Finding her Hands

Yesterday some of the family was able to come and see Dottie for the first time. They said (and we agree) that these videos show a little of what Dottie is like in person, but once you're standing in front of a baby that's as small as she is, the feeling is surreal. It is frightening because you've never seen a person that small, but it's also awe-inspiring because you can see God's handiwork moving in front of you. It's like the difference between seeing a picture of a sunset and experiencing one.

Dottie's heartbeat has been rather high the past 3 days, since they put in the PICC line. Previously her heart rate was in the 160-170 beats/minute range, but now it's been 190-210 beats/minute. Last night doctors chose to give Dottie a blood transfusion to hopefully ease the strain on her heart and lower the rate back down to where it should be. The good thing was that they ran blood tests and all of her blood cell counts are looking normal.

Last week they also conducted an ultrasound on Dottie's brain and found only minimal bleeding. You might think "bleeding in the brain ... isn't that BAD?". Apparently bleeding in the brain is somewhat common for preemies born as early as Dottie is, and the kind she has is very minor. The doctor told us "if you have any kind of bleeding, this is the kind you want to have". On the scale of stages 1-4, Dottie's is a stage 1 and they weren't concerned about it at all.

Alisha recorded this video of Dottie on Friday or Saturday. The orange tube going into her mouth is her feeding tube and the contraption on her nose is a breathing machine that helps her take breaths (it replaced her breathing tube). Dottie was facing upwards and her hands were moving around, then as you'll see she finds one hand with the other hand. Be sure to watch it in full-screen to see all of the detailed movements: