and update on Mercy

It's been a few days now since I've updated. First my two oldest girls left this afternoon. One for Texas the other for Wyoming. This will leave me alone with the four youngest children. The Doctor looked over Mercy's EEGs and is concerned about the amount of seizure activity she is having. As soon as she opens her eyes she begins to have seizures. They are also putting her back on the video EEG so that means I will not get to hold her again:-( She is taking 100 mg of Keppra and phenobarbitol. I will call them back tonight or tomorrow morning to see if there has been any improvement in her seizure activity. On an upside she is totally off her oxygen, and does not even need supplemental oxygen. She is off all IV fluids as well. She seems to be remaining stable at keeping her oxygen levels up as well. So far. They wanted to start working with her to get her to strengthen her gag reflex but have postponed that until the seizure activity is better controlled. Please pray for baby Mercy!

just a post

I spent the whole afternoon with Mercy yesterday. I held her the whole time:-) She is still being fed by tube. She was hooked to the EEG (traditional one not video). They have her on Keppra for her seizures. However she still had a couple of them while I was there. She is also having "crying jags" where she will cry, and cry and her face gets red, but then she quiets and goes back to sleep. She did this a few times yesterday. I don't really have anything new to share on her condition. I do have the most recent pictures though. She is up to full feedings by tube. Mainly because her gag reflex is not strong enough yet. I went to church this morning, and did it feel good to be there. When they started singing th first hymn I suddenly got very emotional and had to run out and I went into the school room and grabbed a kleenex. I was able to compose myself rather quickly and go back into the service. I was fine after that. I know it's just a combination of hormones and stress. Oh they also had Mercy on Valium but they changed it to atavan. This is used to keep her calm. I am not sure I will make it down there today, but I do plan to call and have steve and the girls take milk to her. I don't know what to expect in the days to come but take peace in the One who holds the future. Until another time.

update on Mercy

The 24 hour EEG showed thay baby Mercy has started having seizures. The nurse said sometimes babies start having them when the injured parts of the brain begin to heal. Either way they are trying to find meds and dosages to control them right now. She had a seizure in her sisters arms lastnight, but it was only a minute (if that). I plan to spend the afternoon down there today.

Here are the current pictures of Mercy. There is also a picture of all her sisters and her niece.

announcement

I first of all want to announce that I didn't fall off the planet. I went into labor on Saturday afternoon. I had been feeling very contract-y Friday night and Saturday morning. The labor went well after arriving around 4 pm at the hospital, however the pushing time was very long. I pushed about an hour and ahalf which has NEVER happened before. I usually only push 5-6 times and the baby comes out. Our baby Mercy Rain arrived at 9:02 PM after a face first presentation...ugh!! She was beautiful pink and looked great as she did all through the labor. However little Mercy would not take her first breath. She wouldn't cry or anything. The doctors began working on her and they worked on her for over and hour, and finally decided to ventilate her, and she was then air lifted to a hospital in a neighboring town. She is currently in the NICU there, she began breathing at 9:30 am Sunday. She is currently exhibiting some concerning characteristics such as flailing, and such which could indicate seizures. They did an MRI this morning, but we won't know the results until sometime tomorrow (maybe). While we were there today visiting they hooked her up to a video EEG and she will be on that for 24 hours. Mercy weighed 8pounds and 8 ounces and is 21 inches long.

I also wanted to share with you that they have started giving her 35 cc of breast milk now, up from 25. She does not have a ventilator but is still on supplemental oxygen. She is also still being fed by tube. Please pray for baby Mercy.

still here

well.....my due date (yesterday) came and went. Still no baby. My doctor wants to induce Thursday morning, but we are planning to cancel. 2 days past ones due date is no reason to induce. I get lots of contractions but nothing doing any good I guess. If there is still no baby next Thursday we will most likely go with an induction, Id really like to avoid this like the plague if possible. There are many things I can do now to avoid it.

We have been hanging out at home alot, maybe a little more than we would like to. Our front room will have flooring in the next couple of weeks. We went Monday night and picked some out at our local outlet store. It is a nice wood grain look linoleum. Hopefully my pokey slow husband will get moving on the rest of the room in the meantime.

We still have not started homeschool for the year, as I really don't have a place to do it because of construction and new baby preparations.

I am having Emily doing the grocery shopping these days, and many other things as well. It's just easier for her than it is for me.

I am hoping that next week at this time we will be holding our wee-one in our arms, and visiting with our Jessica at the same time. She is due to come home within days after the baby's birth. We haven't seen her since the end of June so it will be a welcome visit, although probably not long enough:-)

We pray God will bring forth our little one safely, and without event.

Until another time.