Eadlyn Hope

Thursday Evening ~ November 21st

Eadlyn's Big Girl Bed

Eadlyn graduated to the open crib at the hospital. No more IV's, medicine, or breathing equipment! The only thing keeping us at the hospital is her ability to nurse for 24 hours without help through her feeding tube. She still gets tuckered out pretty easily, but we're counting down these last few days. In the mean time, we'll hold her and rock her until we leave!!!

Lovin' on Eadlyn

Eadlyn Update

Eadlyn is making great improvements! The doctors are very pleased and says she is going great. She is now "eating" through her feeding tube and doing very well with that. Her lungs are much more clear, not perfect yet. Her infection #'s are lower than ever (started at 14 now at 4 and normal is 0.2). Her heart is still enlarged and she still has some pulmonary hypertension to grow out of. The doctor stresses that the hardest part will be teaching her to drink from a bottle or nurse because her mouth has had a lot of negative experiences with the tubes and she'll have to relearn that it's a positive thing. I asked when a projected time might be to go home and the doctor said it would take a miracle to be home by Thanksgiving, but maybe soon after. Nathan and I both said we believe in those miracles and she said she did too. So we'll continue to pray for her strength and health. Continue to pray for our little girl!

Visitors

Cousin Claire, Evan and Elise playing in the children's waiting room.

Aunt Brandy brought Elise and Evan up to visit on Thursday. It was a much needed visit for Mom and Dad! Emma was in school and cannot wait to see Eadlyn, but the NICU is closed to visitors under 14 yrs. so she decided she'd wait a while before coming up.

Proud Sister

Elise and Claire look through the nursery at Western Baptist right after Eadlyn was born. She was sooo proud!

Eadlyn's Story

Eadlyn arrived at 36 weeks and has had quite a start. After a doctor's appointment, it was decided that it was best to deliver this little girl with the knowledge that things might be a little difficult. My appointment showed too many negative signs to allow any risk of continuing the pregnancy and Eadlyn. After 7 hours of labor, Eadlyn was born at 9:12pm and was immediately taken to the nursery for assessment. After an hour it was decided that she was going to need to be sent to the NICU at St. Frances Hospital in Cape Girardeau, IL. By 2 am the "flight team" was there and whisked her away. I did get to kiss her goodbye and her daddy was right behind her on his way to meet her at the hospital when she arrived. I was released the next morning to go to the hospital to be with her.

She has immature lungs, pulmonary hypertension, and an infection in her lungs. After several scary setbacks, today (Nov. 15) she is still critical yet stable and the doctor has great confidence in a full recovery. While she is very sick, she is tough and holding her own today. We have been told up to 4 weeks stay. Her sisters and brother are ready to see her and we miss them very much. This has been a heart wrenching week yet we are truly blessed to add this beautiful baby girl to our family.

We cannot express how much the prayers for Eadlyn and our family have and do mean to us! God has blessed us with such wonderful friends, family, and even strangers showing acts of kindness and lifting our baby girl up to our Father. Please continue to pray and we will keep you posted.

Love ~ Crystal

Welcome Eadlyn Hope

Eadlyn Hope Joyce

November 10, 2008 ~ 9:12 p.m

8 lbs 2 oz ~ 19 1/2 inches

Waiting for Little Sister

Pumpkin Art

The "Thinker" studies her pumpkin art. Emma has been selected for the Gifted and Talented Art Program at school and her first session was to carve her pumpkin. She got to go to the middle school for the day and she loved it.