12/23 - Thank God

Yesterday we were still thanking Santa, but today we are going straight to God :)

This morning Leo had an eye appointment with a pediatric opthamologist. We were very fearful that they would tell us Leo is blind. Terry even drove up here this morning because I wasn't sure I could handle the bad news on my own. She looked at him for about 15 min and the first words out of her mouth were looks good!.........followed by our huge smiles. She said the inside of Leo's eyes and the nerves behind them look good. She also said he responded properly to the testing she did.  Collectively with neurology, we do think he has trouble controlling his eye movement and doesn't move them from side to side properly, but most newborns don't track so we have to wait and see.  It sounds like if he does have problems with the muscle movements, there are different treatments to help him. I'm in a facebook group for kids with cerebellum hypoplasia and most of the little ones wear glasses.

Yesterday Leo's total chest tube fluid out put was only 1ML (compared to 89ML the day before) so we were feeling really good about our decision to not do the central line. Well since 7:00am he has had 13ML as of 2:30.  I'm worried we might still end up with the central line, but I'm hoping not! They are doing another chest x-ray at 6:00pm to see if they find any fluid build up. He is still breathing like a champ! Mom and I are attending CPR class tonight at 6:00 so we won't get the results right away.

Today I'm also feeling very thankful for our jobs at State Farm and FMLA laws. Today marks Leo's 6th week of life and that means my paid sick leave ends. A lot of moms here have to go back to work at 6 weeks to keep up their benefits. Even before we knew Leo would spend time in the NICU, I had already arranged to be gone from work for 13 weeks. Luckily Illinois has laws allowing for up to 12 weeks of family bonding and State Farm is awesome about working with employees to maximize their benefits. My heart breaks for moms here who have to work all day and then try to find time to spend with their precious little ones. Thank you so much to all of our coworkers at State Farm who have been so kind to take care of everything while we are taking care of our little guy. This would be so much harder if we did not have the awesome support at work.

We would also like to send out a special thank you to Aunt Susie and Brandy. They came up this weekend and spent a ton of quality time with Sammie. She had a blast and created Christmas memories that Terry and I just haven't been able to give her this year. xoxo for special Aunts!! (They also sent me some super cute pics to share, but I can't get them off my phone.....maybe Terry will upload?).