Exciting things for our 2 month old!!

Hi Everyone!

Can you believe our baby girl is already 2 months old?? It's so hard for me to believe - especially since she hasn't really had a normal life these 8 weeks. To me, if feels like it's only been around 2 weeks since her birth, although Robert says he feels all the 8 weeks.

Big things happened this week for Mia! One of her primary nurses, Patricia, hadn't taken care of her for around two weeks, so on her first day back taking care of Mia, she made things happen for the better! Mia is now in an open crib like a big girl and has a bouncy seat as well as a swing from home! When I found out what Patricia had done for Mia, I started crying because I was so happy!! My poor baby had basically only been on her back all this time, so we are so happy for this change! She's a big girl now and we need to treat her like the 2 month old she is! =) Her muscles are very weak, but I think it's mostly because she hasn't been challenged like most babies are on a daily basis. Pray we'll be able to exercise her the way she needs to be so she'll get stronger.

Yesterday was great - the night before, my brother found out that he had a layover in Vegas for 2 hours, so I was able to pick him up from the airport and take him to the hospital and we were able to visit with Mia for about 25 minutes before needing to head back to the airport for his connecting flight to New Orleans. (His school is doing a missions trip to help a parish that has been helping rebuild for Katrina victims. Now the school is going to help the parish rebuild their own facility!) It was a great surprise to hear about the layover and even better that I was able to see my brother again! I was a little worried that it wouldn't work out because I was stuck in ridiculous traffic for 35 minutes and only went about 5 miles, and he arrived 15 minutes early!! Once the traffic cleared up, though, I got to the airport at 9am - right when I was planning on getting there! It worked out perfectly. =)

Mia is doing well - very stable, with the exception of an occasional desaturation and brief drop in her heart rate. We're going to try again starting Monday to find a hospital that will accept her. Now that she's over 60 days old, she's able to be transfered to a PICU (pediatrics ICU) which they think may be easier than transferring to a NICU (neonatal ICU). Some of you have asked which hospitals our insurance company will cover - they're Stanford, Lucile Packard Children's, Dominican, O'Connor, and Regional. Dr. Miller says that he thinks Mia should be able to be moved sometime this coming week. Keep praying for God's will!! =)

If you want to visit Mia, I encourage you to come as soon as you can, because we may not be here for much longer!! You're not a bother in anyway - we WANT visitors! (As long as you're healthy, of course) I gave the rules in a very early blog, but just as a reminder, no kids are allowed in the ICU unless they're over 15. If you've visited Mia before, she's not in the same pod she was in (they moved the babies so they could clean it). She's now in pod 3. E-mail me or give us a call so we can arrange the visit. Please visit!!

Have a great Sunday!

Always, Rachael