The NICU

Luckily Brendon was off work the Monday that Sayde was born, so he was able to take care of the other kids. I dreaded the recovery from a c-section. I am not usually one to sit back and "heal". I asked my OB if I would be able to run in the stake half marathon at the beginning of September and he was not impressed - actually I think he thought I was joking. The good news was that they would allow me to stay at the hospital a little longer than I would have otherwise so I could be close to Sayde. I think Breya's 2 week stay at RUH when she was sick with RSV at 2 weeks of age was to prepare me for our NICU stint with Sayde. We had lots of visitors the first few days and I was very grateful. I went down to US with Sayde for her cranial ultrasound and settled in to our every 3 hour feed times complete with weigh-ins. The results of the cranial ultrasound showed one small periventricular cyst which the pediatrician did not seem too concerned about. He suggested another cranial ultrasound to reassess the cyst in a few weeks and possibly a MRI at Children's down the road. Learning quickly from her mom, Sayde soon became very competitive with the other NICU babies showing them all up by keeping her sats high and her feeds up. After approximately 5 days she finally got rid of her IV. She had 2 bouts of phototherapy for mild jaundice and got to chill in the incubator with her fancy eyemax glasses. After approximately one week she was able to transition from the NICU side of the Special Care Nursery to the Nursery side. A few days later she was able to retire her monitor and a few weeks after that she was able to trial life out of the incubator. This was perhaps our biggest hiccup during our stay as she was still under 4 lbs and had a difficult time regulating her temperature. Perhaps if they turned the air conditioning off, or let her go to the beach she may have done better. She was back in the incubator for the rest of the afternoon and then we gave it another go in her cot. She struggled to keep up her feeds during this period, likely because of all of the energy she was expending to keep warm. We tried to suggest that she go back to the incubator, but the perinatologist seemed convinced that with a onsie, a sleeper, 2 blankets, a quilt, a hat and several warmed towels beside her she was fine. We began to joke that they would send her home in a snowsuit just to make more beds in the NICU. After 48hours of managing her own temperature the pediatrician felt comfortable letting her come home. At 35 1/2 weeks weighing 4lbs 6oz Sayde was able to come home yesterday - August 22. It was a bitter sweet homecoming as the funeral home also called for me to come an pick up the Halle's cremains. The girls came home together. We are so delighted to have little Sayde in our lives. The many prayers and miracles that have brought us to this point have been overwhelming. My hope is that each of you who have joined us on this journey will feel forever touched by our Sayde and that you can feel uplifted by the knowledge that you played a part in this miracle. The Lord works in amazing ways. Like I posted in the beginning - when we found out about Sayde I knew that our lives would never be the same. The increased faith and love in our home is amazing. Although we remain uncertain about the future I am encouraged by the words of President Monson at the last General Conference when he said, "Our future is as bright as our faith." I will continue to post on Sayde's progress as I know she yet has much to offer and many more to inspire.