Crossing Things Off Our List

Throughout this whole process we've had a lot of possibilities of things going on and what those things would be mean for us and our little Emma. We've been able to cross a lot of those things off our list. Some of them are big things and some of them are little, but in the end, with all that we've been through, they are all big things! Today, Emma had her pic-line removed. You can see it in the picture below.A pic-line (and I don't know if I'm writing that correctly) is a very thin catheter that is inserted into a vein with an 'introducer' which is a needle that the catheter fits through. For those of you mommies who've had an epidural, it's kind of done the same way except it's in her arm. Anyway, it goes through the vein all the way to her heart. It sounds scary, but it is much better than an IV. It lasts a long time, whereas, IVs only last a few days for babies because their veins can't handle them for too long. She was receiving her antibiotics through the pic-line, but since her antibiotics are finished and they don't think she'll need the pic-line again, they took it out! It's one less thing that gets in the way and one less intervention that she needs!


They also started her an amoxicillin today. I know that doesn't sound like crossing something off your list, but it is in a way. She is getting it prophilactically and takes it by mouth. They suspect the UTI was caused by reflux in her kidneys. The amoxicillin will prevent her from getting anymore UTIs until they figure out if she has reflux or not. Then if she does, she'll get it until she outgrows it. It is something to cross off because the nurse practitioner said the reflux is really not something to worry about. We are always happy to stop worrying about something. Plus, we won't have to worry about anymore UTIs, at least, not for awhile.


Jeremy successfully did about 5 minutes of Tummy Time today with the help of Emma's nurse. He was very proud of her. She moved her head from one side to the other all by herself! He also did some 'playtime' with her lying on her side exploring her hands with her mouth. Sounds kinda silly, but something very exciting and reassuring for us. Finally, he did playtime with her sitting on his lap. The goal was to get her to lift her head off her chest a little on her own. She did it! She must be gifted! Okay, maybe we can't tell that yet, but we are very proud of her!


Overall, a very good day for our family! Tomorrow is a big day as she has an ultrasound to check the size of the ventricles in her brain, as well as, a spinal tap which they will look at to make sure the meningitis is gone. Please pray that we get a good report on both accounts!


This picture has nothing to do with anything, but I took it today and I thought it was cute!