! She had her second eye exam today and again they found nothing of concern!!! Praise JESUS!!! They will continue to do these weekly probably until she is able to go home. She is at 2lb 14oz- come on 3lbs!!! Otherwise she is great!

Keep on keepin' on!!!

Emma continues to grow and is still gaining about an ounce a day, up to 2lb 13oz as of last night. She continues to have her "episodes", they gave her an extra dose of caffeine for this today and she was much better. She's just getting bigger!!!!

Like Grass...

Emma continues to grow like grass... seems slow but it's passing faster than you might think. 2lb11oz as of last night and continuing to show her little personality. She is doing great, thanks to all your prayers and Jesus healing touch!!!

Grow Baby Grow!!!

Everyday I see my beautiful baby girl she looks soo much bigger, every minute. It's like I close my eyes and she has grown more!!! She remains so small but soooo much bigger than our first days together, 2lb 10oz tonight!!! Feedings increased to 20cc/3hrs. She is doing amazing!!!