Serenity: 3 weeks 1 day (Gestation age: 27 weeks 3 days)

Hello again to all! It has been a few days since I have been able to sit down and write an update on our little angel, Serenity. This week has been a crazy, busy one. My parents came up to visit, and help with Liam (and see Serenity, of course!). And I divided my time between visiting with them, going to the hospital, and helping out with the First Baptist Church of Festus-Crystal City youth mission trip. I mostly just took pictures, but was able to help out at the Lansing Rescue Mission for a little bit (which I really enjoyed). Overall it was a busy week, but a great week!

Serenity has been holding steady in a state of critical. I'm not sure I even understand what that means anymore. She looks fine on the outside, but I don't there are things going on on the inside. And I know that things could go South at ANY moment.

The good news is the drain in her abdomen is completely out now. And the site seems to be healing up quite well! They don't put stitches or tape or anything on it, they just let the hole from the incision shrink back together.

Yesterday they began giving her steroids for her lungs. When they checked her blood gases this morning they were doing really, really well! Which is awesome news! This afternoon her blood gases weren't doing quite as well, but they are still better than they were. The fluid on her lungs still looks about the same though.

Since yesterday Serenity has really been having a tough time keeping her blood saturation level where it needs to be (between mid 80's and mid 90's). She may have been having a hard time with it for longer, who knows, but it has never been this bad while we have been there. Her saturation keeps dipping down into the 50's and even into the 30's.... Today, while I was visiting her, her level dipped into the 30's and the nurse was having a difficult time getting her back to where she needed to be. And then her heart rate got into the 60's. Which for someone like her is waaaaay too low. Her heart rate should be staying between 120 and about 200. So that was not fun to watch. Especially since she started taking on a gray color when this was all happening. :/

Another bit of disappointing news is that she had another brain scan today. The doctor said it was definitely a grade 2 brain bleed on both sides of the brain. He also looked over her previous scans and said that it appears to actually have been a grade 2 all along, rather than a grade 1. This isn't the greatest news, but we are trying to stay positive about as much as we can.

So, in a nutshell, she is doing better than she could be doing, but she is not doing super great. We can only pray and hope for the best, but still keep in mind what could happen. Regardless, we love this little girl more than words can express. And we thank you for all for your support and encouragement.

Please continue to keep her in your prayers. I know it may seem less urgent than before because she seems to be sort of hanging out in the same spot as far as stability goes, but she truly does still need those prayers just as much as she did before. The longer she has to stay on the vent, the longer she has to receive liquid nutrition (electrolytes, protein, etc.), the longer she has to have anything poses risks to her immediate and future health--both mild and major risks. So please continue to pray for her, is all I ask. Thank you.