43,800 minutes

I can’t believe baby girl has been with us for an entire month already! To say it’s been a whirlwind, is an understatement.

She seemed so fragile when we were taking her home from the NICU, not really knowing what to expect, especially in all that she has been through in her short 4 months of life in the hospital.  Now she seems so much stronger, more vocal, more awake then ever, and makes people fall in love with her, after meeting her for the first time!

She still likes to give us a scare, when she chokes on her saliva.. and the nurse mode comes out of me, and I am like:

1. Sit her up if she is laying down
2. Pat her back to help the secretions flow down
3. Suction, Suction, Suction to give her help, so she won’t have to try to swallow a ton of saliva at one time
4. Reassure her that everything is going to be okay.. just hearing our voice makes her know she is in good hands.
5. Love on her once she has loosened her body, and isn’t so stiff any more, and let her know she can finally relax.

She has had 4 family visits, 5 doctor visits, and 2 visits from CPS.  It’s crazy to me that we have literally spent hundreds(actually over a thousand) miles driving her just in the last month, and taking her to all of her destinations, and we wouldn’t trade it for the world.  Our biggest concern is the unknown future for baby girl. She is supposed to be on the track for adoption.. but the way the legal worker was talking to me on Tuesday after her visit with her parents, sounded to me like he is trying to get mom and dad to better their life, to get baby girl back.  Either way, I know God has already planned out her future, and will place her where and when she needs to be, and that Shane and I shouldn’t worry.. that we should just follow His lead and trust in Him. Sometimes, it’s just hard.

She has transitioned SO well to basically our entire family.  She loves all of our voices, and loves when the kids (little man and Brielle) are playing and running around the house, because she will try to turn her head and look for where the sound is coming from.   I can’t wait to watch their relationships grow and nourish over these next few months.

She has had all 3 of her major appointments this week, and let me just give you a little update.. Her eyes have not changed in the last month (which is great news considering if you read my post here to see what she started out with).  Her pulmonologist appointment went great as well, he doesn’t see anything wrong with her breathing, and very happy she doesn’t have a cough and he did suggest that we get her synergis shots this flu/cold season because if she develops RSV (which you can read about here if you don’t know much about it), she will most likely end up in the hospital on the ventilator, because she isn’t strong enough to fight off an infection. Her developmental specialist actually didn’t assess her this appointment, because her adjusted age (the time she was supposed to be full term) is only 1 month old, so we have to wait until November (she will then be adjusted to 4 months old) to do a full assessment.  The nurse did an amazing job giving me tips and exercises to do (to prevent her from getting stiff joints) and ways to just help her grow (and we also left with 5 cans of formula.. that nurse was seriously amazing!!).  I have already started the exercises, and I can’t wait to watch her soar in the next few months.

We are so very blessed to be able to love on her, and take care of her, and can’t wait to see how much she grows!

©2016 Sheridan Johnson @Journey with the Johnsons. All Rights Reserved.