Rooming in

Addie is 4 weeks old today! I can't believe it. This has definitely been the longest month of my life, but also the most faith filled. We thank God everyday for our Sweet Adeline! We are over 24 hours into the rooming in process and everything is going smoothly so far. We have been charting all of Addie's feeds, giving all of Addie's meds, and mostly just loving on our baby without all the cords and wires. It has been really nice! If things continue to go smoothly, we will be home by tomorrow. On another note, yesterday, an ENT came to look at Addie's voice box because her cry is still very hoarse and her voice hasn't returned all the way yet. We found out that her left vocal cord isn't moving so today they are going to do a swallow study on her. This will show whether or not she is aspirating any of her milk to her lungs, which can cause pneumonia. The temporary paralysis of a vocal cord is pretty common with a baby who has a coarctation of the Aorta and was something Dr. Forbess mentioned as a possibility before surgery. There is a nerve that was damaged during the process to fix her aorta. They told us that the time to regain use of the left vocal cord could be months and they wouldn't say it is paralyzed until at least a year. I will add that some kids that have a paralyzed vocal cord are not bothered and have full use of their voice. You would never know they had a paralyzed cord. Addie just may not be the next Adele. :)

Ellie was so excited to finally get to hold her "Baby Addie!"