11 Weeks

The last surgery is tomorrow morning at 8:30 am. Natalie is having her intestines reconnecting and put back inside her (yippee!!). It has been seven weeks since she first got sick and it has been a long road, but once she heals she will be able to eat and make dirty diapers again. We are very nervous about tomorrow. This is the healthiest she has been before any of her surgeries, but I just hate the whole idea of her being on the operating table.

Natalie is 5.5 lbs and 17 3/4 inches long. She looks like a newborn now, not like a preemie. Size-wise she is more than ready to go home and I feel like every day I walk in she gets bigger. She is still off her CPAP and doing really well. They started her off on absolutely no breathing assistance and kept her that way for about 36 hours. The second day, she was still doing good, but they were seeing how much work it was for her and figured it was not worth stressing her body a few days before surgery. Since then she has been on "high flow" which is basically just a nasal cannula. She likes to play with it and fit both little prongs in one nostril because she is sassy like that.

After her surgery they will slowly reintroduce food to her as her intestines are healing. Then she will finally get to eat. All of her food up to this point has been given to her through a feeding tube. Last week they gave her a little sugar water (which she loved) when they did her vaccinations. It must have worked because she did not mind the needles at all. Other than that, even though she is 11 weeks old today, she has never had any sort of taste in her mouth. We are very excited to see her eat for the first time. I read online about NICU parents really appreciating the little things and it is seriously true. I am excited about getting dirty diapers again and watching my baby eat. I never would have thought that this was something I would be thankful for when I had a child.

I will update you all when Natalie is out of surgery tomorrow. Keep the prayers coming - they have done wonders so far!

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