Natalie's Progress

Last post I talked about how Natalie's story was not one that could be easily interpreted.  As we enter into our 3rd week here at UNC that fact still holds true.  So far the doctors have run many tests including MRI's, Ultrasounds, Blood Tests, Urine Tests, and Metabolic Tests.  Every test so far has come back as negative or normal.  This is still good news.  Yesterday our doctor told us that if the last few remaining tests come back negative or normal then we'll either have to assume she is slow in developing and she will simply grow up OR we will be able to determine what might be wrong with her as she continues to age. Basically what this means is, the doctors can't figure out why she has some issues and they have run out of tests.  So the update as far as her overall well being is still, unknown but positive :-).

As far as her everyday accomplishments she is doing awesome!  Joanna and I have been able to feed her bottles to supplement her regular feeding tubes meals.  She still has a weak suck but it is improving as each day goes by.  Her nurse is very excited because when she first met Natalie she looked at her and thought "this baby sadly will always be fed through a tube because of her lack of ability to suck".  However, Natalie takes over half of her food via bottle now and her nurse says that she has never seen such a strong willed baby before.  Natalie is determined to eat and that is great!  She gets tired feeding and rarely makes it through a feeding session without falling asleep but she fights as hard as she can.  Also, she is steadily gaining weight.  She just broke the 6 pound mark.  She is gaining at a normal rate and should continue to do so especially as she is taking the bottle.  Another concern with the doctors are her hips and legs because she was so oddly positioned inside of Joanna.  She was in the breach position but her legs were WAY up around her head.  Therefore, she was so used to having her legs up there that it is hard for her to move her hips and legs down in a normal position.  So today they are going to put some casts on her feet and part of her legs (I think) in hopes of this allowing and forcing her hip muscles to relax and position normally.  We don't know how long the casts will be on though.

Other than these things she is a typical baby girl.  She looks around and stretches and grunts like most 3 week old babies.  She still doesn't cry much but I'm just going to be thankful for that at this point haha.  As far as when she will be able to come home, the doctors told us that when is considered stable and her feeding increases enough then she'll be able to come home.  Well she is now considered "stable" and they started her feeding evaluation on Monday and they said next Monday (the 13th) they will be able to give us a more realistic timeline as to when we can go home with our little gal.

We're thrilled with her progress and hope she continues to exceed all of the doctor's expectations.  She still might have some issues but we are so, so, so happy to have our little girl. Thanks again for all the prayers and kind words. I haven't been able to post many updates because there is only one computer available at the place we are staying and it gets shared between 30 families haha.  I will keep you all posted though :-)


P.S.- The head Neonatologist said that she was the best dressed baby in the NICU.  Mainly because of all the dresses that her Daddy is picking out for her to wear :-)

And sorry for any typos. I'm sleepy haha.