Nesting Nessa!

OK... time for another update! Karis continues to make progress. She has been off of oxygen for a couple of days now and is breathing well for the most part. She has been stepped down from level 2 to intermediate nursery, which means she's not coming to the room yet but has graduated from the big beds with the heat lamps to a bassinet. She has started nursing and seems to be doing well with that. She has come off of her antibiotics but is still on an IV until the doctor is sure that she's getting everything she needs via nursing. She has a slight case of jaundice and is on a biliblanket still. From time to time she is still breathing faster than she should and the pediatrician said he needs to see her breathe at a normal rate for at least 24 hours straight before he'll send her home. He said we should plan on taking her home on Thursday or Friday at the earliest. This is later than we hoped for, but we want Karis to get all the attention she needs before we go home with her. We are also reminded of several of our friends who have spent months in the hospital with their infants and have a new sympathy for what they have been through.

Vanessa has been discharged as a patient. Because Karis is not ready to come home yet, Vanessa is now considered a "nesting mother" and is allowed to stay in a room (as long as one is available), eat from the cafeteria and be close to the baby until she's ready to leave. Vanessa is not getting any treatment from the nurses or doctors at this point... which actually helps with resting through the night! She's doing well. She developed a spinal headache as a complication from her spinal anesthesia but was treated and is feeling well now.

I am living between home and the hospital and am very appreciative of all the prayers and calls on our behalf. Thanks for loving us well. Please keep praying that Karis' breathing will get easier and she'll get beyond this rough start.

P.S. - Vanessa is in room 237A at Tift Regional Hospital. She can be reached directly by calling 353-4237.

5 Things Mom & Dad Miss About being Home with the Hyphen Nation

MOMMY'S LIST
1. Holton's hand down my shirt
2. Zoe saying, "I still hungy."
3. Foot-rubs from Lexie
4. Late-night Spongebob watching in my bed
5. Rescuing the girls from the Snoring Ninja (Holton)

DADDY'S LIST
1. The kid stampede when I get home from work
2. Toting Zoe to her bedroom like a baby after her bath
3. Putting Holton to bed after late-night Spongebob watching
4. Kisses and cuddling with Lexie
5. Vanessa's good cooking!

We can't wait to bring Karis home to her Hyphen Nation! She'll be on the list soon...

Please Pray Today

Things are still going well with Karis but she has hit a minor bump in the road. Here's the good news: she has come COMPLETELY off of oxygen and her breathing is doing much better! They have also removed the feeding tube from her throat and replaced it with one through her nose that won't gag and aggravate her. Less than good news: she's not progressing quite as quickly as the doctor would like to see. She is still retracting a little when she breathes and the second set of x-rays still show some stuff in her lungs. She also has something going on with her bowels that could be causing some stomach problems and preventing her from digesting her milk like she should. Because of these things, the doctor is keeping her in the nursery another day and feeding her only through IV - no nursing with her mom or even getting milk through the tube. The doctor has consulted with another doctor at the NICU in Macon and they feel that it's best to give her another day to move things along through her intestines and let her lungs mature some more. Of course, this makes us very sad, but we want Karis to get everything she needs while she's here. We don't want to rush anything or move her to the next stage before it's time.

She also has slightly elevated bilirubin levels, causing a minor case of jaundice. Since she's already in the nursery, they put her on a biliblanket and under a light to help her body break down the bilirubin and get rid of it.

The doctor said that the situation hasn't changed - we're still dealing with the same diagnosis and it will resolve itself. She's just taking her precious time! This condition is common in C-section babies but most of them are off oxygen and are nursing by now; because Karis is taking longer than usual she is out of the range of "normal" for this condition. The doctor has mentioned a couple of times that her age may have been a little off... it is possible that she wasn't a full 38 weeks when she was born, which would explain the extra time needed for all of this.

Please pray for Karis today. Pray that her lungs will clear up and her intestines will move along like normal.

We've added a few more pictures to our Facebook photo album. Check out the link in the "Detour" post.