Cutie bear

A little about Julia

Julia loves to be cuddled and held. She was first brought to the "critical" nicu bay for her first four days of life. It was the same room where her brother lived part of his life. We feel that William was watching over her, soothing her little soul and making her feel right at home. She was very content in that room, as were we.

She breastfed hours after birth but would not take a bottle so a feeding tube was placed that supplies her meals directly into her tummy. We are working on breastfeeding before and during feeds so she can associate the feeding reflexes with a full stomach. it's going well. She's required very little help in terms of breathing on her own. Her stats are consistently within target range. She has remained in an temperature controlled isolette until she can hold her own temp properly. She requires light therapy for jaundice. Notice how yellow her coloring had been? Her blood counts are currently not a concern but are checked every few days. Her hematology team remains puzzled but have an ideas of what may be going on. If they are right, it could be very good news but the consensus is that we still have to take it day by day.

It didn't take long to realize that her needs were changing, from concern over her anemia and more critical care of prematurity to where we stand today. On Sunday, she was stepped down to the section of the nicu that houses lesser critical babies. Here she can grow and hopefully hit all her milestones, like feeding by mouth, holding her own temperature, etc. Yesterday, she was completely weaned off her sugar water drip and the bulky IV in her hand came out. Another step in the right direction.

We had a meeting with her doctor and social worker and will have another at the end of the week. Everyone remains amazed by how well she's doing. We are shocked. Really, someone pinch us. It's like a dream. It's a lot take in. We are riding the wave but it's a bit hard sometimes to allow ourselves to be happy. We know this may sound strange despite how well she's doing. But it's been a long pregnancy with lots of up and downs. We don't quite know how to handle good news anyone. Her primary neonatologist actually used the word miracle to describe her birth and health status. After William died, we didn't really believe in miracles anymore. But Julia may be helping us to believe again.

Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes. Julia has had visitors every day, she loves meeting all of her biggest fans.

She's changing every day, too. Enjoy these precious moments with us, video below.

Xoxo
Liz, Tom, William, and our new cutie bear, Julia