He Has HIS Hands On You

I don't have pictures to share, I'll go ahead and say that up front.  It gets tiring to drag all that stuff to the hospital to take pictures when you have to remember clothes, milk, myself, etc. 

I thought I'd share the plan that we learned today.  Dr. Glick, the neonatologist, told us this morning that the babies would move to "well baby beds" tomorrow.  Those are those little beds that they roll to normal mother's rooms whose babies don't go to the NICU.  That means tomorrow they are treated like typically born babies, except they are still in the NICU.  BUT, this mean one GIANT step towards home.  She wants the babies to stay there 48 hours, maintain their body temp and either maintain/gain weight.  That's exactly what they expect of full term babies that don't go to the NICU.  Assuming that starts tomorrow, and they do all that for 48 hours, we'll be Philly bound sometime on Friday.  I get tears in my eyes just typing that. 

Sid went home tonight to take his truck back and will be riding back tomorrow with someone coming this way.  So me???  I went to the 5:00 feeding and stayed until 7:00, got Chick Fil A, and have been in the hotel room reading blogs I haven't read in 2 weeks and watching Teen Mom.  It feels soooo strange.  But because Sid was gone, I decided not to go to the 8:00 feeding because we are usually out til 10 or later. 

I just called the night nurse to check on their weight, since we usually find that out at night and that's what determines tomorrow's move. 

Both girls gained an ounce.  YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! So that puts Elissa at 5.1, which is almost her birth weight.  The doctor says her murmur is getting louder, which means it's closing.  We won't do anything with it except follow up with the pediatrician.  And Miss Ellie, well, she gained an ounce, too.  And it's Ellie that's really determining what happens the rest of our days in the NICU.  But her gain put her at 4.2, with a gain of on ounce a night for the last 2 nights.  That means we are headed to those well baby beds tomorrow.  All I can say is grow, Ellie, grow.  We want to go home. 

Speaking of home, we want you to know that we want visitors, but we just probably need a little time.  It's always fine to call us and ask if it's a good time.  I'll write more on this later.  We cannot tell you how much we appreciate all the thoughts, prayers, phone calls, visits, etc.  But we just have to be very careful with these babies.  After all, they are only going to be 35 weeks when they came home.  They still need that "controlled" environment of the NICU even when we get home.

A couple of weeks ago, it was actually the Wednesday of the fair, I came to Jackson for a doctor's visit.  I was a little overwhelmed when I left the office for several different reasons.  I don't really remember why, but I remember getting in the car and hearing this song.  I started crying and the tears flowed.  Ha! I don't think they've stopped since.  Clearly, there was no "hurting" as the song refers to until the babies got here early and we've been through another NICU stay, but this song has played over and over in my head this entire time.

Here's the video, but listen to his words before he starts singing.  I love the part where he says, "take solace in the fact that even though it may not feel good right now,as long as I'm in HIS hands, everything's gonna be alright. Just touch somebody, look them in the face and tell them I'm in HIS hands." 



My babies will go home on Friday (hopefully) at 35 weeks, 5 weeks before they should be in this world.  They will have spent 15 days in the NICU, with what I consider to be minimal medical intervention.  And you know why???  Because HIS hands.  They have been around us this entire time.  HIS hands have been on Elissa and Ellie as they continue to grow and thrive.  HIS hands have been on Bailey as she has endured an unexpected break in her normal life and been away from her Mommy for 15 days, and Daddy alot of the time.  HIS hands have been on me and Sid as we've walked through this NICU experience, one we had such high hopes of passing by this time.  We do realize there are worse places we could be or worse shapes we could be in.  But's it still difficult.  HIS hands have been on family, Nene and Jerry, Kylie and Ben, Mom, everyone who've put their normal routines and lives aside for our well being. HIS hands have been on those praying for us, thinking of us, visiting us, and checking on us.  And there is no way that we could ever thank everyone enough for their support and love and prayers during this time. 

And HIS hands will continue to be on us as we go home and grow from a family of 3, to a family of 5.  Please keep checking on us, please keep praying for us and remember, no matter what you are going through, no matter how bad it may seem, no matter how many times you feel like asking yourself "will it ever end", He has HIS hands on you and He WILL see you through.