Introducing Delilah Grace Unfried

I am happy to announce the birth of Delilah Grace Unfried on June 24, 2009 at 9:59 am. She was 6 lbs 12 ounces and 21 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful and John and I couldn't be happier.

Unfortunately, it has been a long, exhausting, frustrating 6 days. Delilah was admitted to the NICU later in the afternoon on June 24th and has been there ever since. According to the doctors, she has poor muscle tone and they are running tests to see why. It has been "hurry up and wait".

Her first few days all she did was sleep. She didn't cry, open her eyes much, or wiggle around. She was on an IV and wasn't aloud to feed. As the days have passed she has been more active and opening her eyes much more. Yesterday her eyes were open the majority of the afternoon while we were visiting her. They also started her on feeding yesterday. She isn't able to breast-feed or bottle-feed due to a lack of a gag reflex, but she is being fed breast milk through a TP tube. The TP tube goes in through the nose and directly into her small intestine. It doesn't seem to bother her, but nothing really does.

Today she had a muscle biopsy. The nurse said she did beautifully and when we went in to see her, she was peacefully asleep. Hopefully we will get the results no later then Monday. Unfortunately, holiday weekends, such as the 4th of July, can slow down the process. Again, "hurry up and wait".

We are lucky though. There are sicker babies in the NICU that have been there for months. Delilah is definitely one of the healthier babies. Although she seems "listless" we are seeing some improvements in her. She has been more active with her movements, stretching and kicking her feet. She hasn't had to be on oxygen and she is able to maintain her heart rate.

We hope the tests will bring action. Not having a direction is frustrating. We also want to know when we can bring her home, but no one will give us an estimate. They don't want to get our hopes up on a date if they have to keep her longer (understandable but frustrating).

Our main goal now is to work on her feeding and to love on her as much as possible. If she continues to improve we hope they will move her from the warmer to a crib. Once in a crib, she will be one step closer to coming home.

For all the family and friends who are praying for us, Thank You. I am sorry I haven't spoken to any of you lately, but at this time it is too hard to talk about without breaking down. Right now I need to stay strong for Delilah and concentrate on getting her better. I will try to keep everyone up to date on her progress through this blog.