God's Lil' Miracles

Braylin Jae Percifull. A miracle from God. We've prayed and hoped and prayed and waited, and now she's here. It's unbelievable...

 my daughter is here. SHE'S HERE! Thank you, Lord.



A Miracle.





Miss Braylin continues to do so well in NICU. Today was a BIG day because she finally got to have her bubble Cpap removed. OH, what a relief. It's hard to see such a tiny little thing covered with "head gear" and wires. The most exciting part of it was that Jared and I got to see her WHOLE face for the first time with nothing covering her up. She's beautiful. Actually she's more beautiful than I had thought-- there isn't a word to describe her enchanting beauty. She's perfect. 



First time to show us her little face.
She's gorgeous.
Now it's just time to put some "chunk" in those cheeks.



It felt so good to look at her and see her bare face. She even opened her little eyes for us and just stared up with a most content look. While her box top was open,  I got really close to her face and talked to her. She stared up and just listened. It may have been an involuntary movement, but she smiled the biggest preemie smile I've ever seen. That's my little girl!!!  WOW! Nothing has ever made my heart flutter like it did in that moment.  Jared took her temperature and I changed her diaper-- which could be a whole funny story in itself! ha ha ha! Let's just say as I was in the middle of changing... she wasn't quite done with her business. Jared was not impressed with the whole dirty diaper thing. He's got quite a thing comin' if he thinks he's never going to change dirty diapers. ha! ha!

Bray's Neonatologist called me before our visit today and gave us the update. He thinks she can probably continue to do without her bubble cpap. Worst case scenario is that she does need a little help breathing again and they have to put it back on. She also had her IV in her tummy taken out yesterday. She now relies solely on my milk for nutrition! Boy, that makes me a proud momma. I work hard every 3 hours, day/night to pump that little one's food. Her little digestive system has really worked hard and handling her food increase. She's eating, poopin, and sleepin just like a baby should! She has also gained almost 6 ounces since birth. And we thought she was going to LOSE weight first. Eat, poop, sleep, gain weight...That's something to celebrate!!!

Braylin got in trouble for the first time in NICU the other day--- she LOVES her pacifier aka "bink". She goes to town on her bink. But the other day she was so focused on sucking that thing, that she forgot to breath. So now she's grounded from her bink. This is typical of preemies. They are not yet coordinated enough to breath and suck and do everything else they are supposed to do. One step at a time, Braylin Jae!

Hopefully in the next few weeks, if she's doing so well we can start to try bottle feeding and maybe breast feeding. So we will see how she does and if her coordination matures by then.

We are so proud of Braylin's progress, but we must also remember she is a preemie baby, and very small at that. Blood tests have shown that her red blood cell count is low. We are hoping that her Iron supplements will raise her blood count so that we can avoid a blood transfusion. If necessary they will give her about 3 teaspoons of blood to help her little body with it's blood count. Of course there are risks involved just like everything else. They will have to do what they have to do, but we are praying that her added iron will do the job for her and we can avoid the whole gettin' blood thing. PRAYERS!

The doctor also has to keep watch on her brain and possible bleeding. This is also common with preemies, and because Braylin was getting poor blood flow in utero, her risks for damage on the brain are a little higher. They will be doing an ultra sound ever week or so to keep close watch on changes. Before we are allowed to go home, they will actually do an MRI (better picture) to check on her brain and any bleeding. Right now there is a small amount of bleeding, but not enough to be of great concern.  If there is damage,  it could be as a minor as ADHD, learning disability, or as severe as cerebral palsy.  These are all risks not guarantees. Baby Braylin needs lots of prayers and we know she's getting them. (she's a blessed little girl).

Until her "release", Jared and I visit her everyday. We continue to get to do Kangaroo Care, which is skin to skin holding. I've researched this on the Internet, and people swear that it makes a huge difference in preemies. Besides that, I just love to hold my precious baby.  Anything to suffice my heart until the next day.  I usually call at night before bed to "tuck her in bed" and myself for that matter. The nurses are awesome about giving updates and welcoming late night calls to see how things are. Still isn't as good as me getting to tuck her in myself. Oh, its so hard. One of the hardest things I've ever had to do.  I try to stay positive and give Jared a break from my wild emotions... but sometimes it's just not that easy.  It won't be OK until she comes home to my arms.

God is working. We feel his arms surrounding our little family. We've already seen the power of prayer take action to get this little one here.

Thank you for your continued prayers for Braylin's strength and health.

PICTURES FROM THE WEEK:



Kangaroo Care
Bray is under all of those blankets... very, very warm.



Holdin' Daddy's hand.



She likes to be 'blanketed' and really
likes to hear her Momma's voice.