Baby Emma Update

Just a little update on Emma. First, thank you to everyone who sent flowers, emails, phone calls and good wishes! Tonight we were discharged from the hospital. Sadly, we had to go home and leave Emma in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). While it breaks our hearts, we are so thankful for the nursing staff and are confident in their ability to care for our baby girl.

Emma was born at 32 weeks, 3 days. At her gestational age, we expected a small baby with underdeveloped lungs. We anticipated her needing a ventilator and were very scared for her. Our hospital did an emergency transfer of me to another hospital with a better NICU unit Friday morning, and Emma was born at 3:59 in the afternoon.

She shocked everyone when she was born at 5lb 9oz with healthy lungs! It was truly a miracle. She needed a little oxygen the first night, but did not require a ventilator. Because she is so young, she has not developed the ability to swallow and drink milk so she is currently taking all of her feedings via tube. She will need to learn this and gain weight before she can go home. She also needs to regulate her own body temperature outside of her incubator. She is really close to graduating to an open crib. She is now off of IV antibiotics, and her IV was removed last night! She has developed some jaundice and is now resting under UV lights.

We will try to post regularly to update you on Emma's progress and post pictures. Thank you for all the love and support. Please pray for Emma's speedy growth and development so we can bring her home soon!!!