Day 14: Two weeks, and a good day!

Another good day, and we're celebrating two weeks of life today! Huge, and even though we're just at the beginning of the journey, it feels like a major milestone. Lily was on 30-35% oxygen (9 to 14% above room air) for most of the day, and her blood oxygen stayed in the 80s/90s for the most part, without extreme de-stat'ing. The nurses even got her down to 28% oxygen in the ventilator for a few hours!

She's noticeably starting to wake up to the world... she's very active, flailing her arms and legs around when she's on her back. She tugs at her ventilator tube sometimes, but the nurses say all preemies do that since there is some throat irritation. If a little throat irritation is today's biggest problem, I'd call today a good one and hope for another one tomorrow :)

There are times when we've seen lily cry- for instance, when she gets a new IV line, when they have to remove (slowly) adhesive tape, or when she has a wet diaper. Just like 'normal' babies (Sara and I now call them 'giants') - preemies cry! Only they do it without making a sound, since the breathing tube blocks their voice box. We mentioned the crying to a few folks and they became really uPset. It doesn't bother Sara and me though. After all, babies cry... not necessarily because they're in pain. Same goes for preemies. Lily is still a baby... just a very, very small baby for the time being.

In honesty, we're far from sad when we see lily cry a bit. Maybe it's hard for people to understand why we aren't upset - if anything, it gives us more hope, seeing that ine aspect of normalcy. After all, she is reacting to her environment... that's a good thing!! She knows when her diaper is wet, she knows when she is uncomfortable and wants to be moved around, and yes she feels pain when she gets an IV prick... just like a normal baby. I'd be much more concerned if she wasn't crying, or reacting to external stimulus. But so far, she is. And that's a blessing.

This blog is rapidly approaching 10,000 views. Thank you, everyone, for your prayers and well wishes. The support, stories of hope, prayers and words of strength that we are receiving from family, friends, colleagues, and strangers has been amazing.

One day at a time... we have two good ones behind us. Let's hope for three in a row!