Who is that baby?

This morning Brian and I went into Olivia's room for our first visit of the day and I have to say I was taken aback.  I didn't recognize that little baby in her crib where I had previously left my little chunky monkey last night.  The lasix are doing such a good job, that she's basically been restored to her birth weight.  Given that I didn't see her until almost 24 hours after she was born when she was already on the ventilator, she was already starting to retain fluids, so in my mind, that's was her normal.  This new look on my little girl allows all of her facial features to shine through from her pretty long eyelashes, down to the ball on her little chin.  Even her feet look like wrinkled little prunes now that the excess fluid has left her.  All of this is great news as they're going to close her chest on Monday.  Once that's done, they're going to slowly start her on some breastmilk while simultaneously continuously reducing the settings on the ventilator.  If all goes well she can potentially be off the vent by the end of the week. 

On a second note, it was Olivia's one week birthday today.  She has already undergone more medical procedures in this short week than most of us will undergo in a lifetime, yet she weathers through them like a champ.  Since her swelling has gone down, she has been able to open her eyes which has been awesome.  This morning she was awake for almost two hours while Brian and I were visiting.  Most of the time spent with her eyes open is great, while it gets a little dicey when you know she's upset and silently crying.  She also has a habit of sucking on the tubing down her throat mimicking a bottle, which would ordinarily be a good thing except that she then gets hiccups.  If you can imagine how annoying it is when you get hiccups, picture having them while on a ventilator and with an open chest wound.  It looks painful and she is very unhappy when that happens which makes Brian and I feel completely helpless.  Luckily, the nurses are very attentive and can pull the extra air out of her tummy that causes the hiccups and the situation can be put to rest relatively quickly. 

All in all this first week couldn't have gone much better and we hope that Olivia continues to move at her own pace so that we can all go home and enjoy one another.