Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - Evening Update

I have so much good news to share tonight. Olivia has had no apneas or bradycardias for 24 hours. The physical therapist came to evaluate Olivia today. They are going to be spending about a week with her before they give us their evaluation. So far as we know, they don’t see any obvious signs of cerebral palsy and they seem to think that she is where she should be for her age. They went up on Olivia’s feeding today to 29cc, so she is taking over an ounce every feeding and tolerating it very well.

When we arrived at the hospital tonight, Olivia was so mad. She is getting a little more force and a little more sound behind her cries. Nothing seemed to calm her down until daddy laid his hands on her. Later, she was upset again and I laid my hands on her. We also gave her a pacifier. At first, she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it, but then she started going to town sucking on it. It really seemed to soothe her and she finally went to sleep. It is good to know that she has a fairly strong sucking reflex, which some premature babies struggle with. We’ve learned to take each day as it comes. . .to rejoice in the good days and realize there may also be some days that aren’t as good. What a Happy Halloween it was for us today! As I mentioned previously, Ryan loves Halloween. He has spent years creating pneumatic props that have motion sensors and everything. This year he mentioned it was like Christmas without a Christmas tree, but there was nowhere he would rather have been than with his daughter. She brings so much joy to our life and we are so proud of her. Please pray for her continued success on CPAP and that she has many more wonderful days like today.