Day 30- What?!? Bring my carseat?!

The 2 loves of my life <3

As the blog title for today would indicate, its been a very busy day for the Whitmires. Things are going so fast, and we couldn't possibly be more excited or thankful. Your prayers are being answered, folks! Have no fear about that! So about today: 

• After she had her first bottle of the day, the nurse said we were officially moving to 8 bottles!! wow. There are no words for how happy/excited/NERVOUS I was at that moment. Could she do it?? I mean, 8 bottles was a lot. Would we push her too hard and cause her to regress? That was certainly a possibility, the nurse said. Sometimes the babies just throw up their proverbial hands and say, "I'm tired, this is too much work", and then they would have to back down to 6 bottles. This was all going so fast. I mean, weren't we at 4 bottles like, yesterday?? I just know that I didn't want to push her too hard. But the nurse said, if you don't try, you'll never know. Great words to live by! And let me tell you folks.... this precious baby not only took all 8 bottles in full yesterday, but is even taking more than her required 37 cc's. She's eaten 50 cc's a couple times!! She truly is SUPERBABY!! We are so proud of her progress. And thankful for God's hand in this!
• I filled out her going home picture stuff and also her RSV shot paperwork. And then they said it. The 6 tiny, miniscule, wonderful words I've been longing to hear since I can remember. "It's time to bring your carseat." I stared at the nurse as if she'd spoken in Japanese. Wait, it's time to bring MY carseat?!?!? Are you sure??? She was : ) Basically, after Avery is taking 8 bottles, they will feed her and then set her in her carseat for an hour to make sure she can do this without Brady'ing. Some babies are scrunched up in there and forget to breathe, and thus, fail the "carseat test", merely b/c they are so used to being on their backs all of the time. Can we say some prayers that she does fine in this test?? I trust that God will be with her every step of the way, and she will do just fine. All these things are such awesome indicators that they are about ready to send our girl home!
• Two more things that are steps towards the homecoming: Taking the NICU discharge class ( learned infant CPR!) and Avery having her eye test done, which will be completed tomorrow. Hopefully those little peepers are doing phenomenal. They will take her feeding tube out soon if she keeps taking her bottles this well and then have the pictures done soon after. I can't even imagine what she will look like with nothing on her face. They'll give her Hep B shot sometime in the next couple days as well, and she'll have her first RSV shot 2 days before she comes home. 
• We are still trying not to get our hopes up about having her home before Thanksgiving. Considering one tiny, self corrected apnea or Brady could set us back 5-7 days.... I am not even wanting to think about it. Please, continue to pray that these episodes have stopped completely. The last one she had was yesterday, so the earliest now we could take her home would be Monday. All things are possible when we trust in the power of God... and I know He has a perfect plan for our daughter. I still continue to pray that she doesn't have these episodes, and I hope that you will join me in that. Because I believe that when 2 or more people agree to pray about something, it will be done. Thank you so much, family and friends! Operation Bring Baby Home has commenced!

All of these events are occurring so rapidly have left me speechless. How great is our God indeed!! (I love that song) He continues to humble me on a daily basis. Thank you Lord for blessing us so wholly, so wonderfully, so perfectly in keeping with Your plan for our lives. No matter what happens in the next few days, the next week, the next month- I know that God is so deeply ingrained in our lives now that there is nothing we can't conquer as a family. Although Avery can't go to church for awhile due to her immune system, we plan on raising her to know the huge ways that Jesus saved her. I want my daughter to grow up and shout from the highest mountain that she is a living example of the power of God! But it is up to us to do that until the little one finds her voice : )

Can we pray that AG doesn't have any more Brady's or apneas? Also that she continues to eat well and gain weight. She is officially 4 lbs 6.55 oz!! Let's keep that weight gain coming, little girl! Please pray that she stays healthy and keeps on the path of forward and positive progress. Also that she keeps all her bottles down with no big spit ups. As they are feeding her more, we are trying to see how much her tiny tummy can handle. And that she "passes" all of her tests: carseat and eye exam. 

We believe so fully  that God is delivering our baby home soon! And we praise Him for being faithful to us. Thank you for sharing in this wonderful day with us : ) Be blessed today! xox