Good news – Ava has been stable for about 12 hours now and we are hoping the trend continues through the night. Things are looking up right now and I just feel like she’ll be fine. Fingers and toes crossed! A lot of people have been asking if we can touch her or hold her. We haven't been able to hold her at all yet. We have been able to put our hand on her head though to let her know we're there. She is pretty sedated, so she doesn’t respond to the touching of her head. But if you touch her toes (like Jeff likes to do), she will wiggle her toes. I scold him for doing so, because she is so sensitive right now and I think it bugs her! The nurses agree with me. Anyway, constant pressure is best, rather than stroking. I am sure it does more for me than for us right now, because she is so sedated, but I like to think she knows that we are there trying to soothe her. Ben and Lily were similar in some ways when they were very, very young. But prematurity is a totally different thing than what she has and she is actually much more sensitive.
My parents are taking care of Ben and Lily. They are doing a great job. I am so thankful for that. I think that Ben especially is starting to really miss me – although they come visit for a little while here at the hospital each day – so it will be good to go home and be with them. And we live only 2 minutes from the hospital, so it will be really easy to come and be with Ava too while she is still here. Ben and Lily aren’t really asking questions – because I don’t think they understood the baby thing to begin with! They just say “Mommy sleeps at the doctor” and accept it all pretty easily. We haven’t really talked to them too much about Ava, because we have been unsure about when she is going to come home, etc. The first day we told her they have a baby sister named Ava, but that’s about it. Luckily they don’t know what it is “supposed” to be like, so they don’t know the difference.