All:
Well, it has been a little over a week (!) since baby Elizabeth entered the world in the Plano Presbyterian Thunderdome. A lot has happened since then. We have had an abbreviated stay in the NICU, were pleasantly surprised by an early release for good behavior, and had a pleasant homecoming with Caroline and Michael (and the grandparents, too!). Since our return this weekend, Kathryn and I have been united in one seemingly simple mission: feed, feed, feed, feed Elizabeth to get her weight up and "turn the corner". She was a whopping 6lbs 1.5 oz when she was born, and had trimmed that down to a svelte 5lbs. 7 oz. when we left the NICU. So, we have focused on feeding little Elizabeth at every turn to try to get her to "bulk" back up to 6 lbs. This has been met with some rather forceful resistance by the intended "fat-ee". She has become creative with her mother and father on how to avoid/resist the bottle and expel the milk pre-digestion. We will give her an "A" for creativity, but an "F" for necessary submission. We met with our pediatrician on Monday and received the news we knew was coming, but was dreaded nonetheless: Elizabeth needed to carbo-load like crazy...and to accomplish this task, we were going to increase her calorie count. That meant more frequent feedings and thicker formula.
To encourage/force us as parents to "suck it up" and keep feeding, we were told that Elizabeth would now have daily appointments to weigh-in and see her progress. Great. As if Kathryn and I were not stressed out enough trying to feed her every waking moment, now we had to go and have her "weigh-in" at the doctor's office like she was about to compete in the super-feather weight division infant fights. In all candor, we didn't really mind, but it was a bit more pressure for us to "get her feed on" as my brother put it so succinctly.
So, for the past five days, Kathryn and I have been feeding Elizabeth at every waking moment (and even during several sleeping ones!). And, every day of weighing we have just been hovering around the regular weight...some days a half ounce up, some days a half ounce down, , some days just even. It was beginning to drive us crazy (though several would already attest that we had arrived!). Kathryn and I would find ourselves at 3 a.m. arguing over such life altering issues as who was going to sleep near the swing on the floor to listen for Elizabeth to rustle enough to justify another bottle. It was that crazy, nonsensical time of parenting where the most silly and trivial thing becomes the most important issue of our time. (Add to the mix that Kathryn still has both of her ears stopped up with a double ear infection, so that she can't really hear anything, and the whole scene borders on slapstick.) I further added to the stress of the situation by using my famous lack of opportune timing to joke that maybe we should just strap a nipple on some Eagle Brand milk and take a short cut to the goal. (Apparently, the ear infections are not effecting Kathryn's throwing accuracy!)
Anyway, today (Friday) we drove to the doctor's office for our daily exercise in static frustration. I fully admit that I should have reflected on my whole "dip your foot into the Red Sea" discussion from before for a bit of encouragement, but I was so sleep deprived, I wasn't sure of my own name. Well, in another example of God's perfect timing,we put Elizabeth on that scale, and she had gained an ounce and 1/4!!! Another in a long line of answered prayers. Elizabeth had once again shown that we may just have to let her do this stuff on her own time--and trust God to provide when we simply cannot do it on our own. (Of course, we will continue to feed her like a tick at every opportunity). So, thanks for your prayers on this front, we will continue to pray for her to gain weight. Our doctor would like for her to be back to her birth weight by next week. (Cue the sound of me mixing the formula powder and water...)
Other than that,. Elizabeth is still amazing us at every turn. She is alert and showing great tone and control of movement. These are things we had hoped woud be present, but based upon our diagnoses were not sure would be as apparent as they are. God is showing us every day that he is in control of Elizabeth and has knitted her together exactly as He wants. We are enjoying seeing the inexplicable, but wonderful, ways Elizabeth is defying the expectations and confirming the wonder of a kind God.
Once again, Kathryn and I deeply thank you all for the cards, messages, visits, flowers, food, and conversations over the past few weeks. We cherish each of you and truly feel supported and encouraged. It is awe-inspiring to know that so many good and wonderful people are praying for Elizabeth, and we simply cannot thank you enough. We are humbly amazed by God's grace and infallable wisdom in this chapter of our lives. We continue to praise Him for all good things and stand ready for whatever obstacles may present themselves. We are excited about our daily blessings and acknowledge the supremacy and grace of God in this. Have a wonderful weekend!
Matt
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