Little Miss Big Stuff

Today is Stella's due date! She woke up this morning and decided to celebrate the New Year with a move - we are getting OUT of the ICU and moving down the hall to the regular cardiac floor! This is such major news for Stella - the next chapter in getting her healthy and home.

Since extubation Stella has been an absolute rock star. She was weened off all IV meds quickly - the last one was turned off late last night - and she has been "soaring" according to her physicians. She was such a big shot coming off the ventilator she only needed medicine to control her blood pressure for about 90 minutes (usually something that is left on for an entire day). This morning her oxygen was turned all the way off - she is loving life breathing on her own!

The next hurdle will be feeding her - she is still getting all her milk and nutrition from an NG tube, but we are excited to try feeding by mouth in the coming days! That is usually one of the biggest hurdles for heart babies because they get tired very easily and we don't want to add any unnecessary strain on Stella's heart by making her work if she isn't ready. We need to bulk her up for her next surgery in a couple of months (which is something I'm not even ready to think about right now) so we pray she tolerates feeding and hasn't developed any oral aversions after so much time with a tube in her throat.

In other very exciting news - Stella wears clothes now! I love seeing little Miss all snuggled up and cozy. Mommy and Daddy have gotten some serious (and much needed) cuddle time in and we are just so happy for our little heart warrior!

Three years ago today my grandfather passed away and December 31st has since been a difficult day for our family. I have no doubt Gramps is up in Heaven cheering for Stella as we have something really special to celebrate on a day we usually spend mourning his loss. God is so faithful!