What a wonderful day!

First of all, thank you so much for your prayers, love and support you've blessed us with these many months, and especially this past week. Mia Amore is now 1 week old and has improved dramatically already!! When she was born, she was so stiff and would hardly move at all... you should have seen her today!!! She's beginning to act like a typical newborn!! Yesterday she started to wiggle her fingers and move her hands more ... today she was moving her toes, ankles, hands, fingers, swinging her arm from side to side and bringing it back up to her chest ... moving her head, arching her back, stretching... we are SO excited for her improvement!!

Yesterday, Robert and I were able to hold her for the first time - what a wonderful feeling it was to finally hold the precious child in my arms that I'd been carrying in my womb these past 9 months!! Yesterday I was also able to change her diaper for the first time, too! Today, her sweet nurse, Karla, let me give Mia a sponge bath to get her all cleaned up. I still cannot believe how much hair she has!! I love it! She didn't quite like when I scrubbed her head, but she had a lot of junk in her hair from her EEG this morning, so I had to get it out!! She didn't a choice in the matter this time. =) It's been so nice to finally be able to do things a Mommy typically does.

The greatest bit of news today was that she opened up BOTH eyes!! What an answer to prayer!!! Her eyes, especially one of them, were still a little swollen this morning, so she only had one open and we were soo excited! Then a few hours later, she was opening up both of them and she would look around calmly and then close them again. She was doing this off and on for around 2 hours, so something in her nervous system is kicking in!! We also noticed that she's beginning to be able to move her jaw a little bit as well! Even though it's just a tiny bit right now, we're continuing to pray that her jaw will completely loosen so, one day, she'll be able to feed normally and be able to communicate later down the road!

Robert's Dad and sister, Dan and Katie, drove into town today from Reno (where Katie lives), so they'll be able to help with caring for Mercedes and watching Mia overnight. My sister, Renee, also plans on coming out around the 22nd, so we're happy that our families are coming to support Robert and I.

Tomorrow evening around 5:00pm/6:00pm the neurologist and doctor will be meeting with us to go over the results from today's EEG (for brain activity), so pray for those results. We've seen, as well as the nurses, so many things Mia is now doing that she wasn't even just 2 days ago that the doctors were skeptical that she'd ever be able to do. Pray that the doctors will make their rounds and observe Mia when she IS active and doing "the impossible"!

• Continue to pray for Mia's eyes and she'll continue to use them and exercise them and that her eyesight will be normal.

• Also, pray that God will continue to loosen her jaws - for very obvious reasons!

• Pray that her nervous system will continue to improve and that her brain will send all the right signals to her body.

• Continue praying that she will be able to continue to want to take breaths on her own and that one day she will be ventilator-free, if it be God's will!

God is so good and He IS doing a miracle in our precious little Mia's body!!


I know we haven't mentioned Mercedes much... she is doing very well! She always enjoys going to the hospital and hanging out in the Family Lounge Room or going for walks down the hall to get a cup of ice or some crackers. She LOVES pushing the appropriate buttons on the elevators and loves to jump in it as we're going up or down! She already has such a deep love for her baby sister, even though she has yet to see her in person. When you ask her what her sisters name is, she's very quick to respond with "Mia Amornay!" We'll work on the pronunciation later.... =)

I am recovering well - I'm not very sore anymore and I'm walking a whole lot faster, though I get tired much easier now, which is to be expected after having a baby, a c-section, and having to pump all the time. =)

Once again, thank you so much for praying - keep it up!

God's blessings to you all,
Rachael <3