Hospital Update- 3/24/2013

Email sent to family and friends on 3/24/2013:

We had a good day with Evin today. 

We are very pleased with the arrangements at Cooks so far, as we are able to room in with Evin.  We are here around the clock and get to see every assessment that the nurses and doctors do on her.  Although we do not get to hold her at this point due to her being on the ventilator and the tubes going through her belly button, we have been getting to change diapers, help take her temperature, and lift her off the bed in order to weigh her.  This is the absolute highlight of our day!  We also can sit next to her bed and can touch her or talk to her whenever we like.   We have been reading lots of books and singing songs.

There has been discussion of taking out her breathing tube since she is breathing so well on her own, but they decided against it since there is a possibility she would just have to have it put back in on Tuesday for a procedure.  The less stress on her the better, so we were happy with this decision even though we look forward to seeing her breathing on her own without the ventilator sometime soon.

They have been able to reduce the number of times they take blood values because her numbers have been very stable so far.  Rather than coming to do this every 3 hours, they are now able to do this every 12 hours.

She has been getting her calories and nutrients through IVs, but tonight we were able to start feeding her breastmilk through a feeding tube.  We were so excited to hear this news and get to be the ones to feed it to her through the tube.  She gets about a teaspoon every 3 hours and we count down until we get to feed her each time. 

Tomorrow morning the team of doctors will come assess Evin and make a decision as to whether she will have the catherization procedure (inserting a balloon) or if she will have to have surgery to insert a shunt.  We are praying that they think the ballooning will work.  Hopefully the doctors will make the decision by tomorrow afternoon.

Please continue to pray!

Kori & Mitch

Evin's sweet cousin, Lane drew this picture for us to hang in Evin's room in the NICU.  It brought a smile to our faces!

Today was Mitch's birthday.  He did NOT want a big deal made of this day, considering the circumstances, but I had to have Evin "sign" a card for him with her footprints.  Love those teeny toes!

So incredibly proud of this little fighter.