Close Again

Mercy is doing well today. Praise God! She’s surprised the doctors with how well she’s taking feeds, and we’re back to increasing her feed volume twice a day. Praise God! “Full feeds” now means 75ml/feed with the milk fortified to 24cal. We’ll be there on Sunday. Lord willing. Praise God.

Once she’s on full feeds and they remove the central line, she just has to gain weight for an unspecified number of days and then she can come home.

That last sentence was difficult to type. We’ve been here before and have passed these milestones. Things go wrong so quickly. We’re close again. We want her to come home.

As far as we can tell, she’s completely recovered from her cold. Her motility looks great. She’s able to handle greater volume increases without emesis. This is a huge change from where we were last week. Praise God.

In the spirit of March Madness, there is now a non-zero chance she pulls off an upset and is home by Easter. Smart money, however, is on the week after Easter if she stays on her current trajectory.

When I spoke to Mercy’s team about her return home possibilities this morning, I found myself wincing. Turns out they’re wincing as well. We’re all a little wary after how close we were a month ago. And last week. So maybe smart money is on another surprise.

So please, please, pray this week when you think about her. Pray that she’d gain weight after they remove her central line. Pray that we get out of this cycle. Pray that when she comes home, she stays home. Pray that we’d soon be finished with late-night trips to the hospital.

Also, praise God for where we are right now. It’s a better place to be than where we were last week. I’m so thankful that her blockage happened before we came home. I’m thankful we were here as she recovered from her cold. I’m thankful for all of you, and that you’ve been on this roller coaster with us for seven months. Praise God for his mercies. Bring our Mercy home!!

Looks like a little strawberry blonde coming through in this light ❤️

Focus lips for Ninja Gym time!!

The best.