April 29

After another eye exam this morning, it was determined that Elsie needed another laser surgery to touch up a few spots that could potentially cause trouble, and so they pulled out the magic laser guns once again. They are more concerned about her right eye, but they also touched up a few vessels in her left eye while they were at it. Hopefully this does the trick and her eyes can heal and grow as they should from this point forward. It's another little setback in her progress, as she had to be intubated again for the surgery, and will have to wean back to where her oxygen settings were at before the surgery. And like anyone else who has had any kind of surgery, it takes time to heal and recover. But hopefully her recovery will be quick and we can get back to where we used to be.

Speaking of oxygen settings, on Friday night, Elsie was taken off the high-flow nasal cannula and was put on just a regular ol' nasal cannula. The nurse explained it as being the type of nasal cannula that any regular person admitted to the hospital, needing to be on oxygen, would use. Regular people! So when she recovers from the surgery, hopefully it won't take her too long to get back to this oxygen setting.

Today, other than Elsie having laser eye surgery, was a big day for the Sagers family. Not only was it Clayton's birthday today, but today was the first day that siblings under the age of 14 were allowed in the NBICU. Because of it being RSV season, they had age restrictions in place all winter long to reduce the exposure of the tiny babies to potentially deadly diseases like RSV and the flu. So today, Elsie got to meet her older sister Evje for the very first time. Ok, well, Elsie technically was unconscious, due to being sedated from the surgery, so there wasn't a ton of interaction. Ok, there wasn't any interaction :) But Evje and her parents were very excited for this special moment.

Everyone always asks me if Evje understands about Elsie, that she has a little sister. The answer is, I really don't know. Evs turns two on Wednesday. How much does a 2-yr-old understand? Who knows. We talk about Elsie a lot, pray for her in our family prayers, show Evje pictures and videos of Elsie. So she knows that there is a baby named Elsie, but I don't know how much of the sister stuff she understands. Hopefully after today, getting to actually see and touch Elsie, helps her understand a little bit more.

Personally, I find it interesting that on my birthday, I got to hold Elsie for the first time, and now, on Clayton's birthday, it just happens to be the day that young siblings are allowed to visit the babies, and our entire little family is together in the same room for the first time ever. Coincidence? I think not. I think it is the Lord's way of saying happy birthday to us.

It was pretty exciting for me to watch Evs with her baby sister. At the front desk, they took Evje's temperature and made a copy of her immunization card to make sure that she was immunized and was in good health. We helped her scrub her hands and arms, and explained that we always have to wash our hands carefully before we touch Elsie. She got to wear a special sticker that identified her as a "Big Sister," and I think she was pretty happy to have her own sticker, since Mom and Dad always have stickers on when they visit Elsie. Evje wasn't concerned about the breathing tubes and the other medical apparatus; we explained to her that it was helping Elsie to breathe and to get better. She kept saying "Eyes hurt" because Clayton explained to her that Elsie's eyes had been "hurt" and that the doctors fixed them. She said "Baby Elsie" several times, and also "baby sleeping". Then after we had left the room, she kept asking to see Elsie again, which kinda broke my heart a little, but oh well. She can only visit for 15 minutes twice a week, but it's better than nothing! All in all, it was a happy experience. It would have been more fun if Elsie had been awake instead of knocked out cold, but we'll get to experience that some other time.

Here's a bunch of pictures for your viewing pleasure.

She liked the monkeys on this blanky :)

Daddy explaining about the tubes

"Baby Elsie!"

Touching so soft

Poor baby

Swollen eyes

A sister's touch :)

Happy birthday, Daddy Clayton!