Happy 4th of July!

From all of us to all of you, Happy 4th of July from Colorado Springs! This is Lucy's first big holiday and in honor of it, the NICU had the babies who could handle being moved pose for a patriotic picture. As a mother, I did not love the experience - I feel more comfortable when she is safe and snug in her bed and and not being posed in a bucket. However, the results were pretty cute!

The big update for today is that Lucy graduated to the 7th floor NICU today. This is considered the "Graduate" NICU and is for babies who are stable and just need to eat and grow in preparation for going home. In Lucy's case, she will stay until she is ready for her next surgery. She is receiving close to 50 ml of breast milk with each feeding (just over 1.5 oz) and each feeding is fortified with extra nutrients so that she is getting extra calories, in the hopes of her being able to put on some weight. She is currently still around her birth weight, of 5 lbs, 3 oz.

Other than that, she has had a few ultrasounds, an EKG and some other tests in the past week. We discovered that she has a double aorta loop, which essentially means that her aorta splits and surrounds her trachea/esophagus instead of going to one side, like most people's do. It is not something that needs to be addressed at this point, but is good information for surgeons to know in preparation for her next surgery and may need to be repaired at some point. We also found out that all the chromosome and genetic testing they have done so far come back normal, which is a huge relief for us.

We are praising God every day for answered prayers. When we started this journey in March, we were all praying for her hydrocephalus to be under control, which it totally is! We were prepared for a C-Section and brain surgery shortly after birth, none of which we experienced. While we are dealing with Lucy's other health issues at the moment and she still may need to have a shunt put in at some point in the future, we continue to be assured that these are temporary issues that are fixable. We know that baby Lucy has a long road ahead of her, but we are so happy that we have a great God to put our trust in!