Happy One Week Birthday, Harper!

We had another great day today! Harper continued to improve on her feedings through the night and the first feeding of the day today, she sucked the whole bottle down! She ate all of her bottles at all of her feedings today. Looks like she finally got the hang of it.

So the big news of the day is: WE'RE GOING HOME!!!

We have a few more things to wrap up in the NICU and we have to wait on the medical supply company to deliver her pulse oximeter monitor that she'll have to be on, but once those things are done, we'll be able to head home.

I am SO excited to have Harper all to myself. I'm so excited to be back home with my boys where I belong. I'm so excited to see my husband every single day. And I am SO SO SO excited for Eli and Landon to meet their little sister. I know they are going to adore her.

I took pictures of Eli and Landon to the hospital today to show Harper. I'm pretty sure she is going to like her brothers as well.


But with the good news, came some sobering news that was a harsh reminder that this isn't the end of life at the hospital, but merely the beginning. Harper's oxygen saturation is constantly being monitored in the NICU. This is the amount of oxygen being carried through her blood. It is measured in percents with 100% being perfect. Most healthy babies measure 99-100%. When Harper was born, her oxygen levels were that high, but over the course of the last week, they have slowly declined and now her levels are between 88%-92% and she drops down to the low 80's quite often.

 I asked the doctor about it and his explanation was this:

Harper is in a constant state of heart failure. It will gradually get worse and worse. She will start breathing more rapidly and labored, she will not grow very well, her oxygen saturation will continue to drop, and she will have to work harder and harder to eat as she grows weaker and weaker.

It was so hard to hear.

It's just that Harper looks so perfect and she's been doing so well this week that I almost forgot the big picture. Harper's heart is very sick and she will need surgery. I just can't stand the thought of my precious baby suffering like that. But I certainly don't want her heart to struggle either. And I know that just as God has brought us this far...He will be with us through the trying times ahead. He knows Harper and He loves her. He will take care of her and He will take care of us. And some day soon, my sweet baby girl will have a good heart and she'll be healthy and active, just like she is supposed to be.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy every single moment of the next few days, weeks, and months until we are back here for round two. We have been so very blessed and are thankful that we are going home so much sooner than we thought possible.

Please keep praying for little Harper. We'll see the cardiologist twice a week until he decides it is time for the surgery. I'm praying that Harper can stay stable until she can gain weight and strength, so that we are in the best possible circumstances going into surgery.

I can't wait to post a video of Eli and Landon with Harper for the first time! Stay tuned for what is sure to be nothing short of chaos as I begin life with three kids under the age of three.