Been a crazy and long week!

Gracie started a little cough last Saturday. We didn't think much about it until Sunday because it went from every couple of hours to a couple times each hour. I could tell that she was having a hard time breathing and sounded congested. We called the pediatricians office and they said to take her to Vanderbilt just to get checked out. They said that she had a viral chest cold and it would have to run it's course. They did a chest x-ray to make sure it wasn't the beginning of pneumonia and the x-ray showed that the lungs were clear but it did reveal a mass in the chest cavity that they said could be a hernia or a hemangioma but imposed no immediate threat and they decided there was no reason to keep us and let us go home. We took her to the doctor the next morning to follow up with him. He agreed on the chest cold and said he would monitor her for the next couple of days. We got home about lunch time and Gracie went to sleep. Finally around 6:00 Ryan woke her up cause we knew she needed to eat. Her diaper was dry and she wouldn't eat. You could just tell she felt really bad. We once again called the doctor and he said that we needed to admit her to the hospital for dehydration. Back to Vanderbilt we went at 8:00 monday night. They didn't have any rooms open on the floor so we spent the first 24 hours in the ER. That was horrible. Ryan and I slept on the floor until they found us a single gurney to share. They did a chest C.T. Tuesday to see exactly what the chest mass was and it turned out that it wasn't a big hemangioma but several small ones that shadowed and looked like one big on x-ray. Tuesday night they moved us to the 7th floor in a regular room. What a difference location means. Gracie's breathing was getting better by this time and she was finally starting to eat more. On Wednesday Gracie was showing signs of the cold going away. They discharged us that night, we were happy to go home. I took Gracie back to the doctor today for him to re-check her. He said her lungs sound much better and she had gained 10 ozs since Monday, so that tells us that she is getting enough fluids. She weighs 8lb 6ozs. She still is a little congested and coughs a little but hopefully it will be gone by the end of the weekend. Thank you for the prayers!

Please Pray!!

Gracie had her liver ultrasounded yesterday at Vanderbilt. Dr. Ervin called last night with the results. She has some hemagiomas on her liver. We do not know how serious this is right now. The specialist is out-of-town but Dr. Ervin is going to try an reach him to discuss what to do next. This is something we have feared could happen due to the high number of external ones. I will try to post more information as we get it, but please pray for us! The power of prayer has brought us this far!

weight update

Gracie went to the doctor on Friday, and she now weighs 7lbs 6ozs. She has manage to keep growing at close to the same rate as what she would have done in the womb which is pretty rare.
She is eating about 3 ounces at a feeding. She is alot more alert during the day and has learned how to work her lungs really good crying. She can focus on your face when you are talking to her and follows the sound of your voice. We are very happy with her development. She goes to Vanderbilt on the 13th to have another ultrasound to re-check for internal hemangiomas.

Okay, so I'm a little behind on posting. Gracie went for a check-up last Tuesday and she weighed 6lb 12oz! We couldn't believe it! We thought she was around 6lbs, little did we know she is closer to 7lb. She goes back tommorow for her two week check and we'll see what she has gained in 10 days. She finally out-grew the preemie clothes and is wearing newborn size. I will try to post after her appt and let everyone know what she weighs.