February 14

Yesterday, Elsie was due to have her bed changed, and so I arranged to pick Clayton up after work and took him to the hospital so that he could hold Elsie for the first time. However, when we arrived in Elsie's room, the nurse informed us that Elsie had had a hard day, and had been very agitated and irritable all day. She had finally fallen asleep right before we came, and so we decided to let her sleep and have Daddy hold her on another day. Poor baby. While we sat with her, however, her numbers all stabilized and she got some much needed rest.

Judging by Elsie's discomfort and the fact that she still has not been able to wean off the ventilator, the doctors are thinking that she has an infection in her lungs. We are still waiting for the lab results from the mucus sample from her lungs to determine what kind of infection she has, but until we get the results and can start a specific antibiotic, she has been started on a broad spectrum antibiotic. Her weight gain has also tapered off a little, so they increased her feedings to a higher caloric intake so that she can keep her weight up. Elsie was up to 1 pound 15 oz on Monday, and so I thought she was going to reach the 2 pound mark this week and we were getting all ready to celebrate. My sweet sister bought a 2 pound box of chocolates to give to Elsie's nurses, but when it turned out that Elsie had lost a little bit of weight, Clayton and I decided to give the chocolates to the nurses as a Valentine's Day gift instead of a 2 pound celebration. Oh well. It's worrisome that something might be wrong, but like they say, in the NBICU, it's usually 1 step forward and  2 steps back.

Elsie will be 6 weeks old tomorrow, which would have been 29 weeks gestation. So far, she's been a tough little fighter, but she's still so tiny and fragile. I'm worried that this infection might turn into something scary like pneumonia.

And just as I was sitting here typing, worried and feeling glum, an angel was sent to my doorstep. She claimed that she had just come to bring a Valentine's gift, but really, she came at that particular time to remind me that Heavenly Father loves me and is watching out for our family. Thank you, Karen.

Please pray for my baby.