2lbs and counting!

Yay! She finally made it to 2lbs and is looking so much bigger.  Actually she is 2lbs 3 oz and gaining. I love seeing her baby cheeks and sweet little face finally doing all those cute little baby things she had been finally doing with her mouth.  So I started this post days ago, but blogger lost most of it and then I just couldn't face the frustration of getting the pictures and stuff on here.  I am not that great at computer stuff or blogging, SORRY! The past two weeks have been very stable for Karis, she is still doing fantastic on her CPAP with only using Very low oxygen 21% almost always.  Her feeds have increased to 11.5cc per feeding and she is tolerating it pretty well.  She does have some issues still with having her alarms go off for Brady's and Apnea, but that is just a part of her lung development or lack of it

Next week Karis will have her eyes checked for ROP which is an eye disease that is common among preemies.  It can range in levels from 1-5.  If your interested you could look it up, but basically at its worst the retina will detach.  The levels have to do with how the blood vessels are forming.  From what I have read the test is not very nice and is a bit painful to the babies :(  Please pray for no damage to her eyes!  We have seen miracles before, I mean geesh she is just a bundle of little miracles. So my friends pray pray pray with us!!!

Also, we are trying something new soon. We have been researching things that may help her with comfort and brain development since we are not there very much (not my choice, but hospital rules) and she in not allowed to be held yet. As I have been researching things about micro preemies, I have found that while she may be doing well on the outside now, in the long term there can be many many developmental problems. I don't want to dwell on this but it is just hard that some of it can be possibly combated with kangaroo care but our hospital just won't do it.  Babies' brains develop in their sleep and deep sleep is best, which often happens when you Kangaroo with your baby. But alas, not at our hospital. 

So we ordered something called The Zaky. It is a hand-shaped pillow we can scent by putting behind our neck and it's supposed to make Karis feel like we are their with her. It is a little weird looking but maybe it will help. At this point Dr. Chiba said they will use it maybe twice a week and see if it helps, like a trial I guess. It took so long to get this "little" victory. I pray so many times everyday, every hour that God would be in Karis' isolette with her, comforting her. This is my biggest struggle about the care she is receiving here in Japan. I have watched how the nurses just let babies cry, maybe they are busy, maybe they are talking, maybe they just do see a baby in distress. I know Karis' cry is so tiny and she doesn't have many alarms, so I don't know how much they comfort her. All I want to do as her mom is be there when she needs me. Some days or lets face it EVERYDAY, ALL DAY LONG, all I want to do is go there, snatch her up and take her back to America so I could be by her side comforting her, cheering and praying for her. I mean that is my job as her Mom and I just can't do it here, they won't let me! It breaks my heart every time I think about it. So please pray that Karis' will feel the comfort she needs when we are not with her.

UPDATE: They just put the Zacky in yesterday so we will see how it is going.  Having an early visiting time due to Clifford's work time has let us see a few things we wouldn't get to :)  We were able to see them give Karis an X-ray and watched them put on her CPAP mask, both times she was a champ!!  Very little crying and she just got comfortable and went right back to sleep.  As her Mom it makes me feel a little better knowing that maybe she is very content baby. 

Please continue to pray for these things...

- Lungs to mature and become stronger, so she will have fewer "episodes".
- For her brain development.
- For good weight gain to continue with increased feedings.
- For her eyes to develop correctly, her eye test is next week.
- For comfort when she is in need.

In Him,
Danielle

Here are some pics and video :)

I just love her! This was the first time we saw her without anything on her face <3 br="br">

Her first little outfit, they let us put it on for our visit, but she still can't wear clothes yet.  They need to be able to see her back when she stops breathing. 

Could this face be called anything but precious!