Anna Grace - January 26

Anna Grace's doctors today started her on 30 minute compressed feeds - that is considered "fully compressed". So far so good.... we'll see how the rest of the day (and night) go. We have also tried twice today with the bottle - 19 ml by mouth the fisrt time, 22 ml by mouth the second time. We will try again for the third time at her 8:00 pm feeding. Please join us in praying that she take her WHOLE BOTTLE by mouth. The doctors have said that her feeds are the only thing keeping us here, so she just has to learn to eat by mouth. She seems to struggle with eating by mouth - she sucks several times before she swallows so I think she is still struggling with the suck/swallow concept. Also, after about 20 ml she just gets tired so I think it takes a lot of energy & concentration for her to eat. There's not really anything the doctors or I can do to help her learn, just practice & PRAY!

The doctors are still trying to find the right dosage of her blood pressure medicine to help regulate her blood pressue. It will take a few days they think to find the right dose for her & then as she grows her dosage will have to grow with her. They will take blood from her on Thursday just to make sure that everything with this medicine is working OK with her internally.

So, last night my little one was up from 1:30 to 5:30 am - just wanting to be held really. Pat & sway, pat & sway. When I would put her down she would wake up & cry so I would hold her - pat & sway - she would fall asleep in my arms and after she had been asleep about 10 minutes & I was SURE that she was completley asleep I would put her in bed & then I would lay down & as soon as I would lay down she would cry. So... that was our night time dance last night. Really, it was like having a "normal" newborn :) Can't complain about that except I am hoping for some sleep tonight. We'll see.

We also went for a walk this morning. We went outside but it was a little breezy so I brought her back into the hospital to walk the halls, but then I kept hearing people coughing (nervous Mommy) and then she started fussing so we headed back upstairs to our room - but we stayed unhooked for a little while so I was able to walk around the room with her. It was nice to be unhooked for a little while.

Zachary has been at his Mee-mee's lakehouse for the last couple of days, but he is now back in Charleston at the townhouse with my friend from Atlanta, Mrs. B. I called to talk with him this afternoon and Mrs. B asked him if he wanted to talk with Mommy, but he said "No, Maam" - he was at the playground playing. I'm thankful he's not waiting by the phone for my call, but he's clearly handling time away from Mommy better than Mommy is handling time away from Zachary. Today is his birthday - he is three years old today. His Mee-Maw had a party for him this weekend. His Mee-Mee had a party for him on Sunday and Mrs. B is going to have a party for him tonight. I am thankful that there are so many people to love on my son while I am not able to be with him. As hard as it is to be away, God is continuing to take care of us :)

I think I will never again take for granted the simple pleasure of having my family all together under one roof. Sigh.....