3 weeks tomorrow!

So Lilah will be 3 weeks tomorrow. She has done well and accomplished a lot in 3 weeks! I went to see her yesterday with my mom and Josh. It was time for her to eat, and they always changer her diaper and take her temp at the same time. I was there so I was able to do it. She was wide awake the whole time. I had never seen her this awake, it was a nice surprise. I held her for an hour or so, and I was just talking to her and she stared at me the whole time. Josh would talk to her from over my shoulder and she would immediately turn her head to him, than back to me when I spoke. I am soooo in love! I held her through her feeding, than rocked her to sleep. Unfortunately I had to put her back because I had to get home for Chevelle.


Today Kristin picked me up in the morning to see Lilah, and than to Wal-Mart to pick up some things for Velle's party. She was sleeping when we got there, and I didn't want to disturb her so I didn't ask to hold her. One of her nurses came in and said she had a wonderful night, and was doing great. She told me that she knew I was pumping breast milk, but wanted to know if I was planning on feeding her the milk through a bottle. I told her that was probably my plan, because I wouldn't be able to spend a lot of time at the hospital to breast feed. They wanted to know this because they plan on trying to bottle feed her. Lilah is showing all the signs that she is ready to eat, such as being wide awake when she is hungry and trying to suck on everything when she wants to eat. I was so stoked to hear this, it means she is one step closer to coming home. This was great news, but her head circumference went up a quarter of a centimeter, which probably means fluid is accumulating again. Dr. Allen is coming in tomorrow to do a head ultrasound, then he'll compare them to the one that was taken after the drain came out, and then take it from there. I haven't been able to talk to Allen because I haven't been there at the same time as him. The nurse seems to think he is waiting for her to gain weight, and be a little less dependent on the oxygen, then insert a shunt. Last time I talked to him he didn't seem to think she would need one, so I don't know if the nurse was mistaken, or if he changed his mind because the drain doesn't seem to be working. I think that the nurses automatically assume she is getting a shunt, because the majority of children with hydrocephalus have to have one. I am hoping ot speak with him soon to clear all this up.

We had a parent teacher conference for Chevelle, which went extremely well. Her teacher went on and on about how delightful she was and sweet and helpful. She said she was a teacher's dream. She said she noticed all the other kids looked up to her as a role model, and as someone who helps them out when they need it. She wrote in one of her journal entrys how she hated when school ends because she has to stop learning. The teacher thought this was so funny and she even showed it to her son as an example of being enthusiastic about school. Her son responded to it in disbelief saying "kids actually exist that like school" lol I am so proud of her! So overall a good day for my girls! I am getting ready for an eventful weekend with Chevelle's party, which my in-laws are coming up for. I am looking forward to seeing everyone, I just hope I don't go nuts trying to entertain all these 8 year old girls! I will post after the weekend to inform everyone how everything went.