What a Roller Coaster!

Bailey is five weeks old this week--and what a week it's been! This week has validated this statement for me this week: The life of a preemie is a roller coaster. What a roller coaster this week has been. On Wednesday we found out that Bailey was having some trouble; there were several options that were possible causes for her problems. They had to stop her feedings entirely and hook her back up to an IV. The doctors knew there was some type of infection inside of her, they just weren't sure where it was or what type of infection it was either. They had to take all types of tests and xrays every six hours. It was quite a set back for us because on Tuesday there was talk of taking her feeding tube out and eating entirely from the bottle--that's a huge step for preemies. So to go from doing really well on Tuesday to we're not sure what's wrong with your baby on Wednesday was very upsetting to say the least. My mom and I spent most of the day down at the hospital with Bailey to help calm her down. She didn't like being all hooked up again and they couldn't wrap her up like a little burrito. Once I held her, she was able to calm down and fall right asleep (it also helped to calm me down too). On Wednesday night, Brian and my dad came down to the hospital to give her a blessing. It made me feel much better. Thursday morning when my mom and I went to the hospital, we were greeted with a surprise--Bailey was doing much better and she had all of her tubes taken out. It was the first time that we'd seen her face without any tubes! She is so cute! The doctors and nurses all said she was doing much better and they were able to identify her infection. We were also moved from the big nursery to a "private suite" down the hall to make sure that none of the other babies get the infection. It's much more peaceful in her new room where there's only one other baby, one nurse, and a lot less noise. On Thursday and Friday, my mom and I spent most of the day in Bailey's room just chatting with the nurse. The week has ended on a really good note. They're going to start her feeding again today, but really slowly. So they'll work on getting her back up to where she was on Tuesday. I'm very glad that this week is over and I'm optimistic for the future. I'm so grateful for all of the doctors and nurses who have helped Bailey this week. They are so wonderful and loving to my little girl and they also help me too. Let's all hope for a great week number six next week!