So what's going on with Emily?

In my last post about Emily, I failed to mention the results of her head ultrasound. It showed that the level 2 brain bleed was retracting or going away. Such great news, I can't believe I didn't mention it!! Also the PVL condition they thought she could develop that showed up in the second head ultrasound, is not even showing up on the third head ultrasound! There are no signs of it at all! What a miracle! For being born at 23 weeks Emily is doing great. We feel very blessed with all the progress she is making and can't wait to get her home! We know Ethan is helping her and cheering her on.

She is back on the CPAP but it is currently hooked up to the ventilator. The ventilator is on a low setting which will be weaned off in the next day or so to see if she can do all the breathing on her own. The ventilator gives her 10 breaths every minute and she makes up the rest on her own. So today they are weaning that down to 5 breaths and tomorrow they will try for the second time to see if she can do it all on her own!

Emily is now 2 months and 1 week old! She is also weighing in at a whopping 3 pounds, 2 ounces!!! She has almost tripled her weight!

Emily is still being fed through a tube every three hours and is getting 23 ml. of breast milk. I have been pumping at home every 3-5 hours and storing the milk in the freezer, till we can take it down to her on the weekends. Ryan got to hold her for Father's Day and was so excited. That was his second time holding her. We got pictures, but on a Kodak diposable flash camera, which we have to get developed. The battery on our digital camera died, (great timing, huh?) So we are in the process of ordering a new one. Sorry for no new pictures! Once she is off the CPAP, we will be able to hold her more often, but for now we only get to touch or look at her through her incubator. Also Ryan got to hear her little voice for the first time. She made a faint, barely above a whisper, cry while we were there the day before Father's day. It was a beautiful cry and so cute!

Often times when babies are born early they have problems with their eyesight. It's called, Retinopathy of prematurity or commonly known as ROP. "ROP is a potentially blinding eye disease primarily affecting premature infants weighing less than 2 pounds, 12 ounces. The disease spurs the growth of abnormal blood vessels in the eye, vessels that leak fluid and blood, and scar the nerve tissue inside the eye. This increases the risk of retinal detachment and severe vision loss in these infants, most born more than two months prematurely."

Emily has had two eye exams to see if her eyes are developing the way they should be. With the amount of oxygen being pumped into her during the last two months it can sometimes affect her eyes. There is a strong correlation between the two. So it's a fine balancing act, on maintaining the oxygen levels just right. Yet, even if oxygen levels remain steady and low, babies can develop eye problems anyway just from being born so early. They can have mild problems like wearing glasses, to severe problems like total blindness. Ryan and I feel very optimistic however, that Emily will be ok, and she will not be blind. Usually before babies even get to that point doctors can most often times prevent vision loss just by detecting and treating it early on by laser surgery or other means.

Emily may need glasses down the road, but so far the nurse practitioner/doctor is remaining positive about it too and says her eyes look pretty good for how early she was. Emily is developing a little bit of a ridge, which is a level one for ROP, and well, that whole thing in itself is complicated to even understand let alone try to explain. Sorry, but you get the idea....I hope.

Well that's the lastest news on our little miracle. We feel so blessed with the progress she is making, and we feel extremely grateful to have both of these little angels come to our family. Even though it was the hardest thing we have ever been through, we have learned and grown so much from Ethan and Emily. And we are, in so many ways, closer to the Lord and his love for us and we wouldn't trade that knowledge or experience for anything.

I wanted to say, Thank you again to everyone for being there for us. For all the cards, thoughts, messages, hugs, love, visits, flowers, donations, prayers, fasting for our family, meals, helping with the funeral, phone calls, and for your friendships. Thank you!!!