Pencil Us In

Ladies and Gentlemen ... we have a plan.

I cannot fault the NICU team of doctors in any which way. They have to make very difficult decisions and think about the endless variables and possibilities which means they do not make these decisions lightly. I have nothing but respect and downright reverence for these people and the difficult profession they decided to enter into and excel. But as a parent of a patient, it has been incredibly hard waiting for them to make a final call on Natalie's PDA. She has another surgery coming up and I want her in the best possible condition when she goes into it. Of course, we all wish her PDA would just close on its own, which they have been waiting for because you never want to do a unnecessary surgery on anyone, but it has not. The past couple of weeks she has had little issues, nothing serious, but they seemed to be pointing out that the PDA was affecting her. So, they decided that they will pencil her in for the PDA ligation next Thursday. If by then she is doing amazing and there is signs it is shrinking then they will not do the procedure. Otherwise, they will take care of it once and for all.

I have mixed feelings about this. Actually, that is a lie, I want it taken care of because it has been nagging at us for weeks. It is a common preemie problem, so it is a procedure the surgeon has done many times, so I have confidence in the outcome. However, there will always be a concern of her having any kind of surgery because as they always say, there is always a chance of complications. But we are being positive that this will be a major step in bringing her to the next level of healing and development. Remind me I said all this when I am sitting in the waiting room petrified (yet again).

As I have written about before, there is a new doctor every week so things tend to change. When the doctor went over the plan with me she let me know that she made this decision with the whole team and the doctor on call next week is completely onboard.

As for Miss Natalie? She has grown up so much in the past few days. She has lost weight the past few nights because she is losing the water weight and her foods are finally more than they were before she got sick a month ago. They had been talking about moving her out of her isolette because the only thing it does at this point is keep her warm. I was surprised they could move her into a crib still on support, but the isolette really has nothing to do with it. Once they get old enough to maintain their body temperature the isolette does not go cool enough for them to not overheat. So after two days of her isolette heating up because of her, they decided it was time to move her to the next step. It was a little weird at first because she is so exposed, but they said we would love it and they are right. I can touch her and see her so much easier and I hear all of her little noises while she is resting that I never really did before. It is also easier for them to take her out, so I can hold her more often than the once a day for kangaroo care. I cannot wait until she is off the IV and CPAP and I will be able to take her out myself! It is these little things that make a huge difference.

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