Brooke Aubriana

While my nephew was going through his graduation ceremony from basic training, his big sister was being wheeled into an operating room on the other side of the country. My poor sister was torn in a million directions last week.

I mentioned in my last post about my niece who was experiencing severe preeclampsia. After 6 days in the hospital, her body just couldn't take any more. It was time for baby Brooke to enter the world. As so many of us were holding our breath and waiting for news, little Brooke decided to come out kicking and screaming.

Yes. Screaming. At 28 weeks, this little girl is a scrapper. And has the lung capacity to make a big racket. She came in weighing 1 lb, 14 oz. (I'll never forget, since my birthday is 1-14.) She was on a CPAP for a little while, but has been breathing on her own ever since. She needs a feeding tube because she's not quite strong enough to eat on her own.

But in the last few days, they have doubled her food intake. She came in at 1 lb. 15.8 oz. this afternoon. She should tip the scales at a whopping 2 pounds tomorrow! (I'm guessing one good wet diaper and she's already there.)

Please continue to pray for my niece and her husband. This will be a long haul in the NICU - likely until Brooke's due date in mid-July. They live about an hour away from the hospital (and in fact closed on their first house the day Brooke was born as well.) So they are juggling time with Brooke, time on the road, packing and getting ready to move. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

But a great cure for exhaustion and anxiety is to look at baby pictures. So here are some of my favorites: