Day 29- Great Day!

Big Girl and her night clothes

Sleeping while Grandma holds her

Grandma is in loooovvvee (and has an awesome face mask!)

Today was a blessed day, folks! We are steadily getting to where we have been hoping to be for the past 4 weeks. I continue to be humbled by the way God is working in Avery's life. I have so much faith that no matter how long we end up being in the NICU, Jesus is watching over our girl every moment. And really, that's all I'm worried about. That she is safe and sound. If He decides she needs to be there an extra couple weeks, we will show up 4-5 times a day, just like always and praise the Lord that He is protecting her. Here's what happened today!

• She took her morning bottle in less than 10 minutes! The nurse said that if she doesn't Brady today, she could feasibly go home by Monday. Alas, she did have a Brady tonight : ( It seemed maybe a little longer than any time I've seen one before, although the nurse said it wasn't. And as far as "counting" the Brady's for going home reasons, whether they be during eating, or at rest, or long or short, they all count. Her blood oxygen saturation level got down to 60 (out of 100%), which isn't the best. She still isn't requiring stimulation to right herself out of the Brady episodes, so that is good news. The next step from here is just not having them at all. She just came off the caffiene 6 days ago, so with the half-life of that drug, I am prone to think it is all out of her system now and her body is having them more often because it can. However, when I asked the doctor if he was concerned about them when he rounded today, he said no. The episodes are not bad or severe enough for him to treat/intervene. If she is still having them at 37 weeks, he might look at sending her home on a monitor. But I know in God's name, she will come home before them without the Brady's!! 
• She is still @ 6 bottles. She ate all of them today for the 2nd day in a row and had a little wet burps (spit up) again after the 8:30 and 11:30 PM bottles. The nurse just thinks that its her belly getting used to the amount she's eating being sucked down in 10 minutes or less! Baby Girl is hungry!!! 
• She weighs 4 lbs 5.9 oz!! What a chunky little princess. We love her so much.
• The doc also said he expects her to be home anywhere from 10-14 days. If she keeps eating so well, gaining appropriate weight and has no Brady's for 5 days after she gets to 8 bottles, and no apnea's for 7 days, she will be able to come home. How amazing could that be! 
• Her weekly labs came back fine, they just did one blood test that tested her hemoglobin. No worries there! 
• They did her hearing screening, which she passed in both ears!

In Mama news, I ended up going to get my incision checked out and shocker alert, it turns out it is healing fine! I was not expecting that. Considering the large amount of pain, bleeding, etc. But the doc said that the pulling, tension feeling was probably from an inside stitch that was coming out of my skin. She pulled it out (OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!) and cut the knot off. I am happy to report that it is feeling much better. Thank you Lord it wasn't more serious! 

I keep looking down at these bracelets that my MIL gave CJ and I a couple days after Avery was born. They say, "God is big enough". We haven't taken them off since. I keep looking down at them and thinking How awesome is this promise. I believe in the largeness that is our Lord more and more every day. I know that as daunting as the next few weeks are, as scary as it will be to bring Avery home, as hard as it will be to keep her healthy over the next couple years.... God is bigger than all of that. If I believe wholly in this, we can overcome all of it. Because there is nothing God can't handle. There is no situation in my life that He's up there shaking His head and thinking, "Now how am I going to get her out of this one?!?" (And I've thought in the past this definitely was happening!) He has a plan, has had a plan since day one. And now we just have to sit back, trust in His power and majesty, and enjoy the ride. All the while marveling at how truly and purely beautiful it is to have Avery Grace in our lives, day in and day out. He has an amazing journey laid out for her already, and I am so grateful, so humbled, so wonderfully thankful that He chose me to guide her (as best I can) through this crazy life. I know I will lean on Him every day, all day! And I know that He is waiting on me to do just that : )

Let's continue to pray for Big Girls' progress! That she would have no Brady's or Apnea's, that she would take every bottle they give her with no spit up, that she would just keep on being the happy, completely healthy baby that she has always been. We also love that weight gain every night!! YAY for that! 

We've come such a long way in 29 days- thank you so much to everyone who has been on this rollercoaster with us. We love you! xox