5/17 update

As you can see Carissa celebrated her first month alive with a nice nap with a doll friend and in a pink frilly outfit. I think I might be able to get used to these pink outfits...for her I mean. Can you believe Carissa was born one month ago today?

I started these updates often quoting Philippians and somehow I find myself going back to one of the first one passed along which is also one that Travis had passed back to us:
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
Of course Travis would not be caught quoting anything in orange...I added that.

Carissa's blood counts showed improvement again today. Most things were actually up a little today. Her platelets were in better shape than the last couple of days and her neutrophils were higher although they are still only around 10% of what they are supposed to be. Some of her other basic blood numbers actually showed improvement as well. Some of those don't even make sense to be up because they tend to be pretty sensitive to the drawing of blood for testing. We don't really care if it makes sense or not, we just thank God for the improvement. There is much more improvement needed but the last two days have yielded steps in the right direction.

Carissa was also able to take a couple of complete bottles today and we are very thankful for that. Her nurse for the last two days noticed that the nasal cannula was a little small for Carissa and might be getting stopped up some so she changed that out and her oxygen support was able to be turned down some today and she was still reading well on her oxygen saturation levels. Tonight as I was holding her after Pamela had, Carissa's saturation readings kept trending a little low. I was getting a little frustrated thinking Carissa was playing favorites with Mom because she had been in the mid 90's with her and only the mid 80's with me. After a few minutes the nurse noticed that the oxygen tube had come off the supply and when that was corrected Carissa proceeded to read in the high 90's while I was holding her...not that I'm competitive or anything.

• Please thank God for how far He has brought Carissa in her first month with us and for her improvement these last couple of days.


• Please pray that Carissa's body will continue to get better and producing the blood products that she needs as well as regulating them correctly.


• Please pray that Carissa will continue to get stronger and that her breathing and heart rate will stay in a good level


• Please pray for Dante, who was across from Carissa in level 3 NICU, and for his mom, Misty.


• Please pray that the doctors and nurses and other staff will be wise in knowing when and how to treat and when to wait and observe with Carissa.


• Please pray that God will ultimately be given all the glory for Carissa's progress as people hear of her progress, your prayers, and His faithfulness.

Thank y'all so much and please keep praying for Carissa

Terry