Never a Dull Moment

What an exciting day we had. John came home at noon and we both had heard that there was a shooter at Children’s hospital and that the hospital was on lock-down. We headed down to Milwaukee hoping it would be resolved by the time we arrived. In hearing more on the news and that a baby was involved I called Grace’s nurse to find out what was happening. Tia assured me they were all fine and that she had Baby Grace in her arms when it all happened. And if they had to evacuate she was taking Grace with her. The nurses and any parents were locked into their pods with the babies and even had to be escorted to go to the bathroom. Being a bit claustrophobic I was thankful I wasn't there. The thought of being locked in somewhere makes me shudder.

As it turns out the father of one of the babies in the Progressive Care NICU came to visit his baby and so he had clearance as those areas are locked. The hospital got a call that he might have a gun on him and there was a warrant for his arrest. The police came and he put his baby down and was compliant but as soon as he was out of the PNICU he tried to escape and the police took him down. Thankfully no one in the hospital was hurt. Read full story HERE.

When we arrived the hospital was still on lock-down with news cameras and police everywhere. We managed to get to the parking garage and by the time we walked through to the hospital entrance lock-down had just ended and there was a sea of people waiting to get in and out. Some Moms crying because their child was locked inside and they couldn't get there.

And it is another amazing work of God because Grace was supposed to be moved to that step-down unit today and the baby in this ordeal was one that was being discharged so Grace could move up. Dr. Scott came down later to tell us it was a little crazy there today and hopefully tomorrow he can get her moved. He remarked, “Maybe it was a good thing she wasn't up there today”. Yes, yes that is true. And he reassured us that it is safe.

Grace had a busy morning having both an MRI and an EEG. Tia noted that she slept through the MRI and slept through putting the electrodes on her head and for the hour long test. But taking them off was a different story and she cried through it. We got the results for the MRI and her brain looks great, nothing abnormal at all! Yay! The doctor will give us the results of the EEG tomorrow.

She is still a little yellow so they are testing her bilirubin level again to see if it has increased. Right now she reminds us of Thomas as he had breastfeeding jaundice, which was caused by my milk and was our “yellow baby” for almost 3 months. And tonight Gracie really reminded me of Thomas in her expressions.

During the night she took in the most she has taken by bottle which was 35 cc. They increased the amount she should be taking to 60 cc. which is 2 oz. I was able to nurse her tonight and she took 20 cc. before falling asleep. We tried a few times waking her but she wanted nothing to do with that so it ended up being a gavage feeding. But each day she is staying awake longer to take in more. Such a slow process and it all depends on her. As Tia always tells me "She is acting her age. Late-term premature babies are consistently inconsistent" and you never know what they are going to do.

We were encouraged though as the doctors went through their rounds. Dr. Khalil presented Grace and told her progress and how much milk she is taking in from bottle/nursing and gavage and one of the doctors exclaimed, "Wow!" My sentiments exactly.

God is so GOOD!