how ivory's doing

Welcome to the world, Ivory Kaye - we love her so much already and feel very blessed that she arrived safely! I suppose I should start at the beginning and give you just a little bit of background information, because Ivory wasn't really due until March 31. We went in to see our doctor on Monday evening just to make sure everything was going ok. He was concerned because her heart rate was low when I was lying down, and he wasn't entirely sure why. He sent me to Zamora for a better sonogram, and we found out that she had a knot in her umbilical cord. Ivory has always measured big for her gestational age, and because of that, the doctor felt that she would be developed enough to go ahead and take her by C-section and avoid the risk that the knot would tighten. So in a matter of several hours, we were at our Doctor's office in Ixtlan, in Zamora for an ultrasound, back at the Doctor's office, frantically packing at our house, and then back into Zamora. Ivory was born that evening, and she came out crying, always a good thing. :) For the first night and day, she was in our room, although she was on oxygen. We got to hold her and talk to her and interact with her and try feeding her some. However, because she was premature, she's had a few complications, which I'll try to summarize in the bullets below. She went into an incubator yesterday evening, and in there she's doing wonderful. But of course, she needs to be able to survive outside of the incubator too, which will take a little more time. She hasn't been able to keep food down and she's having trouble breathing, both of which we are praying will be resolved in a few days as her little body matures some.

I left the hospital for the first time here this afternoon, and the break from the room has been very refreshing. Grant and I came to a little coffee shop to get internet and relax a little bit. Just before we left, this is the information our pediatrician gave us:

1. She's still on oxygen. They tried taking her off this morning, but it didn't go well. So she's back on. I think they're maybe giving her a little less, if I understood everything he was saying correctly.
2. She has a tube going from her stomach to out her mouth to kind of pump her out - they felt like that was part of her digestive problems. Whenever we fed her, she would just puke everything up, so she wasn't getting the food she needed. She's being fed through an IV now.
3. On a more positive note, she has pooped twice, which the doctors were really glad for. I think that was during the night.
4. They told me this morning that they haven't been able to exactly identify what her problem is, as far as vomiting. There are two possibilities. The doctors feel that the most likely possibility is that something with her underdeveloped lungs is causing air in her stomach, which in turn causes vomiting, etc... so they have to wait until her lungs are developed enough to take her off oxygen to see if everything else is functioning properly. The other remote possibility is that there is some sort of connection between the esophagus and the airway that is causing her digestive system and lungs to, essentially, interfere with one another. The x-rays have not shown that anything like this is wrong, but they did mention this as a small possibility.
5. The doctor indicated that at this point he feels she'll need be at the hospital and monitored for another three days. However, they are occasionally taking her off oxygen to see how she's doing on her own and monitoring to see if she's making progress. He does feel that slowly she's making progress on her breathing, but still not where he wants her to be.

So what we are doing right now is waiting for her little lungs to develop enough to try out her digestive system again - that's the best we can understand. I was having a hard time this morning, just seeing her in that little incubator and not being able to interact with her and not being able to do anything for her. But I opened my Bible to Luke 7 - where Jesus heals one and raises another from the dead - and it just reminded me of the power of what God can do. And so we're trusting and waiting and knowing that God is working on her and has her in His hands. Just before we left the hospital to get out for a few hours, the doctor let me go in and touch her and interact with her a little bit so we're so grateful for that. Lots of blessings... please keep praying that things will continue to improve and that the glory would go to God.

Here are a few pictures. We've had lots of different feedback on who she looks like - so we'll see!

just born!

she was on oxygen in this little globe for the first night and day

meeting Daddy...

... and Mommy. I was able to hold her for a long time yesterday afternoon - so thankful for those little moments. 

our favorite picture of her so far!

our Doctor taking good care of her

in her incubator this morning

our little family

Thank you so much for all of your notes, comments, love, and most importantly prayers. We know that God is hearing and answering prayer and we are so thankful to be able to trust Him!

love,

Grant & Hannah and Ivory Kaye