26 weeks old

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been a while since our last post. Lauren is still holding stable, which is great. She is no longer under the phototherapy lights as of this morning. Her blood sugars continue to fluctuate so she is still on insulin. She occasionally does forget that she needs to breathe and needs a bit of stimulation from the nurses, but we are told that this is quite "normal" for a premie of her age. She really likes to be swaddled in her warmer and whines when she isn't all wrapped up. This morning, the nurse unwrapped her so we could hold her hands. It was so nice to be able to actually touch our daughter. She's got quite the little grasp! She did lose her temperature fairly quickly so we covered her back to be more comfortable. It was also nice to be able to really get a good look at her. She had an ultrasound of her brain yesterday which did show a slight brain bleed on the left side. A grade I for anyone who's interested. It could be much worse and we are thankful for that. We were told that 40%-90% of premies have brain bleeds so it does seem to happen more often than not. The bleeding should be reabsorbed by the body and hopefully will not require any interventions. They will do a follow up scan in about 10 days. Lauren is such a little fighter and we are both so amazed that we brought this little life into the world.

I am hopefully going home tomorrow as long as the doctors feel I am stable enough. It will be very hard leaving the hospital without our baby, but we know she is getting the very best care possible. Thank you all for well wishes, flowers, etc. We really do appreciate it.