NICU

Olivia stayed in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) for the first 25 days of her life.  By the way, we rarely call her Olivia.  So far, she's been Baby Bunny, Bun Bun, and Little Monkey plus a bunch of other nick names in Chinese.  Born on a Thursday, she didn't have a name until Sunday.  John and I couldn't settle on a name for a long time.  We had a list, but I didn't want to pick one until I had met her.  I was to be discharged from the hospital 5 days after delivery and go home without the baby.  We had to name her and fill out paperwork before we left.  So, she was officially dubbed Olivia Anne.  Olivia was one name on our list.  Anne Shirley is one of my favorite literary characters-Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables-Anne, with an "e"!

It was hard having to wait to bring her home.  The NICU nursing staff was fantastic and so supportive.  They pretty much taught us everything we needed to know about babies and particularly preemies.  For ten days, Olivia lived in an incubator.  For seven of those, she underwent phototherapy to bring down her bilirubin levels.  It was almost like tanning under the blue light.  The nurses would put shields over her eyes which she would promptly rip off.  They fed her intravenously until she was able to take in a few drops of breast milk by mouth.  It was a good day when she was moved out of the incubator and into an open crib where we could see her, touch her, kiss her, and change her diapers!  Oh, how tiny were those preemie diapers!  We visited her everyday and tried to hit the hours when we could feed her.  Preemies are very sleepy little creatures.  Technically, they should still be growing in the womb, not quite ready to eat on their own, maintain they own body temperature, and even breathe on their own.  Some days Olivia would sleep through our visit, and it was heart-breaking to watch breast milk being pumped down an NG (nasogastric) tube.  It's heart-breaking, because for her to come home, she needed to take in ALL of her nutrients by mouth.  On the visits when she was alert, her huge eyes darted around the room.  The nurses had nick named her the Mrs. Kravitz of the NICU.  Mrs. Kravitz was a character on an old TV show, Bewitched; she was an extremely nosy lady who would sometimes peer through the her neighbor's windows.  I guess Olivia liked to know what's happening around her.  Day by day, she learned how to coordinate suck, swallow, and breathe.  Day by day, she would gain a little more weight.  On August 1st, we brought her home.  Even then, she wasn't suppose to be born yet for another 12 days.

God is good, and He is sovereign!  The chromosome test confirmed the Down syndrome.  Reality has sunken in, but by that point, we were smitten by our little girl.  Everyone we talked to and confided in were very encouraging.  We immediately got the ball rolling in seeking help and resources for Olivia.  In this day and age, there are tons; a lot more is known.  What a blessing to be living close the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, one of the best hospitals for kids in the world; we got on the wait list for the Trisomy 21 Program.  We signed up for Early Intervention that provides infants with physical, occupational, speech therapies.  God is good, and He is sovereign!  The adventure begins!