Best Mother's Day surprise!!

We got to hold Mary Louise today!! For the first time since birth, we got to see her eyes first hand - not through plastic!! Brent and I each held her and she opened her eyes and kicked her little legs. It was just indescribable!

She and David both looked great today.

Her cultures from the 8th came back positive but the infection has been greatly reduced and is expected to clear in the next day or so. So far her IV accesses have held. They will try to get a PICC line when the infection is totally clear. They are also continuing to wean her from the vent and her dopamine drip (which is at a very low dose now). Her feedings have been increased twice and she is metabolizing them so far. As of today, she is receiving one fifth of her fluids by mouth (way to go baby girl!!).

David is doing well overall. They are starting to very slowly wean from the nitric oxide today as well as continuing to wean the dopamine/ dobutamine drip. The rate on his vent has been greatly reduced and although he does have periods where he needs some help, he has started to do most of the breathing work himself. We were told that we may be able to hold him later on this evening. If not today, then soon!! Blood cultures were drawn today again - all so far have come back negative but he's had a recent drop in platelets which caused some concern.

The following are a few photos of us today holding Mary Louise.

Drop Box

As far as the rash goes - it's still amazing...and by amazing I mean that it still looks like I've rolled around in mass amounts of poison ivy - naked. Ha - it doesn't look quite as "angry" as it did though and a few areas are starting to fade and heal. Thanks to my mother's obsessive googling, it has been brought to my attention that I've had every fine print side effect from Zoloft since I was started on it 3 weeks ago (post delivery). You know, the ones that are at the bottom of the side effect list that say "a small percentage of people experience...and if you experience any of these symptoms, you should contact your healthcare provider immediately." So, in effect, the pill that is supposed to keep me happy is making me totally insane with itching, sweating, odd burning sensations and unexplained rashes and fevers! I'm tapering off of it (look out!) in hopes that it allows this rash to subside.

Happy mother's day to all!

Love, Heather