One Day Down....

It's been 26 hours since Alaina got out of surgery and even though she's still in extremely critical condition, she's doing as well as she can be. She was stable all night and her vital signs -- temperature, heart rate, breathing, urinary output, etc. -- are all strong. She's moving around and opens her eyes occasionally so she's alert and active. The two biggest concerns right now are that she has an infection that needs to be treated and that her platelet count (which helps her blood clot) is low. The infection is being addressed with a bunch of really strong antibiotics and her white blood cell count is coming up which is a good sign that the antibiotics are working. A platelet deficiency is normal after surgery since the body is using a lot of them while trying to heal itself so she's been getting platelet transfusions. Her count is now coming up and we're hoping her little body will start to produce them on its own very soon.

DH and I have been with Alaina at Columbia pretty much non-stop since she was transferred there Friday night. Having two babies in NICU's 150 blocks apart isn't going to be easy. My mother came down yesterday and spent some time with Gabrielle so she wouldn't be lonely and DH's mom will be here later this week. Gaby had shown some potential symptoms of NEC a few days ago and the doctors had stopped her feeds and started running X-rays to make sure she didn't have it. So far, everything looks good and she started back on milk yesterday. We stopped in to see her today and she was enjoying a post-lunch nap on her belly and everyone at St. Vincent's is keeping a close eye on her while we're with Alaina.

We're relieved that Alaina seems to be showing signs of improvement but we know there's a long road ahead. We count every hour that goes by and pray that her condition will continue to improve with each one.