G-tube woes, visitors and growing up

Lucy is over 7 weeks old and weighed 7lbs, 8 oz tonight! She is definitely growing up and has had a few busy days. Last week, we met a developmental therapist who showed us some fun exercises to do with Lucy to make sure that she keeps up with her developmental while she is in the hospital. For premature babies, their development is still measured based on their expected due date, she she is measured as if she were between 3 and 4 weeks old. She is doing great with hand coordination, eye contact and moving her arms and legs.

She was briefly off of oxygen before coming up to the Graduate NICU, but had been back on a low flow until this weekend. She is now oxygen free and doing great with it!

Her G-tube (the feeding tube that goes directly into her stomach) has been giving us a lot of problems, lately. It has been leaking after nearly every feeding - losing precious calories and soaking all of her clothes and blankets. On Saturday, the nurse practitioner put in a new top, in the hopes that the balloon would be work better and we tried a new, foam dressing to build it up a little and lessen the gap. However, it continues to have a small leak in it which so far, the staff has been unable to figure out.

Lucy has also had lots of visitors to keep mama company while dad is in London for the Olympics. Sara and Lindsay, who were our usherettes at our wedding came to visit this weekend with Lindsay's adorable little boy, Aaron. Since they are both nurses, they were both very comfortable around the NICU and understand the medical terms and recognize the products that are used in Lucy's NICU. Today, my friend Ann came to visit after work and was kind enough to bring a gift bag for me and keep me company while I was trying to comfort a very irritable baby who was only happy if I stood to hold her. We love having visitors and I know that they love being able to meet this little girl in person, who they have praying for over such a long time. I am typically a very planful, decisive person. However over the past few months, I have found that I am sometimes too overwhelmed to be able to make decisions or plan the way that I would like. I so appreciate these 3 girls telling me that they were coming to visit and making it happen without needing a lot from me.

We have heard through the grapevine that another Gap study will be scheduled for next week (how can it have been 4 weeks already?!?!) and that the surgeon would like to attend so she can see what is going on instead of just reviewing the results. Prayers appreciated that the extra 4 weeks gave Lucy what she needed in order to tolerate surgery and lessen the gap.

And most exciting for this week - Jason comes home tomorrow! I think 2 weeks was a few too many days for him to be away from me and I can't wait to have him back for the love and support he provide us with...I have turned often to this verse as I work to keep up this schedule day in and day out:

"But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

- Isaiah 40:31