Happy "Original" Birthday!

So today is Brynn's due date. And for the next 2-3 years, today will also be considered her birthday. This is called "corrected age"--we have to count her age from today to see if she's really reaching developmental milestones on time. I can hardly believe it. What a LONG three and a half months this has been! And here we are starting at "day one."

Anyway, I almost hesitate to write this because I don't want to jinx the future, but I think today is also a turning point! To put this in perspective, on Brynn's best feeding days she's been able to get roughly 1 CC per minute--not so good when she has to finish 50+ CCs in under 30 minutes to get a full oral feed. But today, Brynn finished her introductory volume of 10 CCs in only 3 minutes! I've never seen her suck so well with so little encouragement.

Could this be the start of her good feeding skills? If so, this is the best "birthday" present I could have received.

I'm really trying not to get excited, but if this does turn out to be her turning point, I must say it never would have happened without the late-onset GBS (Group B Strep). Thanks to this setback, she's hungrier than she's ever been and she doesn't have the NG tube to irritate her while she swallows (they took it out until she gets on higher volume feeds). With those two motivators, she really seems interested in learning how to get that food out efficiently. Go figure. The Lord really does work in mysterious ways, doesn't He?

Well, again, she's only sucked that fast once so I have no guarantees; but I sure am praying this is it.

I'm also praying that they get a PICC line in her. Unlike a peripheral IV, which will last only 1-3 days, a PICC line will last months (in this case, until they get her antibiotic regimen completed). But they've already tried as many times as they can for both peripheral IVs and PICC lines and she's now completely out of places left to try. The next step is to do a cut-down, which is minor surgery, cutting into her arm or leg and going directly into a larger vein.

Poor girl. If I so much as unwrap one corner of her blanket, she jumps and starts to cry. I swear she even dreams about getting poked because she'll go from being completely asleep to a loud wail and then back to sleep again. Oh I hate to watch her suffer. But she HAS to have the IV access for her antibiotics . . . what else can we do?

Oh yes, and now that we're out of the woods, I can add these pictures without being too sad:

Mommy and Baby both worn out. Do you think I showered that day? I figured I didn't need fuss with silly things like makeup when spending long hours at the hospital:

It's hard to tell from the photo, but she is puffy and pale compared to her usual self:

We got moved to a new room because she became really jumpy at every tiny noise. After a long fight against her ET tube prior to this photo, Brynn seemed to settle down a little bit when Matt held her finger:

After the vent was removed. No, she doesn't have a cast--it's a board to keep her arm straight and relatively impact free so she doesn't dislodge her IVs:
And just for fun, this photo was taken right before she got sick again: