One week

Wow! One week in a hospital and counting.....counting down the days!! Ruby has spent more time in a hospital than all 5 of us combined! When she was 10 months old she was in the hospital for 31 days all alone. That thought makes me sad. A lot of the things I know she has been through in her short 23 months of life can make someone sad, however it is all those things that have made our little Roo the beautiful, amazing, sweet, girl that she is. She is confident, funny, happy, content, curious, fascinated, busy, fast, strong and full of joy. She continues to amaze me everyday as I fall more and more in love.

Today was a great day! It started off bright and early with lab draws. That was it for the yucky stuff! She got a bath finally now that the IV is out. We had a visit from the physical therapist and occupational therapist. Those visits are fun because they just play with her (so she thinks). They gave me some good suggestions for exercises but do recommend outpatient PT and OT (not surprised). The speech therapist came again but Ruby was very tired and did not want to try any new cups or techniques.

Rounds this morning was informative. To sum things up, she doesn't really have anything major going on. Each specialist that tested her found little things that I'm guessing will be passed along to the geneticist for them to piece everything together. For example, the MRI showed some markings in the white matter so that may mean something when a geneticist is looking at syndromes. Again her GI issues are my big concern and my questions focus more on that. Our GI plan now is to stretch her atrophied stomach. I am feeding her pretty much all day long, small amounts and trying to get her to drink liquids. I also gave her 9 ounces of rice milk throughout the day through her feeding tube.

The scale this morning did not cooperate. Yesterday she weighed 11.28 pounds and today 10.8 pounds, With all the food she is getting today she will surely weigh more tomorrow!

We had special visitors again today...cousins Elizabeth, Anah (and her friend), Christian, and Mia and Luke. Ruby was excited to play with the kids. Then Steve came to visit just in time for her to take a nap. :(  She took a good nap and awoke just in time for dinner before Grandpa and Grandma Olson visited. She had a wonderful time with them and showed off all her new tricks. She walked them out and gave kisses before they left.

Ruby loves all the stuffed animals she is receiving and plays with them every night before bed. Tonight was funny because she lined herself with them, laid down and fell asleep. Thank you everyone who blessed her with comfort.