Saturday night/Sunday morning update

Here I am again from the Parents' lounge at the nursery. Emmett continued to do well yesterday, he did nurse a few more times but not as well as he did yesterday morning. I think all the energy to just be awake and try to eat took its toll and by the end of the day he wasn't eating for very long before he'd just fall asleep. I was here pretty much all day, I did go home for an hour to grab some lunch. It was an exhausting and long day but I am determined to do whatever needed to get this little guy home.

They decided last night to get him on the 8 o'clock feedings, meaning his first feeding after shift change this morning was to be at 8 a.m. I knew after yesterday and with how tired I was it would be likely I would not make it to the hospital before 8. I explained that to the nurse and she assured me it would be fine to make it here for his 11 a.m. feeding. I agreed that it was okay to give him a bottle if he was awake and alert. If he was too tired to eat, they'd just give it to him through his feeding tube. They only had to give him one bottle in the night, but I guess at his 8 o'clock feeding he tried to eat too fast and forgot to breath and that made his oxygen and respiratory numbers fall.

I forgot to bring my phone to bed with me last night so we missed the call from the pediatrician this morning. He left a message with his assessment of Emmett this morning. He was concerned with how much weight Emmett lost in the last 24 hours (he is down below 8 lbs now). This could be because they took him off the high calorie IV and lipids, and could also be because of how little milk he is getting and how much energy he is using just to eat. So today we just feed him as much as we can. I've only been here a couple of hours and have already nursed twice and he did pretty well. He will be done with the antibiotics today, but his billirubin count continues to rise. Not enough that they need to put him under the light again, but enough that they will check it again in the morning. Also the doc picked up yesterday (and again today) a heart murmur. This is not uncommon in newborns, and he said it doesn't sound like it will lead to a heart condition, just wanted us to be aware. So onward and upward - a little step back with the weight thing but thanks to S & J, I'm eating some yummy food to fatten little man up.

We had a sweet experience this morning - since it is Sunday Mike thought to ask if there was a way for us to take the Sacrament. Our nurse told us they used to bring it around to those that wanted it, even employees, but people complained about it so they stopped. She called downstairs because I guess there is a service at 10:30 on Sundays, and the people said they would do a Sacrament just for us. They sent a lady to come and get us and take us to their meeting rooms. It is actually a branch that is over the hospital. She said that it is a Stake Calling and they call people to serve in the branch from two different stakes. So I'm not sure if it was the Branch presidency or not that helped us but they were the most amazing men. They administered the sacrament to us and then asked if they could put our names in at the temple. Then they offered to give us priesthood blessings. Mike went first and the guy who did his blessing was named Nephi and appropriately so. You could feel the spirit of love and kindness just pouring out of him. He gave an excellent blessing and gave Mike a big hug after. Then I asked Mike to give me one and he also did an excellent job. One part of Mike's I remember very clearly is that Nephi said 'Your child will be well'. Of course we already know that because of what the docs say but it is different to hear it with such power as comes only from a priesthood blessing. When its from the docs, its words. When Nephi said it, I knew it because the spirit spoke to my heart and soul. So we are thankful for the little branch here at LDS Hospital and for them truly magnifying their callings.

For those who've been receiving texted updates on the baby, I'm sorry I've had to switch to the blog, but my cell coverage here is spotty at best. Plus I've found that doing a brain dump on the blog helps me to keep my days straight and I also figure it will help me to journal about our experience here. I think its important to remember what we've learned from this experience and also how we've been touched by so many people. So just keep that in mind when I start to reveal too much personal stuff: this is somewhat of a journal for me. :)

Hopefully we'll post some pictures soon. Mike got a really cute one of Emmett today with his eyes actually OPEN! :)

Gotta go get Emmett ready to meet his Grandpa ('pa') and Mike's mom, too.