Patience and Hope, the life of this Mom

Today Whitney had her first follow-up appointment in Florence with the infant neurologist. As you know, I have have voiced my concerns and nervousness for this appointment. I actually ended up calling yesterday to find out if they were going to run an MRI on her brain, or was this meeting just a scheduled check-up. They advised there was no MRI scheduled, so that put my mind at ease for a night at least.

When Dr. Murthy met with her, he was very pleased with how she looked. He did a series of reflex tests, I'm not quite certain WHAT he was looking for or testing, but whatever it was he was happy with the results. He said from what he could see today she looks very good. He scheduled an MRI for early September and suspects it should be "normal" (shudder...I HATE that word). Each MRI gets progressively  better and based off of how she looks and is reacting he would think this one should follow suit and be even better.
Regardless, this was the best possible news we could have heard. He explained once again, how infants brains can repair itself from early injury, and he suspects the cooling treatment worked properly which allowed just that, the brain to repair.
I of course, am still worried and will just WAIT (once again) for the test and results. I do feel confident though that they should be positive. Whitney is doing so well. She is alert and strong. She's responsive and learning new things every day, I have so much faith in her to do great things, she is already amazing us in so many ways.

After the doctor appointment I swung on by the NICU to show Whitney off to some of the nurses that took care of her. It was a very surreal moment for me walking through the halls of the NICU, something I will probably never be able to shake. All the emotions I was feeling is just too much to write about, but I can say I was so proud to be walking in there WITH my baby girl and not going there to visit her. I saw people in the waiting room and parents walking out. I know that feeling and what they are going through. The struggles and the fears and the questions. But this time I was the face of hope. When the nurses were ohh'ing and ahhh'ing over her, I saw parent's faces peek around the corner and give a little smile, for they got to see a bit of hope too. And when you are in the NICU, that is all you want, hope. You hope for the little things, little milestones. With the help of the nurses, friends, family and God, they gave Whitney hope for a brighter future. She is here now with a purpose and we are feeling oh so blessed.