Happy Nine Week Birthday, Elise (Plus Another Spell & 5-10 or More Days)

Can you believe it's been nine weeks? Although we had hoped to have Elise home between 7-8 weeks, we are so thankful for the amazing care she's receiving in the NICU. She wouldn't be alive without them, and we are praising the Lord for all they've done to keep her progressing.

This morning Elise had another big spell and needed oxygen again to come back. I talked with her doctor (the main guy at the NICU) who said that realistically learning "suck, swallow, breath" takes just as much brain power as learning to walk so it's very common that premature babies take longer to learn the coordination. He said that, if he had to guess, he'd say she'll take another 5-10 days to get coordinated enough to come home but that it may be longer. He said she was born so young and has already overcome lung disease, her PDA (the heart murmur caused by a blood vessel in her heart still being open that normally closes within a couple of days after birth in a full term baby; though it's still there, she's doing well and isn't symptomatic of any major problems because of it), and other hurdles. So now she just needs a little more time to overcome this final hurdle.

She was really sleepy here.

But not too sleepy to show off her beautiful little eyes.

And definitely not too sleepy to pose for a picture with mommy.

And for another last night.

-------

Kit's been working on completely redoing a 1971 Columbia Sports III three-speed bike since Elise was born. It's been a good project for him to do to relax a bit. He took the following photos of his work and said I could post them if I wanted to (aka he wanted to show off his bike :)). I'll post more photos when he's done.