Team Harper

Harper is officially 47 hours old - only 364 days until her 1st birthday! I take after my mother in my birthday celebrations and, if I have anything to do with it, Harper will follow suit.

We have been happy with the news we've received over the last 47 hours and happy with her progress. The doctors felt good about her starting to feed so Harper ate a bottle yesterday of 30cc's of formula. She had a second bottle 3 hours later but had trouble holding it down so they've given her a feeding tube. Through the tube, she was put on 8 cc's of formula and has been bumped up to 10 1/2 cc's per hour. She's lost some weight and is weighing 6lbs 6oz but team isn't concerned about the loss as this is common in newborns.

They are closely monitoring her feedings since she does have some intestine in her omphalocele. She will continue to be at risk of having a kink in her bowels which would make digestion complicated. She is a HUGE fan of her pacifier and just sucks away. This is good and something we want her to continue since it mimics feeding from a bottle. We were thrilled that she had two poops yesterday! Someday, Jared and I are going to curse the day we celebrated pooping but for now, we're having a pooping party!!! This is also a very good sign for O babies.

We were thrilled to find that I'm producing collostrum which is looking to be a sign that I'll be producing milk in the near future. I had a breast reduction 13 years so the possibility of breast feeding has always been about 50/50. She is on formula and collostrum now and will switch to full breast milk when I'm producing enough. Bet you never thought you'd hear a woman say that she'd be happy to be compared to a cow any day... well, put me on a farm and call me Bessie!

We spoke with Dr. Robertson, Harper's pediatric surgeon yesterday. They are going to continue the "plan" originally discussed. This is to keep Harps in the NICU until skin is completely covering her omphalocele. We were anticipating 6 months but yesterday, he felt this could happen in 6 weeks to 3 months. At birth, skin was already starting to make it's way up the O so we are seeing good progress. After that point, we can take her home with the O covered with skin but still herniated. They will then perform surgery to repair the abdominal wall around 6 months to 1 year. Now, that being said, Jared and I are hesitant to latch on to any timelines. There could always be complications that arise, like infection, or miracles. We know there's a big guy up above in control here and he knows the "plan" better than any of us.

For now, the omphalocele is supported with bands around the base to keep it upright. I've included some pictures below but they are a little graphic so be aware. They will cover the O with gauze and benedyne (sp?) to fight infection every other day. On alternating days, they will leave the O uncovered to help dry out the membranes. The O is currently about the size of a racquetball and is making progress. On an adult, it would be like having a protrusion a little smaller than a volleyball.

We just got some new updates with our 2am pump deposit. Harper came back testing negative for Staff so we can start touching her with bare hands. We've had to gown and glove up each time we visited her but now will just need to sanitize. They also plan to remove her IV today since she finished her last round of antibiotics. They are also working on putting together a more permanent nursing staff for Harper since she had an extended stay. This way she'll have a dedicated staff that know her needs. We've already had a few of our favorites request to be on "Team Harper". Our own little Miss Congeniality!

Harps is a little mellow mushroom. When she does get fussy, she's easily calmed down with her pacifier. She's also very alert. During our morning visit, Jared was on one side and I was on the other. She would look at me when I was talking and when Jared would respond, her eyes would float over in his direction. And this lasted through the entire conversation! Is it too early to start applying to Ivy League? I think not!

We want to thank you all for being on Team Harper too. We know all of the prayers that went up over the last weeks have been heard and God is GOOD! Your visits, calls, texts, messages, etc have meant so much to us. I'm just sorry we haven't gotten back to everyone as timely as we would have liked. Continued prayer requests are for continued eating success, the omphalocele to continue skin growth but also to decrease into her abdomen, a strong defense against infection and guidance for the doctors. Please also continue to keep Baby Lincoln and Baby Reese in your prayers. Reese is a fellow O baby and Harper's neighbor who will under go reparative surgery today.

And lastly, we leave you with the ever important pictures.