Day Seven- Eat!!

Amelia
Today was a really good day. When John and I arrived in the PCCU, Amelia’s nurse was taking the last of her major lines out – one of her central lines and her arterial line. She had also been moved out of her Ohio bed and was in a crib again. All of this was a prelude to the news that she would be moving back to 4D shortly, which is the milestone we have been eagerly awaiting all weekend. Amelia was not happy with all of the work the nurses were doing on her, but when they were finished, we got the greatest reward: we were able to hold her for the first time since her surgery. Clearly this made a huge difference to Amelia because she promptly stopped crying and went peacefully to sleep.

At about 1:30, I help the nurse take Amelia upstairs and she was put back in the step-down, or constant observation, room, which is the room she first came into when she moved to 4D from the NICU. It felt like we had gone full circle. The fourth floor was like a breath of fresh air. There is a lot more hustle and bustle, a lot more happy faces, than anything we saw in the PCCU. It felt like real life.


A nurse-practitioner examined Amelia and was impressed with her progress. Amelia’s job now is to learn to eat for herself and to prove that she can gain weight. Right now, at nine weeks of age, she only weighs 2.1 kg (about 4 ½ pounds). Her brother weighs about twice that. Once she achieves those goals, she can come home; the nurse indicated this will be in a week or two. If she gets tired while she eats, she may have to come home with an NG tube, but I guess we can handle that. We may speak to the staff about the possibility of having Amelia transferred to Markham-Stouffville Hospital for the last part of her treatment because it’s only a five minute walk from our house. That would be nice.

We’ve made such huge progress in the last week. Amelia is pink, her vital signs are good; it’s hard to believe that her heart is actually working properly now.

Visitors

Amelia’s Nana (my mom) came to see Amelia for the first time since her surgery. She has spent a lot of time looking after Sarah, but Sarah went to daycare today. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jen came all the way from Ottawa this morning to see Amelia and each got a chance to cuddle with her. They brought a toy lion for Amelia because she has fought all of this adversity like a lion. We couldn’t agree more.