Great day...

Danielle is having a great day today. She is showing what a strong little girl she is, you would not believe how active she is, she is always looking for something to grab on to. They gave her blood pressure cord to grab on to because she was always trying to grab on to her vent tube, which is a no, no. She is sucking on her tube also. As you may notice her eyes are still covered as they are still fused and not opened yet. Plus her eyes need to be covered since she is under the bili lights for jaundice. Her eyes should open within a week. They have not started feedings on her yet. On Saturday it was discovered that she had the open ductus in her heart, known as a PDA. Dylan had this same scenario. They gave her 3 doses of the medication needed to help close the ductus, and a repeat echo of her heart today showed the PDA to be closed. Now there is a chance it could reopen, we of course are really hoping that does not happen. So with the medicine that she needed for the ductus they were unable to start feedings, so hopefully tomorrow they are thinking they will be able to start slowly with breast milk. But today we were able to take a q-tip with breast milk on it and give her a taste on her lips, and she loved it! She tried to suck on the q-tip also. She is being given lots of nutrition thru her IV's, she has also had 2 blood transfusions since Saturday because her hemoglobin levels were low. Saturday she required some extra vent and oxygen support. This issue is since resolved. She had some pulmanary hypertension going on, which is where some blood is scene in the lungs. This issue is since resolved also and today from a respiratory standpoint she is great! They were able to switch her to a different vent with less support. This vent is giving her 20 breaths per minute and she can then breathe whatever she want ontop of that. Her oxygen requirements today have been low at 27-30%. Her blood gases, which is one of the ways they moniter her respiratory levels, were so good she was able to skip a testing time tonight, instead of getting one mid evening she will not get another one until 10pm.
I was able to be discharged this afternoon, so after spending the day with our little girl I came home to see Dylan whom I hadn't seen since Saturday. And tonight daddy went up and spent the evening with his little girl. After a very long conversation with the head Neonatologist today he just explained once again how real this situation is. Today Danielle had a great day, now he just was real in the sense that it is so good to be happy because of a great day, if the situation was perfect though, Danielle would still be inutero and not in the NICU, that would be the ideal situation. But she was born and for a 24 week preemie today was a great day. She is holding her own, fighting, being feisty which we love, and relaxing and growing strong. We are praying for many more great days to come for our little girl.~

Danielle Marie Holub

Friday June 27th at 9:47am our little Danielle Marie Holub entered this world at 24 weeks 6/7 days gestation. As we have been thru the NICU experience before with little Dylan, we do have a road ahead of us. It may be a curvy one but we will get thru it. Danielle is already showing she is definetly a fighter, our little princess. She is moving around, she was pulling her leg up for us to see and pointing her little toes. When we would set our finger on her leg she moves her hand closer, she knows mommy and daddy are with her. Her eyes are still fused closed, though we can see her crinkle her forehead like Dylan did and still does, and we can see her long eyelashes and her blonde fuzzy hair. She is a miracle baby, we will get thru this, our prayers and support from our family and friends will get us thru these next few months, we will be optimistic for our children and never give up. We will post to this blog and update you along the way with pictures and videos also. She is our precious little girl we love with all of our hearts, another little miracle here to brighten our days and fill our hearts with love!~