Briella Faith

As the title of this post suggests, we have decided on a name for our little one: Briella Faith. "Briella" is a short form of the name "Gabriella" meaning "God is my strength".

Today, I will be discharged from hospital to recover from home. I'm doing very well - both physically and emotionally. The cesarean was not as painful as I'd imagined and certain aspects of the recovery are also significantly easier. When I was admitted to the hospital, I requested that I could recover in the prenatal ward rather than the postnatal ward. The prenatal ward has some postnatal patients as well, and I knew that it would be easier on me emotionally than being in the postnatal ward with 50 newborns. Thankfully they were able to accommodate my request as my hospital stay here has been so much easier than my previous two experiences!

Briella is still in the NICU. Like Maddy, her main issue is her breathing and airways. She had other medical needs such as cleft palate and clubbed feet (which are new to us, Maddy's feet are great!) But these are not what is keeping her in NICU.

It will take at least a few days or so for all the necessary specialists to see Briella and they need to consult with each other about the management plan. Although the doctor told Bernard perhaps only a few weeks, this is just a guess until we know what the plan involves...

In the meantime, Briella has started feeding through a tube, so I am pumping again. Thankfully my milk has started to come in so I'm able to meet her needs. Every time that I've seen her, she's been asleep. Since she is still on the CPAP, we are not yet able to hold her. Hopefully we can hold her soon! Also, until she is discharged, Bernard and I are the only ones able to visit her. Lana is quite upset about that, and for me, that has been the hardest thing so far :(

Please continue to pray for us, especially little Briella...