Serenity: 2 weeks 4 days old (Gestation age: 26 weeks 6 days)

Well, as you can tell, there was no blog update for Serenity yesterday. Things have gotten a little busy now that the students have gotten here from our church for the mission trip. There is a lot going on, and a lot getting done! In a good way!

As for baby Serenity, she is still technically "stable yet critical". They are still slowly taking the drain out, and it still looks good, however she hasn't been having much stool in her diapers, so the nurses are hoping that the hole in her intestines is healed and that the lack of stool is due to her stomach not fully being mature. However, it would be good for her stomach and intestines to be fully functioning properly so that she will be able to start eating.

They were supposed to start her on a steroid for her lungs yesterday, however, they were unable to start that because one of the antibiotics they had her on was not making it's way out of her body like it should be. So they're not sure if her kidneys just aren't doing their job, or if they had her on too high of a dose, but they don't really want to start the steroid until they figure out what is going on there.

On a slightly better note, they have her oxygen turned down to around 25% (as of last night), so that is an improvement. But she is still getting most all of her breaths from the vent. Well, and there was a scary moment last night while myself and my parents where visiting her--she had an episode of paused breathing. I did not like the sound of that alarm, and I did not like seeing the nurses rush over to her. Thankfully, they suctioned out a bit of mucus that was blocking her airways and she was fine after that. But it still wasn't fun to be there when it happened.

And lastly, the best part of last night's visit, the nurse had be give Serenity a sponge bath! It wasn't her first bath, but it was the first time I did it. It was a little scary at first because she has so many wires and different things I had to be careful of. But it was nice to be able to do more with her than hold her hand or touch her toes. :)

I can't wait until we have our little girl home with us and we can give her a real bath. No wires. No vents. No tubes. And no hospital or nurses. One day. :)