Sunday, July 20

There...I finally figured out a decent title for each post. Who would have thought of using the date? Duh....

Erin ended up having a pretty good Saturday, including a move to a new room. The room she was in was the most critical care room, and they needed to make room for a new inmate who was more serious than Erin. We are now in a slightly smaller room, with only four babies. The setup is not quite as roomy, and I miss the action of the other room, but it seems ok. BTW, her t-shirt in the pictures above reads "Does this diaper make me look fat?"

Last night, the nurses and Sheila conspired together, and I was sent home earlier than normal to theoretically rest. That worked well, as I finally gave up and got up at 4 am. The good news is that Erin had a good night, and slept almost all night other than waking for feeding. There have been no changes to her meds or therapy, other than another increase in food to 80 cc's every three hours. She is also getting her gas drawn less often, although her lactate at 6 am was at 3, which isn't good. This is so up and down, and you just never know from one hour to the next whether she is on the road to coming home, or whether she is showing signs that we are in for an extended stay which includes surgery. It is really frustrating, especially every time that we get our hopes up and she has a setback.

As I write this, Sheila is holding Erin and singing to her softly. Watching Sheila with Erin is really special. She is a natural.

Erin did have a great week with visitors, including a long visit from her grandparents on Sheila's side. Joe and Sandra, along with Joe's sister came up the day before Joe's birthday and spent a few hours visiting with Erin. Sheila's sister Mo and husband Mike each made a visit, as well as a variety of other friends who made the trek, including Uncle Alex from Washington, DC who flew in just to see Erin. A few friends even came to take us out to lunch or dinner, which was a nice break.

The coming week promises to be more of the same. Erin will either get better and go home, stay the same and require further care, or take a turn for the worse and need surgery. Pretty much business as usual. I read an interview with actor Ben Stiller recently, and he mentioned that the worst time in his life was when his newborn had to spend the first three days of their life in the ICU. Try 3+ weeks, Ben.

And to finish on a down note, John Barleycorn continues to show us absolutely no recognition whatsoever, even though we have eaten there at least 18 times in the past three weeks. If they don't shape up in the next month or so, we are going to get serious and boycott their establishment. That will show them.