Wide Awake

Emily is 2 weeks old today. Luke and I went to visit her this afternoon, and I got to hold her for almost an hour which was really nice. She was wide awake for the first 15-20 minutes, so we could look at her eyes and watch her respond to our voices. This weekend I'm planning to spend the night at the hospital in the sleeper rooms for parents and families. (Luke is taking Logan and Audrey to his parents' house in Michigan.) I'm eager to spend several hours with Emily. The nurses tell me I can even start some kangaroo care with her this weekend (holding her skin-to-skin).

And now for the update: Overall, Emily continues to do well. In the past two days, however, she has had a couple things that have caused the doctors to watch her a little more closely. She has had three oxygen desaturation episodes in the past two days, which means her blood oxygen level has dipped a little low. Also, her biliruben counts have gone up, so yesterday they put Emily back under the bililights. Both of these things are common for premature babies, but Dr. Boos told us that they are watching her more closely because these are new things for Emily. He said that if she has one more thing "out of the ordinary" we will do some lab work to see if there is an underlying cause, but for now they are just watching her a little more closely. No huge concerns yet; they're just keeping an eye on her. Please pray that these things will resolve themselves without need for further testing or concern.

On a positive note, Emily now weighs 2 lbs. 13 oz! We're happy to see her above her birthweight and continuing to grow.

p.s. I included a little video of Emily below. It's a little dark since the lights were dim, but I think you'll enjoy it anyway. You can really see how tiny she is compared to my hand. :)