Isabella is now in the NICU at Manatee Memorial

Sweet little Bella.



The ambulance came and picked her up from Sarasota Memorial on 10/7/08. She was 5 days old and taking her first car ride in an ambulance. All three of us met her up at the hospital at 11:00 pm. She slept the entire ride (hopefully she will always enjoy the car) and when they pulled her out of the incubator, it was the first time we had seen her without tuber and wires attached to her. She looked so tiny in the paramedics arms! The nurse that was there, Ruth was an absolute God send. Her daughter was born with her stomach, liver and intestines on the outside of her body and she had to spend the first year of her life in the NICU. To have someone stand there and say "I know exactly what your going through" and mean it...priceless.




I was not thrilled about her going to MMH, Sarasota has the best NICU in our area, but this way I am able to see her more often. Sarasota Memorial is about a 45 minute drive and it takes about 10 to get to Manatee Memorial. Plus, they allow siblings to visit as well. At SMH AJ was only allowed to see her 15 minutes twice a week. The staff seem to be nice and most of the girls seem to really love Bella, so I stopped freaking out about it and was able to focus on what is really important - her health.

Nana visiting Bella

Her weight is back up to 4lbs 14 oz. She dropped some, but is now back where she started. Yesterday her Billy level was 9.4, this morning her Billy level was 10.4 ~ she has been off the light since yesterday morning, so it is normal to have a little regression. She had a Brady yesterday morning about 4:30 and was unable to revive herself from it. The nurse cam over and woke her up, which reminded her to do what she is supposed to do. The Dr. has been giving her caffeine for about a week to help stop the Bradys, and tomorrow the caffeine will stop. She has to be off caffeine and not have one single episode for 7 days before they will consider sending her home. We are hoping and praying this will happen, but my gut instinct says she won't be ready. It's all up to her ~ we'll see how she does.

Cool enough for crooked pinkies!

So pray for our girl, that she will come home healthy and quickly.