What goes up...

Mayla had a rough day today. End of update. Just kidding. Seriously though, she did have a rough day today, and so did her parents. In fact, I'm not sure whose was more rough. Actually, I do, Mayla had a needle put into her head to draw blood so she wins (if you can call that a win).

We ended yesterday great and we started today great. We had a good feeding this morning, followed by a bit of a cry fest but nothing too crazy. We managed and made it through all right. After that, we decided to go do some shopping for our beloved. Since she has already out grown almost all the clothes we have for her in this country, we needed to find a take-home outfit. We are about half-way finished with that one and still have a bit of looking to do but we'll get there. Keri had to leave Christa and I a bit early to try and get back to feed Mayla her lunch, but she didn't quite make it. In the meantime, I tried finishing the shopping, very limited success.

After we all had lunch Keri and I had a short time with Mayla before she had to go down to cardiology for an ECG which we attended as well. The ECG went real fast and she was then given a portable unit that would monitor her for the next 24 hours. The results of this 24 hour ECG will be a significant factor in determining when we can bring her home. The ECG went well in terms of it getting done, but Mayla didn't handle it well since this was the first of many times she was woken up, for something. Following the ECG, and less than 2 hours after her last feeding, Mayla was once again hungry. This time Keri was in house so took another whack at nursing, and with HUGE success. Mayla took 65 ml from Keri, a Mayla record, and cause for great celebration. The feeding went great, the post-feeding burp then pass-out and almost sleep time was amazing, until... Until Auntie Suz suggested changing her nasty diaper before she is completely asleep (points lost for Auntie of the year? perhaps). This was the second time Mayla blew a gasket because she was woken up against her will and, in terms of peace within the NICU, it was mostly downhill from there.

The rest of the day centered on trying to get Mayla to sleep and/or stop crying, again with limited success until the nurses (and everyone else in the NICU) had enough and opted for the artificial pass-out drugs. This time Keri was able to get her to sleep without meds, although an hour or two later and it was feeding time again (this girl eats like she is going to be 6'6" herself, 2 meters for our metric friends). Another attempt at nursing was made and this time with far less success and the bottle had to be revisited. This time following the gasket blowing, sleep was induced artificially, but it was soo nice. However, during this rest one particular alarm sounded from Mayla's sensors and caused a flurry of commotion. Apparently, there was an extra heart beat or two at one point which caused concern for the nurses and doctors. Not being able to know or see what specifically caused the problem, the decision was made to draw blood and check some levels. Again, Mayla would be woken up from her sleep, but this would be painful and ugly. Keri has a reputation for not being a good candidate for blood drawing, in other words, good luck finding a vein on her. In the most loving and endearing way possible, Keri was kind enough to pass this trait on to our daughter (thanks babe!). Mayla has a reputation too, strong, creative, not being clutch, and not willing to cooperate (oh goody). The nurses spent a good 5-10 minutes trying to find a vein to get blood from and not finding anything on her arms, they moved to her head. Any of you have a needle stuck in your head when you're awake? I did once, or 7 times. I had stitches in my head when I was in kindergarten and all I remember of the experience was pain and crying. I don't know when infants learn what pain is, but if Mayla didn't know before today, she was certainly taken to school with the head-needle. Not sure how many gaskets were left after the two were blown earlier in the day, but I do know she went through the rest of hers AND borrowed a few from some other patients during the blood draw.

After the blood incident of 2012, the nurses thought it would be a great time to feed Mayla from a bottle. Keri and I managed to get the entire bottle in her body, but it didn't go well and it wasn't pretty. In fact, I had my first "puke-on-the-shirt" situation of this new life of ours. By not going well, I mean Mayla would drink then blow gaskets, drink then blow gaskets, drink then blow gaskets; this continued until the account at the gasket bank was overdrawn. Eventually, and miraculously by God's grace alone, Keri and I managed to calm her to sleep before we left to get some dinner. On the way back to our room, the level of sadness was at possibly a two-week high, or low. Fears raged about can we do this when we get her home, how can we do this at home if we can't do it here, and on, and on. The next hour or so over dinner was certainly not the uplifting moments we've had previous evenings. Still, we know this will be a difficult journey, and a long one, and one we must be steadfast. So, following dinner we went back to the hospital to pray over our beloved and say good-night.

It was a great time of prayer and as any loving Father does, He gently pointed out some of the error in our thinking about the day. As much as we were wallowing in our pity and struggling with the difficulties of the day, He reminded us that the day was not a disaster at all. In fact, the day was tougher on Mayla than Keri and I. This is a little girl who at 8 days old, had her chest cut open and her heart operated on. A little girl who, according to the cardiologist, is making an incredibly fast recovery (miracle, thank you Jesus!). A little girl who at almost every moment of sleep, induced or natural, was woken up by old people who don't like to be woken up themselves and would probably get a lot a bit grumpy about it too. A little girl who had a needle put in the side of her head in order to draw blood, and fought the nurses tooth and nail (I was really quite proud of her; it was almost comical how difficult it was for the nurses, but I only chuckled in my head, would have been rude to do it out loud). A little girl who, had not been for mean old people, would have had another great day (by noise level appearances anyway). Given these circumstances, I would venture to say we inappropriately felt we had a worse day than Mayla. Rather than focus on the difficulties of what we feel like we can't do, we had to refocus on the work He did. So what did he do? No oxygen assistance since last night. Removed the huge bandage from her chest since it is healing so well. Great feeding time with Keri nursing. Fun and games for Keri and Christa. A proud father who, for the first time, was able to calm his daughter himself, once anyway. Further talks, and a meeting planned for tomorrow to discuss Mayla going home. Moved her from the standard neo-natal bed to a more relaxed bed, sort of bassinet feeling(ish), including a duvet that is 5 times as thick as it needs to be. I really need to start taking notes throughout the day because I know He did more, I just can't remember it all.

My take away for today is a question, how often do we make it about us, when it really has nothing to do with us at all? Yup, we did it today, and now we have repented of it. We ended with an incredible prayer time as usual, praying for Mayla's continued strength, rest, ECG results, increases in magnesium level (this was shown to be low by the blood drawn), rest & rejuvenation for her parents, and of course other things which I can't remember right now (I really need to work on that). As always, we ask you to continue praying with us for these things, but please don't stop there. I heard the helicopter come in twice today which meant two new children came in somewhere. Additionally, there was a newborn brought in to NICU today, born today. While we don't know what's wrong, we do know she/he is super small and could be a premi. The mother also came in tonight and looked like Keri and I did two weeks ago today.

All in all, the last two weeks has been insane, but we wouldn't have it any other way. God has done some incredible work, but His best is yet to come. We are thankful for all he's done and eagerly await tomorrow morning. Thank you for continuing to support us with prayers and other support. We love you all.

Huh, a clown, in NICU. Not even scary looking... If you're wondering about the spicy fish net shirt, it is needed to keep the portable ECG stuff in place. 

One of the few moments of not freaking out. Look closely though and you'll see wet hair from the most recent ECG induced gasket blow...

Keri helping to calm Mayla during the ECG.

Mayla snuzzled up tight for the evening in her new bed with super-duvet. Who needs to be worried about SIDS when you have this thing???