Our precious Seiden Grace is already ONE MONTH old! My, my does the time fly! It is really hard to believe that this precious angel and perfect gift from God is already one month old. I feel like we're going to blink and she's going to be starting kindergarten. Gosh...I don't even want to think about that! She has already changed and grown so much in this past month. She is so much more alert and is staying awake longer in between feedings. She's always recognized us...but she is really starting to focus more and more on our faces and responds more to our voices. She can also see things from a bit further away. And...she loves to look at the lights and the fan...even when the fan's not on! We haven't gotten a smile out of her yet...but we think that's coming pretty quick! We get little half smiles...we think...but not a full blown grin yet. We can't wait for the day when that happens! She absolutely loves the dogs and the absolutely love her. The older she's gotten, the more she reacts to them too. Faith and Trigger love to sniff her head and give her sugars...and she just lays there and lets them or makes little coos at them...so precious! We are having so much fun with her...she is so amazing!!! I can't even imagine what all we have to look forward to as she progresses over the next few months!
When we were discharged from the NICU on November 5th, she weighed 6 pounds and 9 ounces. And at her follow-up appointment with Dr. Thomas, her surgeon, on November 21st, she weighed 7 pounds and 7 ounces! She has gained almost a pound in less than a month! Since I brought up her follow-up appointment with her surgeon...I'll just go ahead and update you on how that went! Seiden had surgery on October 23rd, so the follow-up appointment was just almost a month after her surgery. We were so excited to go see Dr. Thomas and hear what all he had to say about how she was healing. Her drain tube did wind up coming out on it's own...a week before we went to go see him! He said that was no big deal and he had hoped he stressed enough to us that it would probably come out on it's own or she would pull it out. And, if that happened it was absolutely no big deal. As soon as he saw her, he was just so sweet with her. Cody asked him a question and he paused a minute and then said, "I'm so sorry. I wasn't listening...I am so mesmerized my her!" I mean seriously...how sweet is he?!? We absolutely love Dr. Thomas. Not just for the amazing work that he does through his surgery. But for the Godly man that he is. Every time we tell him how thankful we are for him and what he has done for Seiden, he always turns it completely around and gives all the glory to God. He is such a blessing to us and so many other families. He is using the spiritual gifts that God has given him to treat and heal these precious angels that God has blessed this earth with. After Dr. Thomas had loved on our little princess, he looked at her neck. He checked the incision from the surgery as well as where the drain tube had been inserted. Then, he held her head back to see how well she was moving her neck. He said everything looked absolutely perfect! She had completely healed up on both the incision from the surgery and the drain tube and the movement in her neck was strong and she was doing things that all normal babies do. She was moving her head from side to side and trying to pull her head back up when he had it tilted back. All amazing signs that the cyst hadn't affected any of her muscles and she is progressing with her growth and development. Another answered prayer...praise The Lord!!!
We asked a few questions while we were there. I wanted to make sure that when I bathed her, I could wash under her neck. I had just been splashing a little water on it and then patting it dry with a towel. I didn't want to do anything that would cause that incision to become infected or open back up. But, Dr. Thomas said that it was all completely healed and that she is just like any other normal baby and to scrub away! We also asked him about the swelling that is still on her right side. He said that it would probably be 6-8 months before everything was completely normal and all the swelling was gone. He also told us that he had to leave a little bitty tiny piece of the cyst right under her chin...kinda where her ear and jaw line meet up. The reason he left it is because the nerve that makes her smile was right up against that last little bit of cyst and he felt like it was best to leave that alone. If he would have gone ahead and removed that last little bit and it damaged that nerve, it could have made the right side of her mouth droop. He said that there was no way he was going to chance it, so he felt confident in leaving just that tiny little piece. We will go back in April or May and he'll look at that again and probably aspirate it. He told us that we'll do that two or three times if we need to and then reevaluate. By then, she will be bigger and that nerve will be more developed and he would be able to go in and probably remove the rest of the cyst as well as do any skin removal if any of the extra skin hadn't tightened up by then. All in all it was an absolutely amazing appointment! We got to visit with one of our favorite doctors, watch him love on our precious angel, and got an amazing report on how well she is doing!
And...after we had our appointment...we headed over to the NICU to see some of our favorite nurses!!! When we had found out what day our appointment was going to be on, I had let one of our sweet nurses (who is now one of our very dear friends) know that we were gonna be there and wanted to stop by and say hi. She wasn't working that day, but she came up to the NICU so that we could see her and she could love on Seiden...without all the tubes! We also got a huge treat when we got there. Dr. Schmidt, Seiden's neonatologist, was there that day! As soon as we got into the lobby of the NICU one of the sweet ladies at the front desk buzzed back to the the room we were in and let everyone know we were there. And then Seiden had a flood of visitors!!! It was so great to see all the sweet faces that we have missed so much. They were so excited to see Seiden and were even more excited to love on her and cuddle her. Dr. Schmidt held her for about an hour!!! Everyone just absolutely loves Seiden...and it is so sweet to see doctors, nurses, and therapists love on your precious baby. These amazing men and women were the ones taking care of her and loving on her when we couldn't. We couldn't be more thankful or appreciative of them. They have truly blessed our lives in more ways than we'll ever know. It's going to be so fun to get to go back every time and let them see her and how much she's growing and changing. And...Seiden sure does love getting loved on by all of them! And we love them all too...so very much!
It's been amazing to look back on our journey so far. Seiden is only one month old, but has been through more in her one month of life than Cody and I have been in our 28 and 31 years combined. And, she has conquered it with strength, determination, will, and the heart of a little lion. She is so strong. I've said it before, but I'll say it until the day I die. She simply amazes me. I am so in love with this precious little girl...and I fall more and more in love with her each and everyday. And so does Cody. He is sooo good with her...and she sure does love him! She is the biggest daddy's girl and just snuggles up on him all the time. I love sitting on the couch next to them and watching them snuggle...it's probably one of the most precious things I've ever seen! He helps me out so much with her too. I'm not nursing...just pumping. And if he's home during the day, he changes her and feeds her while I pump and do other chores around the house and run errands. It's such a huge help and I could never say thank you enough to him. He also amazes me...and after having her...I've just fallen in an even deeper love for him. She has truly blessed us in more ways and we just thank God for her each and everyday. Happy ONE month Seiden Grace!!! We love you more than you will ever know!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment