Ups and downs

Amelia is still doing really well, but my lack of patience is starting to get to me. 

You know, she is doing well, handling the surgery, and meds, well, and now I want to go home!!

It's not that easy.

 Now, she has to start gaining weight and eating orally. She has never been fed orally in her entire(almost)3 weeks of life. It wasn't until recently that she started being fed through an NG tube in her nose. We have to have a speech therapist come and evaluate her sucking and swallowing to make sure it's safe for her to eat orally. 

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Amelia was in a lot of pain and the doctors couldn't figure out what it was. I believe it was gas. Girlfriend would scream, scream, scream, and then poop or fart, and then she would be fine for a while. She pooped like 10 times in one day. The speech therapist was going to see her Thursday, but she had, had a lot going on since they took out her chest tubes and oxygen. She ended up needing to go back on oxygen for another day. So she came back on Friday, and poor baby was still so irritable and didn't even want the paci. So now it's the weekend and she isn't here to evaluate her. Amelia is feeling much better now, so hopefully when speech comes back tomorrow, she'll be all ready for eating. Once she starts eating(If she does), she will need to gain weight really well before we can go home. If she doesn't eat well, they'll have to do another surgery to put in a G tube. It'll go straight into her belly and she'll be tube fed whatever she cannot eat orally.

She only has one IV left, and it's not even giving her medicine. They have it just in case they need it. She gets all medicine through her feeding tube, now. So much has changed so quickly and I am grateful that she is doing so well. The last couple days I have been incredibly frustrated. I feel like we're on the home stretch, but at the same time, it feels like we'll never leave the hospital. I know it's God working on my patience. There is a family down the hall from us who have been here for almost 9 weeks. I have to remember that we're alright and we *shouldn't* be here that long, since Amelia didn't have the complications that, that little girl had. 

I live for the day that we put her in the car seat and carry her out of the hospital. 

Things to pray for:

Emma is going back with her grandparents today. She is going to have a lot of fun, but I am going to miss her, of course. 

David is going back to work on the 2nd, so that means I will be alone in Madison during the week. I will survive, it will just be difficult being without Emma AND David. 

Amelia should see the speech therapist tomorrow, and while I know these things don't happen over night, I would just love for her to rock the eval, so we can start oral feedings. 

THEN, if we start oral feedings, she needs to be able to gain weight really well. 

Thanks, y'all for your continued prayers and support. It means a lot to David and I. I cannot wait to tell Amelia, one day, how so many people were praying for her, and how everyone was so supportive and loving towards us. 

Love, 

Kelly