Life in the NICU is … wonderful.

I know the NICU is the last place a mother wants her baby to be in but God continues to bless Little Bug.

I know life right now could be a whole lot worse and life in the NICU is just fine with me.

Little Bug continues to do wonderfully. I tell every nurse we have that tons of people are praying for Little Bug.

I’d say today has been Little Bug’s best day. You know we were told from Day 1 in the NICU that the best thing for Little Bug is to get her on a routine because babies like her thrive on routine while going through withdrawals. (I’m a firm believer that babies and children in general thrive off structure and routine so this made total sense to me.)

Today I arrived at the hospital around 11am (Dave worked half a day today). I gave Little Bug her 11:30am feeding, held and snuggled with her for a little bit, changed her diaper, swaddled her back up and placed her back in her isolate where she slept until her 3:30pm feeding!

Daddy gave Little Bug her 3:30pm feeding and then I followed the same routine as before and we just left Little Bug sleeping. There are to be no visitors in the NICU during 6:30pm – 7:30pm while the staff undergoes shift change.

During that hour we run home and eat dinner. We will go back around 8pm. Little Bug is going to meet her Uncle Wesley (my brother) for the first time tonight!

Because Little Bug has stayed so calm and has been able to get plenty of rest all her scores have been low (between 3’s and 5’s) – EXCELLENT!!

While a stay in the NICU was certainly not my plan, I must focus on the positives. Little Bug has been in the best place possible as she has gone through what little withdrawals she has gone through. She is already on a feeding/sleeping schedule that will hopefully somewhat continue once coming home. And we have been able to see yet another miracle performed through the life of Little Bug in that she is doing remarkably well.

God’s faithfulness endures forever and ever. The NICU stay is no exception.

Little Bug’s arms were like this when I got to the hospital this morning! This shows her arms are relaxing and are not so tight! Her muscle tone is improving! Keep up the prayers!

Holding my baby girl wrapped in the Faith Blanket her Grandma made her.

Little Bug has a big sucking reflex due to withdrawals. However, typically the passy soothes her and then it falls out and she could care less! I am so happy about that because I wasn’t too excited about her getting hooked on a passy. Here you can see her using her passy as a pillow.

Keep praying for Little Bug’s recovery! She must stay in the hospital a minimum of 7 complete days. I was told by her nurse today that if she continues to do this well we may get to bring her home on Wednesday!

There is no doubt in my mind Little Bug is doing so well because masses of people continue to pray. Thank you so much.

- Elaine