Reason to Celebrate!

Today is a FABULOUS day! I couldn't wipe the smile off my face and it just kept getting better! I needed one of these kind of days!

Mallory has finally figured out and has become a pro at nursing! She loves it and does really well with it. She nursed today for about an hour and I finally had to cut her off. She is such a show off! Dr. Walker came in today and said to tap her head, but only pull off a very small amount instead of their usual 30 MLs. It has been a week now since she has been tapped and she is not showing any signs of being effected by her head. That is so amazing! You can't help, but know that the Lord hears and answers prayers! That is the only reason my little girl is not recovering from a shunt surgery right now! Dr. Walker thinks that she should resolve this on her own and not need the surgery.

Tomorrow our plan is that I will go in at 8:30am for Mallory's first feeding. Then feed her again at 2:30pm and 8:30pm. This will be 3 of her 4 full feedings. She is always really good about taking a full bottle in the middle of the night. We will do this for 2 days. If it all goes as planned and she does full feedings for both days on all 4 of the by mouth feedings she will go up to 6 feedings. After a few days of this they move her to ad lib feeding. This just means that she will decide when she wants to eat. Whenever she is hungry, if it is every 2 hours or every 4 she will be on her own schedule. At the end of 2 days of ad lib, if she has gained weight she goes home!! We will continue to pray for her to be able to do all of this so she can get home with me, then her brother can follow soon after.

Dawson is doing sooooooo good. Today they called me over at the U just to tell me that he pooped! It is amazing what can cause a lot of cheering among all of the nurses in the NICU! Last night when I left Dawson was really struggling with his feedings. The doctor had told me that he had pooped, but I was later told that he hadn't yet. Yesterday nothing was moving through, but they kept trying. Now he is at 12 MLs and moving up every 3 hours and he is pooping!! What a blessing! They did a CT scan on his head and Dr. Walker said that he would go and look at it. I think they should just tap him then they should send him over to the U ASAP. That will be such a relief to me!

Dawson will soon be in an open crib, and I will start nursing him tomorrow, we hope. Then he just has to go through all the same feeding stuff I just mentioned above about Mallory and he will come home too! I can't wait!

I am so amazed and really humbled by the miracles and blessings that we have witnessed through this whole experience! I can never deny the power of prayer or the Priesthood! We are so blessed to have the Priesthood restored to the earth! It has saved my babies lives and my sanity :)

We love you all! Love, The Lindstroms