Big Girl Bella

Yesterday I took the baby girl to Lubbock. We have to drive to Lubbock so that she can see specialists, she had an appointment with the GI specialist and the opthamologist. We were testing her Bilirubin levels and looking at her eyes to see how the progression of the ROP surgery is going. Well, I arrived 10 minutes late to the GI appointment (its a 2 hour drive from Midland to Lubbock and the baby girl woke up and was crying the last 15 miles to the doctor's) So we arrive and I sign her in and immediately take out her formula and start to feed the hungry little girl. The mom in the waiting room was staring at me (I got a lot of this, I figured it out at the opthamologist, I was the only dad there the whole day, all mom's and kids!!) Anyway, I held the baby and she was hungry!! She ate and ate and then we were called back to see Dr. Feist. The nurse was very nice and sweet to the baby girl and did a quick exam. I continued to feed the chunky monkey. Then we went to weigh her. The scale read 8lb 1oz!! I couldn't believe it!! She gained almost a whole pound in 9 days!!! What a little chunkster!! I was so excited!! So I went back to the room and finished feeding her when Dr. Feist came in. He was awesome!! Young, smart and very interested in Bella. Asked a lot of great questions, I called Machel and she talked to him too (she gave him some of the background and results from all of the March 30th visits when Machel was with Bella and I was loading us up for the drive home). He asked some more questions and he proceeded to explain that she looked great, her liver did not feel or seem inflammed and everything looked really good. He wanted to run a battery of tests to check her Bili levels and to rule out some enzyme and more serious liver issues. He briefly looked at her incision on her tummy and referred us to a surgeon. We will have the surgeon look at it next month when we go back to Lubbock for her next appointments. It appears that she has developed a hernia that will probably require follow up surgery, but hopefully she won't need that until she's bigger. So everything went well and I was ready to go to the opthamologist. At the opthamolgist Baby chunky monkey ate again and left daddy a really big present! (it was 3 hours later) So the doctor did the dreaded eye test again and Bella was not happy! But the doctor came back and said that her eyes look great, the surgery seems to have worked very well and she is showing no ill effects. We don't have to go back to the eye doctor for almost 6 months, YEAH no more eye exams all summer! So after the eye exam she was zonked and slept the entire drive back to Midland. When we got home, mommy was so excited to see the baby and she put together her new swing that night. Bella likes it, but not nearly as much as she likes laying in Machel's arms. Well, the chunky monkey is doing great, Dr. Feist's office called today and her bili levels are down to 2.9!! She was at 7.3 a month ago!! So she is doing so well!! Well here are some pictures of the big girl!! Thank you for the love and prayers!!
(Lord, please watch over and help the families that I met in Lubbock. You have blessed us with such a wonderful little miracle, please continue to watch over the other families who have babies with difficulties. I realize how truly wonderful you are every day, when I see the strength and love that so many other parents have for their own little miracles. Thank you for all of your miracles, both big and small, seen and unseen, appreciated and those we take for granted.)