Page 55 - Journey of Hope by Raymond Moldenhauer

DAY102

GETTING BIGGER

Today is the official NICU weekly weigh-in day. Alyssa now tops
the scales at 2,635 grams, or 5 pounds, 13 ounces – amazing
when you think about her original weight of only 1 pound, 10
ounces! Even after discounting for some fluid retention, she is
definitely gaining weight over the last week or so – close to that
of a typical baby at this stage of her development. As you know,
Alyssa was originally due on July 13.
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Alyssa finally eliminated one of two detected Barium plugs and
they gave her another suppository this evening to try to move
the other one out of her system. Hopefully, she will be clear
very soon now. We are still not sure when they will start her on
Heidi’s milk.

Now that Alyssa is in a crib, Heidi was able to attach the “bug”
mobile that she received as a baby shower gift. They wound it
up and Alyssa immediately opened her eyes to follow the
colorful bugs and listen to the chime – she loved it! One of the
elder nurses told us that in all her years in the NICU, she has
never seen a NICU preemie, as early as Alyssa came, be as alert
and as neurologically advanced as she appears to be. We have a
lot to be grateful for.

Even though we are all getting a bit frustrated over the last few
days – with the latest issues (which I am sure you can sense in
my e-mails) – Alyssa has, in fact, developed in a very remarkable
way – a wonder of God’s creation – a Miracle Little Girl.