More new pics at http://herbthiel.blogdrive.com/galleries
I’m trying to catch up here, but so much has been going on it has been wild. Beside being sick I have been waking Ben up at 1:30 a.m. so he can get up for his U.P.S. job. This is their busiest season. That throws me off and having been sick I have been sleeping in until 4:30 and sometimes even 5:00.
I have to upload the newest pics as well as make sure the other grandparents get e-mails of the photos and try to remember all that has gone on in the last few days. Isabel is a photographer and her pics are great. I’ll put them in a separate folder. I also have a plan, which is probably too ambitious, to write a daily story about Christmas. I grew up in a religion that didn’t believe in it and it is all so (forgive the use of the word, but it really fits) magical. But first, we have to update the baby news. Sooner or later I’ll get to doing the poll.
I just can’t afford to get sick anymore. That’s all.
Saturday, 12/04/04: Savannah is taken off the respirator and breathing on her own. She is put on a “C-PAP” which blows oxygen into the baby’s nostrils with a measured amount of force. There are two styles, one with a canula (nosepiece) that has 2 prongs that go into the nose and the other covers the nose. They have to switch every 4 hours and rub the skin on the nose where it was sitting so it doesn’t leave a permanent mark.
Sunday, 12/05/04: The baby’s weight is 1 lb 11 oz. 1 week (7 days) old. The loss of weight in preemies is pretty normal, even though for her it is a significant amount.
Margaret watched as they suctioned Savannah’s nose, they have a small tube they use to suction and when she realized it was there, she grabbed it and tried to pull it out.
Monday, 12/06/04: I got to see her again. Woo-hoo! She has a tube down her esophagus into her stomach which allows her to “burp” up bile and whatever else because the forced air from the C-PAP puts air into her stomach. While I watched the nurse unwrap the blanket to change her diaper, as soon as her arm was free she started pulling at this tube. She is a feisty one, and since it is my blog I will say with impunity that she really has a Thiel spirit. Feisty, trouble-causing, roustabouts and ne’er-do-wells. Oh, that’s just the grandpa, never mind. She really is a fighter, though.
Cool, way cool news! Isabel got to hold the baby for the first time!!! The pictures from that are on Isabel’s camera and will be posted when available. This was awesome.
Tuesday, 12/07/04: Ben got to hold her. He also was allowed to try to change the diaper, but little Savannah Melody overpowered him and he had to have the nurse help. She also grabbed hold of the suction tube and tried to pull it out with both hands!
Keep praying for her. Ben said that some of the nurses do not like when he talks like this, but we are trusting God. God has a purpose and a plan for every life and every person, and that includes Savannah Melody Thiel.
Her name, Savannah Melody, is a type of hybrid flower in the day-lily family. There is not a lot of info that we could find other than that, but if anyone out there knows flowers or anything that might be cool or interesting, please e-mail me or leave a link in the comments so we can find out some more.
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I had typed this up on the way out the door to the hospital before Margaret’s evening clients. When we got to the hospital a couple was visiting the nurse’s station and the nurse’s asked them to visit Isabel because they had their baby with them. The baby had been born their 6 months ago and was delivered at 23 weeks! 1 lb 3 oz! You couldn’t tell it to look at her. That was very encouraging.
She is also off the C-PAP! She is on 2.5 to 3 liters of oxygen, but that is normal, not the forced blows of oxygen.
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I had that paragraph typed up when we decided we had better take Grandma Pike to the doctor, since she was acting sick and so we wound up going to the E.R. and they admitted her. She was dehydrated, among other things. They always admit her as a matter of routine, so I was up at the hospital when it was time to wake up Ben at 1:30. We got there at about 11:30 and I just sat and watched Savannah sleep for a couple of hours and talked to the nurse. It’s 3:00 now and Margaret has to get up at 5:30 because if she calls in to work (the E.R. offered her a note) she has clients that won’t get care they need. That’s the kind of gal she is, that’s why.
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I knew I was forgetting something. I’m not sure which day it started, but she now has a pacifier! The end that goes in her mouth is smaller than the nail on my little finger. Does that make it a pinky-binky? Hahaha! Oh, come on, it wasn’t that bad for 4:00 a.m.!
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As the good book says, “God will be true though every man is a liar.”
