out of the valley

I just wanted to update y'all on Aubrey Sue. This will have to be a short post, but I hope to write longer when I have more time on my hands. We induced on Tuesday morning and had a very quick delivery. She was born at 9:52--eight pounds, five ounces--with a huge mop of hair! We saw her once, then they cleaned her up and brought her back to us--Tuan and I were just smitten. She was pretty un-mussed--no cone head or swollen face like dear Johnny.
We kept her with us until around nine and very reluctantly sent her to the nursery so we could get some sleep. She was supposed to come back at eleven to eat, but the nurse woke us up and said that she had spit up some fluid and they were going to watch her overnight. It was worrying, but we went on to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night, the nurse practitioner came in and told me something--I was so fuzzy headed from pain medicine I couldn't comprehend it, but they were going to be watching Aubrey. When we woke up, Tuan called and we found out she'd been put in the NICU, was on oxygen and they weren't sure exactly what was wrong, but she wasn't breathing well on her own.
We went to the NICU to visit her--what a beginning to a very difficult time! She was in an incubator, being monitored and had a little oxygen tube in her nose. The neonatologist offered us some reasons why she wasn't doing well, but there was no certain diagnosis. That was hard. Knowing what's wrong is so much easier than not! Later that day, she had to be put on forced oxygen--they had a different kind of tube that was making her lungs expand. As the day wore on, we couldn't stimulate then we couldn't even touch her. It was just one of the hardest times of my life! They gave her a drug to help her lungs mature and did an echo cardiogram, and had her on antibiotics. It was crazy. That night, the nurse began weaning her off of oxygen--so exciting!
Thursday morning, we woke up to hear that she was doing better--still no diagnosis. The doctor did say we could touch her--can't tell you how much that helped. So, we visited the NICU and I was able to sit and hold her hand before we left.
Thursday night, the nurse called and said she was off of oxygen completely!! What joy. They also began feeding her.
This morning, we visited and she was doing very well--no aids, everything looked good. Tonight, we went back and were able to hold her and I got to give her a bottle. This meant so much. We are hoping to bring her home Sunday!
All these details are fuzzy, because I spent most of the time crying uncontrollably while Tuan handled things. Still, we are out of the valley and on our way up the mountain. I am thankful for all who knew about this and prayed for us. We didn't have the internet at the hospital so I couldn't post or e-mail. Y'all please continue to pray for us--and give thanks, too! We are so grateful to God for his grace in all of this. I'll update and let folks know what's going on. It's been a time of growth for sure.