No word, No Word, NO WORD!!!

That's the word, for today, none. We have heard nothing regarding Mayla's ECG. We have heard nothing about a take-home date. We have heard nothing about the job I interviewed for. Switzerland being known for their time-piece-keeping, I would think they would also be known for their punctuality. To drive home my point, Domino's is over 20 minutes late from the time we requested the pizza delivered. What gives? Kein ahnung! UPDATE, we just called, there is a problem with their internet order system, despite the confirmation email I received, and the pizza will be over an hour late when we receive it and we STILL have to pay full price. This country...

In any case, it's been a great couple of days, despite a border-line parental melt down last night (Sunday) which had absolutely nothing to do with anything being wrong with Mayla. Simply adjustments, exhaustion, and the like. Needless to say, Mayla is a rock-star. And I don't say that just because I'm her dad; okay maybe, because she isn't actually a star, yet. Things continue to go well with Mayla. She is nursing better with everyday and typically only feeds from the bottle if we are not at the hospital. Nursing however is quite a lengthy process, consuming anywhere from 1 to 1-1/2 hours. In addition, we have to give her a shot of milk from a syringe to "entice" or "provoke" her to sucking. Praying that changes soon, His timing, His plan though.

Mayla is resting much better and seems to be getting stronger with each day, her lungs are obviously VERY strong. We had an echo yesterday on Mayla's heart and the cardiologist said everything looks perfect. Still don't know what's up with the extra beats last Thursday, maybe someday we'll get the ECG results and can find out. Today Mayla had her feeding tube removed, those that are on Facebook may have already seen Keri's update about that. What is funny about that, is we didn't notice right away. We thought something was "wrong" with her little face. It wasn't until we looked closer at her check that we noticed. Her little check is super red from the tape (super glue) used to keep it in place; remember, she already ripped one right out of her nose. She slept quite a bit today and yesterday so she continues to rest and we "seem" to be moving in a direction of normalcy with her, I think, but I'm not 100% sure.

We are super excited for tomorrow morning, 8 am. We are FINALLY able to give Mayla her first bath EVER. Yeah, almost 3 weeks old (WOW) and she hasn't had a bath yet, no sponge downs, nothing. She smells worse than her dad, just kidding, more like her grandpa, haha, just kidding again (or am I). Actually, despite the lack of bath she still has that new baby smell which Keri loves. We also have a scheduled meeting tomorrow afternoon at 13.30 with the cardiologist and will "hopefully" get the ECG results and be told when we can bring her home. MY hope is we can bring her home Wednesday. The doctor today said, based on what he sees but without the ECG results, the latest Friday. Again, His timing, His plan, out of our hands.

The neo-natal unit itself continues to be slamma-jamma busy with babies coming and going regularly. Just two open beds available in the unit, meaning lots of newborns with major problems. The unit is also crazy with crying babies almost all day long and beepers/alarms going off along with it. It's a very busy and fast-moving unit. Surprisingly, Mayla has not contributed much over the last few days to the craziness; even tonight as we got her changed and ready for bed, "relatively" chill, especially compared to the majority of nights in there. While some nurses and doctors are better than others, we continue to be blessed by the care Mayla is receiving.

We continue to celebrate all the work the Lord has done in Mayla and us; it seems daily we are seeing prayers answered and regularly He is performing miracles. Aside from Mayla, we have been praying particularly for one baby, Emily, and her parents. I don't recall if we've written about her or not, but Emily was born in June and has recently seen some tough times. So much so that last week her mother was suddenly very standoff-ish of Emily and was struggling going near her, let alone interacting with her. Emily's father continued on as usual but we began praying specifically for the three of them and have seen incredible changes in her mother today. She is once again interacting and being an integral part of what is happening with Emily, so encouraging to see. The point of the story is not to pat ourselves on the back, but to demonstrate the truth that this is not about us or Mayla. It's not about Emily either but about God doing something bigger than any of us. We believe He answered our prayers for Emily's mother, and we believe He will continue answering our and your prayers as we go on.

All this being said, we continue to pray for Mayla's growth and strengthening, feeding (especially her requiring a shot of Milk before she will start sucking), rest, the ECG results, a go home date, adjustment for her parents (us) as we gear up to go home and start another new chapter, interview results for Will, and the neo-natal nurses, doctors, and other patients (especially Emily and her parents).

Lastly, I want to take a moment and thank once again all of you who have supported, prayed for, encouraged us, etc. It means more to us than you can ever imagine. I also want to specifically thank the International Protestant Church of Zürich (IPC), our church, without whom I'm sure we would not be doing as well as we are now. It's important for believers and non-believers alike to know that NO church, NO church-body, NO Christian is perfect, NONE OF THEM. But I want to say that IPC has and continues to rally around us, support us, encourage us, pray for and with us, do soo much more than can be stated here, and has been perfect to us. If you don't have a church home yet, find one, quickly, and get involved because a church family is there for you in ways no other persons can be, not even your naturally believe it or not. We thank you IPC for your love and generosity. You all have made this difficult time much more bearable.

Bis später und viel spass.

Mayla's first time wearing jeans.

Ohhh, her first belt even. Jeans for a 9 month old is the best you can find for a two and a half week old???

And the end result of tape-belt, passed out child, pants falling down.

Notice the rosy cheek? How could we have missed that? (That being, tape gone, feeding tube gone)

Still good to be daddy. Oh yeah, that's a daddy swaddle... yup, braggin' 

Keri is a super fan of these little booty's, while I'm a super fan of the cars on the waste line of her pants. Awwww, her first racing pants...