Thanks from Hope

Hope would like to thank Aunt Em for her cute outfit today! The yellow duckies got her in the mood for spring!

Daily Dose: Tuesday, March 3

Hope: day 86

Hope had a very busy day today. She didn't end up having a renal ultrasound yesterday, but instead they did a cardiac ultrasound. The ultrasound showed an "artifact" but the radiologist thinks it is just a shadow from her ribs. The abdominal and renal ultrasounds today showed no abscesses and no pockets of infection. Her cranial ultrasound showed no changes, which means it has been stable for 8 weeks now!!

Hope had another eye exam today. The doctors saw she has stage I ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity). This is technically described as "mildly abnormal blood vessel growth. Many children who develop stage I improve with no treatment and eventually develop normal vision. The disease resolves on its own without further progression." The ophthamologist says they'll keep watch on it but is not worried and fully expects her to outgrow it (as over 90% of kids do).

The biggest fatty today is...... Hope, weighing in at 1730 grams (3 pounds 13 ounces)!! Hope snuggled with Mommy today which everyone loved because Hope hasn't been able to snuggle in almost a week. Hope was more awake and alert and, thanks to all the prayers, seems to be feeling a little better all the way around. Keep the prayers coming!!!!

Daily Hope: Tuesday, February 3

Hope: day 58

Today was a big day for Hope. It was cranial ultrasound Tuesday. Hope's ultrasound was good and showed no signs of change. Hope's feedings were lowered because her output (aka poop) is higher than is desirable. They will keep an eye on that and see what is going on with that. The good news is that she weighed in today at 1180 grams, which is 20 grams more than yesterday and she now weighs 2 pounds 9 ounces!!! Now that's what I call "the biggest fatty". Hopefully she continues to gain so she can win the competition, however, it appears she is only battling herself, so I suppose she will win no matter what, but don't tell her that, we want her to be competitive, ok, Aunt Em wants her to be competitive.

Hope's eyes were checked again today and all looks good thus far. They will be checked again in a few weeks. Hope also had a chest xray that looked much better than Sunday's, showing much better expansion.

Besides all those tests Hope managed to get some good snuggling in with Daddy today.

Daily Hope: Monday, February 2

Hope: day 57

Hope had another good and quiet day today. She spent some time snuggling with Mommy, which both Hope and Mommy LOVE!! Hope didn't gain any weight since yesterday, still at 1160 grams, but that's ok. She'll gain weight at her own speed.

Hope was switched from the CPAP mask to the nasal prongs. Statistically she handled it quite well, however, she was adamant that those prongs would NOT be in her nose. After many struggles, she finally convinced them to switch her back to the mask. Little did Hope know, but they were planning on putting the mask back on anyways, they just wanted to give her face a breather (yes, pun intended).

Hope is approaching her 2 month birthday!!! And we are very glad that things have been going so well lately. Hope is asking for some special prayers tomorrow. She'll have another head ultrasound and is hoping for stable or improved results. Please say an extra prayer for that tomorrow. And while you are at it, throw in a prayer for Hope's Mommy & Daddy. They get a little uneasy on ultrasound days, understandably. So let's hope that everything is good!