Lucy's Due Date

Today is Lucy's official due date!

She continues to do well with some occasional set-backs, all which seem to be related to her suctioning tube and the difficulty of keeping that in her throat all of the time - we cannot wait for that to be gone and for her to have a fully functional esophagus. As mentioned previously, we focused on growing and resting this week - and it seemed to work to Lucy's advantage! She is weighing it at around 5 lbs, 10 oz (a 7 oz gain from her birth weight) and is gaining between half of an ounce and an ounce per day.

This week, we are hoping that we will be able to get a better idea of when her surgery will be scheduled for and how long she will continue to have her anus dilated (all the nurses feel really bad when they have to do that!)

In the meantime, a few things I've learned over the past weeks:

- Lucy totally has Jason's eyes - as I'm sure you have not gazed into his handsome face as often as I have, you may not realize that his eyebrows slant down just the slightest bit and he has these gorgeous long eyelashes - both traits that Lucy has gotten. However, her hands, nose and chin are complete miniatures of mine!

- Watching a team of doctors work on your child when she is in respiratory distress or having a brady episode is quite possibly the worst, most helpless feeling in the world.

- Having a baby is stressful on a marriage. Being put on bedrest is stressful on a marriage. Have a premature baby that is in the NICU for 3 weeks and counting is extremely stressful on a marriage. I do not know how anyone could handle this without God as their Rock and without a loving spouse by their side.

- You can tell the difference between a doctor or nurse that has a passion for their jobs and one that does not. Thankfully, we have been blessed with amazing doctors and nurses with very few exceptions.

- God truly will not give you more than you can handle and He knows your limits better than you do.

- Sometimes a card, an email, a voicemail or a text message from someone just telling you that they are thinking of you will really help you get through the day.

- Extended hospital stays are really, really outrageously expensive. I may have mentioned that when I originally found out about Lucy's hydro I was at a Healthcare conference focused on the cost and quality of healthcare in America, among other things. Our current situation has made me realize how wonderful healthcare in America is and yet understand the need to do something to control the costs, which are outrageous. At a time in a person's life when they would literally spend whatever it takes to get better, the hospitals and insurance companies have the advantage over the consumer.

We will keep you posted as we have updates on Lucy's upcoming procedures.