Dear family and friends,
As I sat and enjoyed Eliza this morning, portions of 1 Corinthians 13 ran through my head: "now we know in part, then in full"; "now we see but a dim reflection, then face to face." Our rich experience of God's goodness, the abundance of His love shown at the cross. These are only partial and dim compared to what "no eye has seen nor ear heard nor mind imagined." Come, Lord Jesus. Let us repent and give Him the glory due His name.
Eliza has had a very rough 24 hours. She slept very little last night and not much more through the day today. This appears to be the result of a change in her feeding schedule. Eliza had been receiving continuous feeds. In other words, there was a constant flow of breastmilk (with formula mixed in to increase the calories) going through the tube that goes through Eliza's nose and empties in her stomach. Over this week, the doctors have gradually adjusted this plan so that, as of yesterday (Friday), Eliza was receiving one hour of feeding, then two hours off. Eliza's stomach could not handle the volume, so she began showing signs of discomfort and reflux, including voluminous spit-ups. After a day of trying to let her digestive system work this out, we have returned to square one. Starting tonight, Eliza will go back to continuous feeds, and the nurses will not mix in the formula, in case that has caused irritation. The next step will depend on how Eliza does.
No doubt some of Eliza's discomfort came by way of the EEG (brain wave detector) machine whose electrodes were glued to Eliza's head for 18 hours. Thankfully, the EEG showed no seizure activity. As Eliza's first doctor insisted, this could not happen without a miracle. Jesus is Lord.
In breathing news, Eliza's lungs continue to strengthen. She remains on the nasal cannula but
without much oxygen support flowing through it. The plan remains for her to go home with it, mostly because it helps her lungs stay inflated.
Luke has recently become quite interested in the baby doll granma 'cinda (Sam's mom) gave him quite some time ago. Daniele has been teaching him how to swaddle his baby. We trust God is preparing him for Eliza's imminent homecoming!
Love,
dixie jax
