Holding our Baby Girl

After a full day of running errands and a long wait for my nephrology appointment, Ray and I quickly made our way home to be greeted by the delicious smell of posole cooking away in the crock pot. Thanks to our friend Mary, we did not even have to think about what to make for dinner. When we moved to Arizona, I found out about a local book club through craigslist. It has been so wonderful being part of such a special group of people, and they have all been so supportive during the past month. The book club has organized a dinner schedule where several of the members are dropping off meals to us. It makes it so much easier for us to not have to even think about what to make or eat for dinner. Many, many thanks to all of them!

After eating our dinner, Ray and I headed over to the hospital. We heard earlier in the day that the echo looked good and there was no PDA seen. I should say that with babies as small as Farrah, it is possible for there still to be a murmur and for the PDA to return. We will continue to pray that it will be closed and will not be an issue for Farrah. Now that her echo results looked ok, they are resuming Farrah's feeding. She is only receiving 1 cc of breast milk every three or four hours. We arrived in time for Farrah's 8 pm rounds. I took her temperature and Ray changed her diaper and wiped her mouth and eyes with a moistening cloth. We were happy to see more color added to Farrah's bed linens since she was switched from a humidity bed to an isolet. Ray held up Farrah's ventilation tube while her night nurse moved her to a different position.

Farrah slept right through her diaper change and was getting fed through her

feeding tube when this picture was taken. We thought it was so cute how her legs

were crossed like a pretzel.

At that point, the night nurse asked us if we wanted to hold Farrah. We couldn't believe that it was an option so soon, and Ray and I said that as long as they thought it would be ok, we would love to. Her nurse told us that she seemed stable enough and explained to us that Farrah's oxygen may desaturate since it would be a big change for her. If that happened, they would move her back to her bed. Kangaroo care, which is skin-to-skin contact, is highly encouraged in the NICU. Farrah's nurse and a respiratory therapist worked together to move Farrah out of her bed and into my arms. Her head went against my chest and she was swaddled in a blanket. Rather than having her oxygen drop, Farrah's oxygen went up and they needed to turn down the oxygen support. Her heartrate stayed stable the entire time. She responded so well to being held by me. I sat in the rocking chair and held my sweet baby girl for 45 minutes while talking and singing to her. It was amazing! Next time we come in, Ray needs to wear a button down shirt so he can hold her the same way.