ONE MORE DAY WON'T HURT

Lauren has been feeding again for the past few days and I had huge hopes for her weigh in this morning, but it turns out that she has lost some more weight. Her loss is no longer because of her heart burning a massive number of calories like it was before, but because feeding is tiring for her and the stress of the past few weeks have made it harder for me to feed her.

The doctors were hoping to get rid of us tomorrow but they have decided to keep us until Sunday to see if she can gain some weight. I think it is just so that they can get some more smiles out of Lauren.

Lauren has become an amazing survival story for the nurses and doctors here. Many of them had heard of her during their rounds over the past few weeks and they are amazed when they come into her room and are greeted with squeals of delight and smiles of joy. I don't know if we fully understood the likelihood of complications in her procedures and being on the ECMO bypass machine but some of the nurses have alluded to how unlikely her amazing recovery has been. What confirmation of God's miraculous work in her little body!

We are so proud of our little girl. We are also so proud of the hundreds of people - family, friends, and strangers even - who have seen our distress and supported us in any way possible. I really feel like Lauren isn't only our child with the way that she has been embraced in the hearts of so many other people. If anyone has ever wondered where the good people in this world are, I can show them that they are surrounding us right now. The kindness of so many people has been a life preserver that I have clung to every day through this ordeal.

Over the next few days, Matt and I will continue to learn more about how to care for Lauren when we go home and what we can do to help her heart recover. It will be nice to be home as a family again. There will be a lot for us to adjust to emotionally as well. I find that I have started reeling from the shock of the past few weeks now that I have a moment to catch my breath. I know that Lauren won't be the only one who will have to recover from this. We can do it together.