The Right Direction

Thank you, friends, for following and praying for Grace's situation! I have moments in which I wonder if this is really a big enough deal to make such a fuss over. I know, I know, my baby has been sick for 14 days now and in the hospital for 10. It is a big deal. But, there is so much that could be worse. Living in a hospital will remind you of that. Kids with severe special needs, kids with cancer, a kid in a coma whose family is grieving in the waiting room because they have been told he might never wake up. Things could definitely be a lot worse. It is humbling to have so many people care, and I want you to know that we are overwhelmed by your concern and appreciate your prayers more than we can express. This may not be the worst situation possible, but it is still hard. And, I'm convinced that your prayers are making it far more bearable.
Yesterday was a hard one, and I know that many of you prayed fervently that things would get better. AND THEY DID! Today has been very encouraging in a lot of ways:

• Grace and I still slept in the glider last night, and we woke up every couple of hours for a diaper change and to check vital signs, but we slept. And, I felt pretty rested today.
  
• First thing this morning, they moved us to a new, bigger room.
• Grace sat up for a little while and "played" this morning. It's the first time she's sat up alone without crying since she got to the hospital.
  
• Grace took a two-hour nap this morning by herself, in her crib! It was wonderful for Justin and me to have a break, and I know Grace really needed that sleep. Currently, she is asleep in her crib again!
  
• Grace drank 34 mL of formula from a syringe, the most she has done so far. I'm going to push the sippy cup more tomorrow.
• We think that the diarrhea is slowing down. Still having it, but her behavior indicates that she is healing, which indicates that some of what she's taking in is being absorbed. We need this to improve more and more with each feeding.
• Grace's doctors are starting to slowly wean Grace off of her IV fluids.
• Bloodwork is starting to look much more normal. I don't understand much about bloodwork but it was apparently WAY out of whack when she arrived at the PICU on Sunday morning.
  

Today has been a wonderful reminder of the fact that God really and truly does answer the prayers of his people. It is amazing how little faith I have in that sometimes! I already tweeted this today, but I'll say it again -- I am so thankful that God loves me, by the grace of Jesus, in spite of myself!

Please continue to pray that things move in a positive direction. This is what needs to happen:

• Diarrhea needs to stop.
  
• Grace needs to wean off the IV fluids and be able to take in enough hydration and calories with formula and food alone.
• She needs to be weaned from the feeding tube and needs to be able to take in all of her calories by mouth.
• She needs to gain weight.
• We need to go home!
  

Thanks, again!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that today was good because I got to go to Target. That always makes my day better :).