The Sattler Scoop: "Pink it's my new obsession..."

That line from Aerosmith's song "Pink" has been running through my head a lot this week, and looking at the picture of the beautiful pink bouquets and adorable gifts our loved ones filled my hospital room with you can probably see why.

The past few days have been pretty eventful for our little family. A huge prayer was answered when Miss Casey was taken off of her breathing tube on Wednesday and put on CPAP, which means she has tubes in her nose providing her with continuous oxygen flow. Since she is of the ventilator, we have now heard her sweet cry (I know, ask me in a few months how sweet I still think it is) and since she was already showing the desire to suck, she now has her first pacifier. The doctors have been monitoring her bilirubin count and she has been taken off the phototherapy light for now, although they do expect she will be off and on it for a while. Casey also had and echocardiogram of her heart several days ago and it showed she had had a blood vessel that was open (very common). She received a round of medicine to help close it, and miraculously the results of the scan yesterday showed the medicine was successful. She had a little trouble with her trophic feeding yesterday, and they are hoping that today when they feed her with my milk instead her tummy will handle it better (never thought my prayer requests would include a good poop). When I spoke with the doctor yesterday, he said she is doing "extraordinarily well for her gestational age," which is a true answer to prayer.

Also, I was released from the hospital on Wednesday night, which after two weeks of vacation and only a few very sick days at home before I went into the hospital for a week, I was so ready to sleep in my own bed. So far I am adjusting to taking my blood sugar and giving myself insulin injections pretty well, and my blood sugar levels have been much more in the normal range. Many people have asked what they can specifically pray for, and one of the biggest struggles right now is my eyesight. Not uncommon with a new Diabetes diagnosis, I am finding that my glasses and contacts are no longer the right prescription, making it very difficult both to read and to see long distance. I have an appointment with an Endocrinologist (Diabetes specialist) today, and I am hoping to have a lot more information and answers after I meet with her.

While being out of the hospital does mean we can't just walk downstairs and see Casey as often, we have had some great visits the last couple of days. The nurses have been incredible with letting us bond with her by helping with many of their routines. I have been busy trying to capture all of her cuteness on camera, so I will close with a few of my favorites:

Pretty eyes

They like to teach them young in the NICU about expressing yourself through hand gestures (Sorry I couldn't resist posting this one, it makes me laugh out loud every time I look at it)