From Greg:

Well, our lack of a posting over the last few days could be attributed to a hectic schedule or a fear of jinxing Isabel's official discharge. That's right. After a couple of false starts (come on people, it's football season), she is set to come home tomorrow! We are so excited and blessed. Alexander and Isabel will be reunited once again. We will all be home together. While I am certain this will present challenges that I have yet to comprehend, to say that I am overjoyed is an understatement. Along with our family and friends, we have prayed relentlessly and our prayers have been answered. I have to go get ready for church now, but we will work diligently to keep you posted on everyone's progress.

Thank you for your continued love, support, and prayers. It's an amazing feeling to know that so many people care about all of us.

Isabel's Progress

Isabel is doing much better today than she was over the weekend. The negative effects of the immunizations have almost worn off and she is seeming more like her old self. Some of her BP readings are in the desirable range and all of them are lower than they had been. It seems the medication may be starting to work! She is also doing better with the bottle.

Greg and I have been very concerned about Isabel during her feeds. You may remember us mentioning her having bradys (low heart rate) and decreased oxygen saturation. She would turn blue in these situations. It has been very frustrating because it doesn't seem that the physicians understand what we are talking about. Greg and I are sure we don't want to have to do CPR when we get her home. A nurse over the weekend experienced this during a feed and had to give her oxygen. After talking with her, we were able to use her as a voice to the medical director. In addition, Greg spoke with the medical director who was unaware of these problems. It is finally being addressed. They think the reflux is causing her to block her airway (good choice!) and then she ends up turning blue. The plan is to fortify her milk with an elemental formula. This will allow us to increase her calories while decreasing the volume, thus helping her gain weight and help with the reflux. An elemental formula will be easier on her tummy because it is not made with cow's protein.

Let's hope this works. The poor baby has only gained 2 oz in the past 2 weeks for various reasons.

Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Susan

From Greg

Isabel had a tough day today. She had her vaccinations. She is continuing to get her blood pressure medicine, although so far it has not had the anticipated effect. She is struggling to take her feeds by bottle and has had to be fed by tube mostly. She continues to maintain or gain weight. That's the good news. The doctor will reassess her blood pressure and if necessary he will get another consult from a specialist on Monday to determine if a larger dose is needed (even though she is taking a fairly large dose already). The medical staff continues to reassure us that we should not be too worried about her issues, but that only slightly alleviates the worry and frustration. Susan and I continue to focus on staying strong and patient. We pray multiples times a day. We know that God is watching over Isabel and will bring her home to us when it is time. Please continue to pray for Isabel so that she can come home healthy. Alexander keeps telling me that he misses her.

Isabel

I suppose I spoke too soon regarding Isabel's homecoming. Today they did a renal ultrasound to look at the arteries that deliver blood to the Isabel's kidneys. It appears that she has been having some high blood pressure off and on. The ultrasound showed that the artery supplying her right kidney is smaller than it should be. Although the flow of blood is adequate for kidney function (according to this test), her body is receiving signals that her blood pressure needs to increase.

They are going to start her on some medication on an as needed basis to see if that helps the blood pressure. Her blood pressure is not dangerously elevated, however, it is higher than they would expect to see. We don't want to take her home before we know how she will react to the medications, so we anticipate a lengthier stay :(

This condition is something that she should outgrow. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard that! On the upside, she continues to eat well, although she has some problems with her heart rate during feedings.

Please pray that Isabel will heal quickly and that she will come home when her small body is ready. As much as Greg and I would like to have her home, we want her to be as healthy as possible first.

Love,

Susan

Plan for Isabel

We found out yesterday that Isabel is expected to be discharged on Friday! I had always felt that Isabel accomplished most milestones about a week after Alexander, and the same is true here. She has been taking all her bottles without problems. If she continues to do well with that and gain weight, we are all set for a Friday morning homecoming. :)

We just started to get things down with Alexander here at the house, so we will have to readjust all over again with Sweet Isabel being here too! Alexander continues to thrive here at home and we are loving the bonding time.

Please pray that Isabel continues to thrive and progress. We want her home and healthy!!!

Love,

Susan

Isabel's Progress

Last night Isabel took her first bottle in a week! Today she has taken several full bottles. They asked me to go ahead and bring in the car seat for the car seat test. This is where the baby is placed in the car seat on a monitor for an hour to see if they can handle to position and not desat. It won't be long now.

Susan

Visitors

From Greg: One down, one to go. We are working hard to make Alexander's transition from the NICU to home as easy as possible. As someone who attempts to plan every detail of his life, I have found that I no longer have that luxury. Babies are a lot of work! =) Nonetheless, it is so wonderful to have Alexander with us. All of my friends had told me, "you don't understand until you have kids." Well now I understand. Holding our children brings me the greatest joy I have ever experienced. We hope and pray that God decides it is Isabel's time to join us sooner rather than later.

I want to thank everyone for all of their continued prayers and support. We are so blessed.

Because of the difficulty of the transition and since Isabel is still at the NICU, at this time, we are not taking visitors. The logistics are too challenging. Also, we need to keep the home environment as close to "NICU sterile" as possible. After all, Alexander is still a premature baby, even though he does not really act like one. This is certainly not permanent and we will let everyone know once we are taking visitors. In the meantime, if you would like to help (and God bless everyone for helping so far), we can use prepared meals...it is so difficult to find the time to cook. If you want, you can simply drop them off (with a little advanced notice of course). I want everyone to know that Susan and I discussed this topic extensively. This was not an easy decision, but our children's health is the top priority. We love all of you very much and words cannot express the extent of our gratitude. We really cannot wait to have everyone over. Besides, whoever is holding the baby changes the diaper, right? =)