Three things I’m thankful for today

1) Mercy is doing well! She’s recovering from surgery nicely and her airway does not seem to be too affected by the difficulty the doctors had when intubating. In fact, they were able to extubate on Wednesday, and she’s currently requiring less breathing support than she has to date. Praise God!

2) Mercy broke the 3lb mark yesterday! She’s getting 100% of her nutrition through her IV and she’s still gaining daily.

This milestone is particularly important to me based on a comment one of our nurses made when Mercy was about three weeks old. For the first two weeks of Mercy’s life, doctors held back on telling us how precarious her life was. She was small, much smaller than most 27-week gestation babies. One of the nurses that we loved eventually told us, “…she’s still very much ‘in the woods’ and will be until she’s about 3lbs.” That number has been an anchor in the back of my mind every single day. Yesterday's 3lb measurement was such an emotional boost and relief. Praise God!

3) The boys got to meet Mercy for the first time!!! It was a bit of a shock for them but it was so, so good.

Mercy now has lovely art to look at when she's awake. And for those wondering, Beth is the one in the picture facilitating the visit.

Ways to pray:

• That Mercy's bowels would start working again and that they'll tolerate feeding once we resume.

• Continued healing from surgery.

• Peace for the boys after seeing their sister. It shook them up to see her so small and fragile.

• Praise for the past 72 hours!!