Months and months and months?!

I thought today was going to be uneventful...and I guess it kind of was. Nothing actually happened per se, but we learned some information that the doctors and nurses already knew.

Emma has been a gem today. Well, it's 9:00 pm, and she's doing ok tonight so far, at least. I walked in this morning at 9:30, and she had moved up to the end of the crib about 8 inches. I know her arms aren't terrifically strong, so I know she used her legs, too, to push herself that far. I'm very encouraged that her legs are this strong this early, even if it is just the quad muscles that she was using. The concern about use of her legs has been the lower part of her legs so far. We haven't seen a lot of independent movement from her lower legs and feet...yet. We're praying that God will still develop those muscles and lay His healing hand over her legs, from the knees down.

Dr. Troup came in today, and I gleaned a lot of info from him. First of all, Emma has to be on her antibiotics for the next 7 days. (Quick side note: there's a red splotch where the PICC goes in, and there's a red, raised line running down the side of her head. The nurses don't know what this is, and they're keeping an eye on it. We'll be asking a NICU doctor tomorrow, believe me. Please pray that this isn't something that's inflamed or infected, etc. It's not the actual vein that the PICC is running through.) Dr. Troup said that he's willing to do a shunt even with the PICC in her head; he's really looking out for that incision and making sure that all infection there is gone. He can't do a shunt until the incision is healing enough that she can lie on her back and also be held upright for awhile. So the shunt could conceivably go in at the end of this week...but I still think that's too soon, based on the snail's pace progress the incision is making. I told him that we're glad to not be coming to the hospital to see backward progress anymore, but it's still not great because we're in a little bit of a holding pattern. He interrupted me and said, "No, you're in a SUBSTANTIAL holding pattern...but it's okay. The wound is going to take months and months and months to heal." OH. MY. GOSH. He also said that he can still do a bedside tap to drain some fluid, even with the PICC in.

This leads me to our next educational conversation with our fantastic nurse, Erica. Basically, we'll be trained on how to dress Emma's wound. We'll probably have to continue to put medicine on it. We won't be able to bathe her or even sponge bathe her in enough water that will run and drip onto the incision. Just wiping her down with a damp washcloth. Erica also told us that after Emma's shunt surgery, she'll most likely be back in NICU I for 1-3 days and then in NICU II for 1-3 days. But that's just from the shunt; if they're still not ready to send us home because of the incision, we'll be here longer.

Our little Emma is eating like a horse, and even the wonderful nurses who have had her time and time again are amazed at how quickly she eats. She has been gaining 2 ounces a day here lately, and tonight she gained 4 ounces from yesterday. She now weighs 8 pounds 9 ounces, and she was only 7 pounds 2 ounces when she was born 4 weeks ago. Sunday night was measurement night, and she was 20 1/2 inches long, or 3/4 inches longer than when she was born. I think you can attribute a little bit of this weight to fluid buildup in her brain, but not a whole lot! Here's a shot of our chubby baby...check out that belly!