For the first time, Aria looked like the preemie that she is today. She has been struggling with excess fluid problems since birth which is what makes her appear to be just a normal chubby baby, and so her swelling fluctuates day to day. She had almost no swelling today so we were able to see how small she actually is. They weigh her every day too, and in the course of her life so far she has has weighed a full pound more - meaning that she was carrying a full pound of fluid!! Today she was back down to 5 1/2 lbs which is about where she's supposed to be. She looked so scrawny though - when I walked into the NICU today I kind of did a double take and said to Michael, "is this our baby??" and looked around wondering if they had switched her spot or something.
I wanted to go into more details about all her medical problems, but it's too exhausting. Instead let me summarize what life has been like for Aria so far, hospital-wise. My sweet baby girl has put up with:
- the full course of life-saving measures within hours of being born when she was "coding" - meaning resuscitation, epinephrine to her heart, a breathing ventilator, a feeding tube, a million medications to control her blood pressure and every single other system in her body, etc
- so many xrays that I've lost count
- a partial blood transfusion
- multiple EEGs on her brain
- an MRI of her brain and one of her body fluids
- a continuous PICC line in her leg to administer ongoing medications
- a feeding tube
- a spinal tap
- CT scan of her body
- being intubated with a ventilator (twice - tried nose tubes for a couple days but it was no good)
- a tube that is run through her umbilical cord so that they don't have to prick her every time they need blood drawn, which is multiple times a day
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