The Plague

Yes, that is what I call this virus that has taken over our house - the plague. It is HORRIBLE! First Aubrey, then Seth. I pray that I am not next. For those of you who know what a complete germaphobe I have become since the girls have gone into the NICU...you can imagine what this has done to me. I cannot clean enough - it is frightening! The official word from the doctor is that this bug that they both have can take up to 7 to 10 days to completely go away and even then they are still contagious for another 24 hours after their last symptom. And it can take up to a week or so for it to show up if you have it - so it looks as if our family is pretty much been quarentined to our house for a while because trust me...nobody wants the plague!

As you can guess, that also puts us out of the NICU. It is driving me crazy how much sickness has been a part of our lives lately. It must be due to lack of sleep making our immune systems weak. I don't know but I have had it! My girls are getting to be more and more fun with each day and I am missing it. But I know that the alternative is that they could get this junk - which I would never want to happen.

Since I can't go we are relying on the phone updates which have been kind of sparse - I am taking this as a good thing because when the doctors are calling you - it ain't good! The girls both had their eyes checked yesterday and, as of last night, the reports were still not in the computer. I have called today but was on hold for almost 20 minutes so I decided to call back later. Reagan had to have a blood transfusion yesterday because her hermatocrit was low again and they attributed that to some of her bradys and desats. She is still doing well on the nasal cannula. She did not have her head ultrasound on Tuesday, it was rescheduled for Thursday. I pray that it will be negative. Cameron is still doing well. They are watching her closely as she is eating. Last night her nurse mentioned that she had some food still leftover after her feed so they were watching her with the food to be sure that everything is doing what it is supposed to. If not, then I think they will stop feeds for a while (again). I think that is it. I will keep you posted.

Before I leave I wanted to share with you this story that Seth's Aunt Jane sent me today. It brought tears to me eyes but the good kind. I pray that my girls will also have such a knowing and precious love of the Savior and how He has been with them all this time as well. Here it is (have tissues ready!):

A doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery. Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. That afternoon complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver the couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature... She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four.
Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl.
There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Dana turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time.
Five years later, Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story. One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving , Texas , Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing. As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, 'Do you smell that?'
Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, 'Yes, it smells like rain.'
Dana closed her eyes and again asked, 'Do you smell that?'
Once again, her mother replied, 'Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain.'
Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, 'No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest.'
Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children.
Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.