Friday AM

Sara is steady as she goes, slowly improving. Had a good conversation last night with her dr, and this morning with a nurse. By the way, dr's and nurses here at NICU have been beyond incredible. Not just their skill and expertise - but their care, concern, and willingness to talk to us, share information, explain all the technical info, and be genuinely nice. For such a difficult job they have exceeded their calling. We could not be more thankful. Jennifer is already talking about baking goodies for them just to say thanks.

Sara's numbers are all improving. She is off NO2 machine completely. Heart is strong, lungs are stronger, kidneys are working (even saw a little #2 last night), she is wanting to move so much they are having to give her a little sedation so she doesn't get to aggravated with all the equipment on her. In fact, the nurse used the word - she's wants to get a little wild and move too much. And I thought, great - another wild one. I wonder if there is any medicine for that while she is in here.

Her main obstacle is the strep infection. It is better. There is less fluid in her body that is produced by the infection. She is really too sick to do a spinal tap, but the doctor wants to make sure the infection has not gone to the brain in the form of meningitis (more on that in next post). If she improves quickly he may do one and will treat differently if infection is in brain. If not then she will be treated with antibiotics for 2-4 weeks to clear it all up. They are not worried about it even though it sounds terrible to me. The bacteria is holding up her overall improvement - so pray the antibiotics would work.

Jennifer was discharged yesterday and now we begin to daily trips to the hospital. We'll take a long one during the day and then one late after the kids are asleep. Soon when Sara can be held and fed we hope and pray we will be able to take advantage of a courtesy room and be closer to bond. And Abigail and Emma Grace could come up for a while and at least be closer to us as we take care of Sara. Pray for that to work out and for God to help their little minds understand the best they can this whole ordeal. Jenny explained to them at supper last night that part of our family isn't here and we need to do all we can to get us together at home. They have been doing well.

The diary has been running efficiently and thankfully the nurse just told us that when she begins to eat it will only be breastmilk. Later down the road if she needs to gain weight they may add some high calorie supplements to it. Jennifer is working hard to get her a good supply.

Jenny is doing great, getting stronger everyday. Tears come at various times through the day for both of us. Like when someone next to you in line at the hospital pays for your lunch, when you think about the number of people who care and are praying, when you think about the all the help you have received and has been offered, when you think about two little girls who wouldn't leave their mother's side when she came home yesterday, when you drive home from the hospital with your wife without your baby, when you think about the day when you will drive home from the hospital with your wife and 3 wonderful girls.

But don't get me wrong -we aren't moping around sad. We have been laughing and joking as we usually do. Like when Emma Grace was mad at Paw Paw for leaving the seat up and she fell in the pot. That girls knows how to get mad at someone. How we celebrated our 10th anniversary at midnight last night on our couch with milk and cookies. (made by Juliann, and the plan was Ruth Chris Steakhouse -I'm not bitter) It's been the hand of God Himself walking us through. We have a peace that really does pass all understanding. Philippians 4:6-7 really is true after all. (Hey that sounds like a sermon). The journey isn't over, but His Faithfulness has already been abundant. Thanks for praying - keep it up!