Independence Update

Happy 4th of July! Well actually it's still the 3rd but I figure saying happy 3rd of July isnt the same...anyways...

Hadassah is doing pretty good. She currently weighs 4lbs, she is on low flow oxygen, she's eating 35mls every 3 hours, and is on her last week of antibiotics for her infection. She had an MRI of her lower back yesterday to see what the status of the teratoma is. It has a little bit of growth but nothing too significant. We are waiting to hear from Dr.Flake and the surgeons as to when they will do her surgery. We already know that she has to be 6.5 lbs for it so it will be a little while before that happens.

Haddie has had a few visitors the past week or so including my mom and dad, Kate's mom, and her grandparents. All of them have been allowed to hold Haddie....and they all have enjoyed that! Tomorrow night the Belpre youth group will be here. They will do a service project for CHOP Friday morning and then we will head to the beach. Looking forward to that!!! Then on Saturday the Browns  from Belpre will be stopping in. We really enjoy showing off our little girl!

All in all things are going well. We definitely get home sick and we definitely get frustrated sometimes but that's just the way it goes. Most days are good and Haddie is making progress so we are happy with that. Probably the hardest part is being our daughter's advocate. By that I mean that there is a lot said and done with her on a daily basis among the nurses and doctors. They have several teams that work with her and they are on a rotation. We think the lines of communication sometimes get challenging. One team suggests an idea to us...a few days later we realize it was never tried...we bring it up...and it's a new team who hasn't heard of what we are talking about. They do a great job here, they really do. But we feel its our job, since we are here everyday, to make sure they are all on the same page. Some of them appreciate that...and some of them don't.

That's what's going on. We are thankful for a couple of weeks in the right direction. Thanks for all of the cards and prayers....sorry if we missed thanking anyone. We appreciate you all. Hopefully soon we can post a picture of our Haddie in a crib and without any oxygen support! Then she will have her independence!!! See what I did there?!

Love you all!