Evie's Hitting the Bottle Again

Sharon and I were able to visit Evie on Monday. Evie has been moved out of the Pediatric ICU unit and onto the "second floor" where less serious cases are located (which the nurses tell us is a good thing). The room she is in now is even bigger and more private than her PICU room, and even has its own bathroom. Evie is still wearing her monitors, but she has the feeding tube out for now, and takes a few ounces of formula from a bottle, but Sharon was able to bring several ounces of expressed milk for her to take as well.

The doctors have started Evie on a drug called Digoxin, which is supposed to help regulate her heart rate and lower the chances of heart failure. Our visit with Evie was fun, but frustrating as we weren't able to talk to a single doctor the four hours we were there, and I only got to talk to someone by cell phone on our way home. The pediatric-cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Michel N. Ilbawi, hasn't come up with a plan yet for the unifocalization surgery, so Evie will be at Hope Children's Hospital for the rest of the week and probably next week as well.

We really hope the surgery happens soon so that we can bring her home. That's all we want right now. It absolutely kills us that we can't be with her more often, but it's difficult to get out to Oak Lawn to visit Evie because Sharon still cannot drive due to her c-section recovery and we have to care for Gavin and make sure someone is with him (as we can't bring him into the Children's Hospital). The nursing staff seems to like her, and they take turns holding her and cuddling her, but it's not like home.

Here are some video and pictures from the day. Evie was awake when we arrived and in a pretty good mood! Her color looks a lot better. She looks like a normal, pink baby, and not yellow or "dusky."











Sharon and I take turns reading chapters aloud from What to Expect in the First Year while we each hold Evie (you can see the book in my lap below). It's a great book, and there were several questions answered for which we had called the pediatrician's office about earlier.



I can't tell you how happy we were that she was simply a "normal" color. It was a big relief. I also got to change her diaper for the first time in the room. It probably sounds weird to be excited about that, but we were (it was a messy one too).



Still has a a strong grip!




When we were about to leave, Evie had just finished part of a bottle and was falling asleep. She started making these "cooing" noises that were just the cutest thing (although at first I just thought she was wheezing). Turn the volume up on your speakers when you play this video.



My parents visited her after work on Tuesday, and Sharon and I will be visiting her again on Wednesday. I'm probably going to go back to work on Thursday, as Sharon's father has Thursdays off so he can drive Sharon to Oak Lawn, and Sharon's mother is babysitting Gavin during the day. I still haven't gotten the full set of baptism photos uploaded yet, but I will try to do that soon.

We've received a flood of cards from people Sharon and I truly thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. Keep praying that little Evie gets better can come home soon!