Alert, making eye contact and tracking movement!  So perfect

Maddie is having a great day.  Just got her best gases of her life back from the lab.  She's a bit uncomfortable - two chest tubes, trying to get a new IV in today (always a production with her) and starting to wean the morphine. 

We lost our first tube today - no more catheter.  Luke has changed his first diaper (i've changed three!).  technically i got to hold her last - it was only two inches off of her bed so they could change her linen, but i felt the full weight of my little girl for the first time since she was born.  


She is still putting out a lot of fluid through her chest tubes.  Starting a process of elimination to figure out why she is producing so much.  Right now they think it is an response of her immune system putting her lymphoids on overdrive.  I don't really understand it medically yet, but hope they figure it out quickly so we can fix it and get the chest tubes out.  


Hoping to start continuous feeds later this week - we'll likely have to start with a special low-fat formula before breastmilk to help control the fluids and fat secretions.  

You can tell from the pictures that she has quite a bit of swelling (almost half of her total weight right now) but we are hoping that starts to self resolve as well.


We have a turned a corner with this little girl.  Its a small corner - more of a gentle curve in the road then a corner - but its positive progress.  Maddie is still very much in God's hands, but we have a lot to be thankful for and a lot to feel optimistic about.

The most adorable grumpy face ever!