Emily is Sick

I just got off the phone with Jen who is in the hospital crying. Emily is sick and Jen is not allowed to hold her. She asked me (Jen Brigid) to post the update.

Yesterday afternoon, the hospital personnel diagnosed Emily with a staph infection after looking at her routine blood tests. Emily is now on antibiotics and has been moved from Room B back into Room A, the more intensive care area of the NICU. Emily is also now off feeds because it takes energy to digest and pass the pumped breastmilk and that energy needs to be conserved in her premie body for fighting this new infection.

Jen is disappointed to see such a significant set-back in Emily's progress. Thankfully, Emily is up to 2 lbs 13 oz and has been progressing so well. After an abrupt weaning like this, however, it takes a while to slowly build up the amount of milk delivered each feeding. They were also beginning to wean Emily from the cannula, but that will no longer be an immediate prospect.

In Jen's words, she just wants Emily to get out of the NICU and come home! She is one sad mommy.

When we ended the call, Jen was waiting to speak with the doctor on duty to get more details about Emily's situation and to appeal the nurse's decision not to let Jen hold Emily. Although the night-shift neonatologist is very sensitive to the parent-infant relationship and supportive of kangaroo care, the day doctor and most of the nurses who Mark and Jen interact with more regularly are less so.

Please pray for healing for Emily, for an absence of further complications, for wisdom and support from the hospital staff, and for strength and comfort for Mark and Jen.