We didn't plan for this to happen

Again with the stress

This is from September 23, 2007

Cadence is now in her new crib. She looks so cute. They put onesies on her now and she's almost at 5 pounds, so she looks so much better. They took the catheter out of her head, which I am so jubilant about. But then she got sick again. Her intestines are underdeveloped so at times she can't poop. If there's an infection, this can be a sign of a condition called NEC, which can be life threatening or cause her to have to have a colostomy bag for several years of her life. Luckily there was no infection and she is doing fine today.

The eye doctor examines her once a week and she has ROP in her eye. Sometimes it can clear up on its own as she develops, but sometimes it can cause blindness. They watch her eyes very closely, and she might have to have laser surgery if it worsens. (Stevie Wonder was a preemie who had ROP, which is why he is blind.) She has another exam on Tuesday, so we'll see what happens.

It's hard being at the hospital every day. Not just because I worry so much about Cadence, but because of the other sick babies. Since Cadence came to the hospital, two of the babies have died, one right next to us. There's another baby that's on life support and the parents have been given the option of unplugging it. They haven't made up their mind yet, so I hope I'm far away from the hospital when all that goes down. A few days ago they were performing surgery on the baby and the mom broke down so badly that the doc asked her to wait in the lobby. It's difficult seeing all the pain and the heartache and the stress.