Baby Bella Day 3 continued

I don't know where to begin, the Drs have said all along that this was going to be a roller coaster ride and today was a big one. This afternoon we were able to witness rounds and got to speak with several Drs. They are very pleased with her breathing, oxygen level intake and are very impressed with her fighting spirit. Then they talked to us about the head ultrasound. She has grade 1 level bleeding in her head. Now to be perfectly honest after I heard that I went numb and really didn't pay much attention to the intricancies of what the Dr was saying. She was really doing a good job of explaining how level 1 is a small local amount of bleeding and that is normal for babies that premature to have some bleeding and level 1 is the least severe. But all I could think of was all of the compications that could possibly arise, how great she had been doing and would this derail all of that positiveness. We will have to wait until tomorrow to know more, they will be doing head ultrasounds for the next week montioring the bleeding. If it does not increase she should be ok, and have only minor to no complications. But if it continues and increases, well they didn't even want to discuss that with us, which really scares me. That was a difficult visit for me, but Machel has been so great and so positive, we keep praying and trusting in God.
Machel has really had a breakthrough today and is breast pumping a lot. We took down some breast milk and Machel got to feed baby Isabella some of that breast milk! She dabbed some milk on the end of a q-tip and then swabbed it in Isabella's mouth. She immediately started licking the milk and was obviously wanting some more. The nurse then gave her 1ml of milk through a feeding tube. We were so excited, our baby was eating and hopefully would get some much needed nutrients. She has been peeing a lot and losing a lot of electrolytes, they are constantly monitoring her levels and adding lipids, nutrition and electrolytes to the iv.
When we returned later Machel and her mom got to do some hands on helping with baby Isabella. They were able to help change her bedding and hold her. But what we are constantly reminded is that she is so small and fighting hard to survive, we were told that she has lost another 2 oz and is down to 1lb 6oz. I am so worried about her frail little body and I hope that the breast milk and extra nutrients will help stop the weight loss and she can start gaining some weight. Later in the night Machel and I returned to give baby Bella a gift. We got her a book, her first book, It is the Story of Christmas. It tells the story of Mary, Joseph and the birth of baby Jesus. We sat next to her and read the story to her, the first of many I am sure. We then prayed and returned to the room. Well, we are thankful that she has done as well as she has for the first 54 hours of her life. We are thankful for the love and prayers of our friends and family. We are thankful for God and his divine wisdom. We are thankful for all of the doctors and nurses and staff here at the hospital. We are thankful to have a beautiful baby girl!