NEW NEWS!

Ibrina has been doing so well...praise God! She is already up to 7 pounds, 6 ounces and over 19 inches long. The doctor has no concerns for her at this time, she may even get rid of her apnea monitor soon! Here is the latest picture of the girls...Lailah on the left & Ibrina on the right. (Lailah is great too...she's over 12pounds and is set to get her hearing aids soon!)

I will not be keeping up with this blog any longer...I have another blog: 5blessedbrunings.blogspot.com where I share life with the Brunings...I'll post updates as they come on that blog! (It's not realistic to do both...I'm just not that good ;))

November News

Here's the latest picture of Miss Ibrina! She is almost 4 pounds, over 16 inches long & drinking from a bottle!! Although she gets most of her nutrition from her NG Tube, this is a huge step towards her being able to come home...(eating, swallowing, breathing!!). She got moved to the Level 2 NICU, which means she no longer needs constant 1 on 1 monitoring. Cathy and Xavier (& Marcus) are overjoyed at her progress and are able to bond with her so much more deeply now that she can be held. She is quite the little fighter...pray for the teenage years!! Cathy is having a shower on Saturday, so more pictures coming soon! Thank you so much for continued prayers!

11-4 Update (Blessings!!)

Ibrina is doing great today!! She got taken completely off of her ventilator! Praise God she is breathing on her own AND we can now clearly see her sweet face! Another great bit of news. Cathy spoke with the nurses at 3:30 this morning and since Ibrina has been able to maintain her body temperature so well, Xavier will get to hold her today for the 1st time. All restriction on touch and time out of the incubator have been lifted!! I look forward to holding her soon :)!

Xavier officially started his 1st day of work today (at the new job). He has completed all of the orientation classes and they feel so blessed by this new opportunity.

Marcus has been doing great! He helped some neighbors with IKE relief (raked their yard, carried trash and limbs, etc), and they thanked him over the weekend with 3 tickets to the Aeros game! So, their family got a much needed break for the norm and enjoyed an evening together!!

Thank you for your continued prayer for Ibrina and her family! I'll keep you posted on her amazing progress!!

Praise & Update 11-1

Okay, lots of great and encouraging news about Miss Ibrina today! She officially weighs 2lbs. 13ozs. today. She is still getting to love and hold her mommy each day for 30 minutes. And as long as her oxygen levels stay up she will be taken completely off of the ventilator in the next 2 or 3 days!!! Also her feedings are going great (obvious by her weight gain).

So, we are asking for specific prayer for the following things: that her blood gases stay within normal range so that she can be taken off of the ventilator (tests are done each morning at 4am), that she continues to gain weight and tolerate her feedings, and that she has a bowel movement soon (because they slowed her feedings down she hasn't gone at all in the past week or so). And continue to praise and bless our Creator for the miracles that He is allowing us to witness through this beautiful child!

10-29 Update

First, thank you to everyone for praying for Ibrina! She had a pretty rough week last week. She had 2 blood transfusions, a platelet (sp?) transfusion and a catheter inserted. She was also taken completely off of her feedings and put back on zero stimulation. Thankfully her blood tests all came back negative for infection, so they will finish up the round of antibiotics that she's on and she should be better.

This week has been a complete turnaround! She gained some weight, she's a whopping 2lbs. 7ozs.! She is able to be held again. She had her 1st vision screening and her eyes seem to be working normally. All of her levels are up (iron, oxygen, etc.), she's breathing "room air", and she hasn't had any more apnea episodes! Hopefully by early next week they will be able to resume her feeding schedule and she'll start packing on the ounces!

Another praise report...Xavier got offered another job (more money, better benefits and more stability)! Please continue to pray for Ibrina's wellness and for Cathy, Marcus and Xavier as they navigate this new season in their lives. Thank you!!!!

Please Pray

Please pray for Ibrina today. Cathy and Xavier got a call at 6 this morning and they think she has developed an infection. Right now she is getting a blood transfusion, but the lab results will take 3 days! They also had to reduce her milk intake from 25ml to 3ml at each feeding...she was spitting alot of it up.

Pray for peace for Cathy and Xavier, complete healing for Ibrina and wisdom for the doctors. And pray for Marcus as he is adjusting to all of this (as a 7th grade boy). I'll update as they find out more! Thanks!

Ibrina's Journey

I've set up this blog to keep up on Ibrina's progress (to read the back story click here). So far she has had an AWESOME week!
She was born 2 weeks ago today, weighing 2 pounds and measuring 13.5 inches. She was only 27 weeks gestation and had a very long road ahead of her! She was intubated, she was on no stimulation orders and it was basically a wait and see diagnosis...which is very frustrating! After losing a little weight right after birth, she is now 2pounds 3 ounces and 14 inches long.
Her first major milestones would be CAT scans at 6 days and 14 days to see if there was any bleeding in her brain...PRAISE GOD, both of those came back negative! Secondly, they needed for her lungs to develop and strengthen so that she could breathe on her own...PRAISE GOD, she has been breathing on her own for 2 days. Next, they needed her to be able to eat and tolerate food....PRAISE GOD, she has gone from 3ml 2 days ago to a whopping 11ml of breast milk today!! And lastly, her Momma wanted desperately to hold her, no machines, no glass incubator....PRAISE GOD, Cathy was able to have skin to skin contact with her today for 30 minutes!
We all know that this is going to be a long road and the up days may be followed by some really hard ones. But today we will revel in the fact that we serve a faithful and fearless God that knows the plans that He has for us.
Thank you for praying for Ibrina & please share your thoughts and prayers for Xavier, Cathy, Marcus and Ibrina...I know that they will appreciate them!