Update Saturday

I just spoke with Jen and Mark on the phone and things seem to be going well. Jen is up and walking a bit already. Leaving her room on the seventh floor to visit Emily on the 8th floor, however, is exhausting and taxing on her recovering body. (Why, oh why, do they keep the postpartum rooms on a separate floor!?)

Emily had a great first night with no "events": her breathing, oxygen saturation, heart rate, and body temperature all stayed steady and strong. Her breathing was mostly unassisted though the pressurized nose feed remains attached for the time being.

Later, unfortunately, the NICU staff had difficulty inserting an IV line yesterday and that stressed Emily out. They had to make several tries and redos stretching over a few hours! As a result, Emily had some "desaturation" episodes, meaning her oxygen levels fell a few times last night.

On the flip side, having the IV set is one step to closer to removing the umbilical line so that Mark and Jen can cuddle with Emily for some mutually needed and desired skin-to-skin "Kangaroo" time. The nurse told Jen that they might be able to remove the belly line latter today. Hopefully, that means Jen can soon implement her idea of setting up her lawn chair in the NICU to relax with her little one against her chest.

The planned baptism had to be rescheduled because of the extended IV procedure and complications that were keeping Emily and the NICU staff occupied. The new plan is to have the sacrament performed tomorrow afternoon.