2/27 6 months old. Happy half birthday!
I was working on reorganizing and reformatting the blog now that we are out of the NICU and not posting frequent updates. As I was doing so, I went back and read every single post-cringed at some of my grammatical mistakes, cried remembering certain moments, and was reminded again how incredibly blessed we are.
While formatting the blog and gearing up to write this month's updates, I happened across a picture from 9/10/21 of my brother meeting Olivia for the first time. She was 1 lb 10.4 oz, needed breathing support, feeding support, IV nutrition, and a whole team of NICU nurses and doctors. It just so happened that Uncle Jason came to visit this month on 2/10, exactly 5 months after this first picture was taken.
We made two visits to the specialty clinic this month. The first visit was nothing but positive news. Olivia's home oxygen was turned down from 0.3L to 0.2L. We were also able to decrease her formula calories and add breastmilk into her diet. She is growing perfectly and right where she needs to be developmentally. Remember that even though she is 6 months old this month, she's adjusted to 2 months-meaning that she should be hitting 2 month milestones at a minimum. Olivia worked with Physical Therapy and was perfectly happy showing off how well she is doing with her head control and support.
Our second specialty clinic visit showed that after her decrease in oxygen and calorie intake, her weight gain slowed down significantly. The doctor was agreeable to decrease her oxygen to 0.1L but increased Olivia's calories again. To explain quickly, if she is burning too many calories, hence losing weight or not gaining weight, the idea is it's due to her working too hard to breath with the decreased oxygen. If her weight does not increase by our next visit in a week in a half, we may have to increase the oxygen again.
Olivia has begun to smile more and more frequently. In the last week or so she has even started to babble and coo. Kevin and I like to pretend she is talking to us :)
Olivia continues to be very social. She has had visits from grandparents, aunts/uncles, and some of our friends and coworkers. She loves looking at faces and always seems engaged when being talked to. Except, of course, during FaceTime. For whatever reason she always seems to be eating when her cousins FaceTime, leading them to believe she never stops eating. As her cousin Claire put it, "She's going to turn into milk!".
Oh my gosh is she ever a daddy's girl! Kevin and Olivia "talk" to each other every morning before he goes to work and she soaks up every minute of his free time when he's home. She loves when he talks to her in funny voices. He's the greatest dad, she just doesn't know how lucky she is!
Lastly, for everyone who has been asking, TJ and Olivia have been getting along well. For the most part, TJ acts like a typical cat and makes himself scarce (unless he's hungry). But especially on nice days when the birds and squirrels are running around outside, the two of them come together and share a window. Our neighbors should feel very safe with this neighborhood watch on the case!
We continue to praise God and give Him thanks for all He has done. Rereading my old posts helped me to remember how faithful He has been. There have been times, even now, that I wonder and ask "God where are you? God, why haven't you answered my prayers?" I know that He can. I know that He is all powerful, that He hears me when I call on Him, and that He is good. Recently during a Bible study session with some girlfriends I was reminded of another character of God that I often forget. God does not tire. He is constantly working. John 5:17 Jesus is talking to the religious leaders at the time making a point for why he is performing miracles even on the Sabbath. He says "My father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working". We may not get the response or the miracle that we are asking for or the answer we want in the middle of a trial. God's response to us may come in the form of peace, comfort, and strength. The trial may build us, may draw us nearer to God, and may lead to miracles we couldn’t imagine. But we can be reassured that He is always there and is always working.
