Day 27: Malena is eating and ready to come home!

The nurses and doctors have been talking about how sometimes with babies and eating “it just clicks”. This is exactly what happened with Malena this weekend! She just started eating more than her minimum 2 ounces and she began consistently waking up for each feeding. She no longer has her feeding tube in and is doing great!

So this means she will be able to come home soon. The nurses always say that the “broviack” will be the last thing to come out and she will be able to go home. What is a “broviack”? Great question…it is like a direct IV line they put into her veins during her surgery weeks ago. As NICU parents we know all the lingo. Well they took her “broviack” out today!

We are so excited to bring her home. We can’t wait for Zoey to officially meet her. It will be the moment we start to really feel like a family of four. Malena will be 4 weeks on Wednesday. It’s just amazing what she has done since she was born.

The next hurdle is Malena’s first year. All babies are at high risk of getting sick their first year but CDH babies are even more at risk because they do not have two full healthy lungs. Even though Malena looks normal and is breathing room air, any respiratory illness could have a serious impact on her. So for the first year especially during flu season we will have to be careful and keep her isolated so she will not get sick. This will be a challenge more for Matt and I then Malena. We will do anything to do our part since she has fought so hard through her challenges!

There is no way we could have done this without all of your support. Thank you again!

Annabelle

Advertisement