**update 1/11**
Thank you all for the prayers and support. I’ve never felt so much prayer and encouragement as I have these past 10 days. Quite a bit from people I don’t even know. I receive a bulletin in the mail from a church across the county where Charley was listed as a special prayer request. I tried to count the number of people praying for her and it’s impossible. I’m estimating somewhere in the 15,000+ range. She is our miracle baby. Thanks to the your prayers (and modern medicine); today we finally got to take her home. As traumatic as this was (and to some sense still is) for us, there are 80 beds at the NICU at Greenville Memorial. Which means there are roughly 60 families in the area that are hurting like we are. Though we’re all home safe and sound please keep those babies and their families on your prayers list.
**update 1/7**
More good news. The doctors took the feeding line out of her belly button. She’s can now nurse and take a bottle. Which had then allowed her to be moved down to NICU 2. Still ICU, but less critical and more private. She’ll probably be here for the next few days. But all signs say we can take her home soon.
**Update 1/5**
MRI this morning. We got the results. All clean! She got her gag reflex back this morning, which without it they couldn’t mouth feed. My wife finally got to hold her and was able to do the first mouth feeding. Which gave everyone a huge emotional boost. Doctor said he’s happy about what he’s been seeing. Met with occupational therapist, said Charley did alright. Very weak neck and arm muscles, but that’s to be expected right now. Meet with physical therapist tomorrow. Anna discharged today though. Charley at least here through weekend. Not sure after that.
**Update 1/4**
EEG completed with still no classic signs of brain damage.
They are still warming her body, after starting this morning at 1am. So far no issues there.
The MRI will be tomorrow. Once that is done they’ll know about any organ or brain damage.
Last step is switching her from IV to real fluids. That is another slow process. Best case scenario she goes home Friday.
My wife, however, will most likely be discharged today (unless insurance decides to be generous) and we’ll go home without Charley.
Please pray for Charley to have smooth transitions for each of the phases she’ll need to go through before we can even hold her.
**update**
Charley is still in NICU, with her temp staying around 33.8C. She has to stay that way for 72 hours, which means early Wednesday they will start raising her temperature. At 1/2 degree per hour, they will raise her temperature back to normal. As long as she tolerates the warming process with no issues, they will take her to get an MRI. So far, the neurologist has said that the reading of the EEG does not show any classic signs of brain damage. Once she has the MRI done, we will see in more depth if there is any brain or organ damage. We appreciate all the out pouring of love and prayers.
11:15pm on December 31st, my wife’s water broke. (3 weeks early just like with our first child) As we were getting checked into the hospital, the nurses could not find the baby’s heartbeat. After several other nurses made attempts to locate it, they found her heartbeat but it was extremely low. At that point, she was rushed into the OR. At 12:27am, January 1st, Charley Grace Vallier was born. She had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck 3 times, and once more around her body. She was not breathing on her own. The doctors were able to stabilize her, and they took her to the NICU. At this moment, they are lowering her body temperature to allow her brain time to heal. They will continue to keep her temperature lowered for 3 days, during which we cannot hold her. If you think about it, please say a prayer for our little princess.
Charley Grace Vallier
6lbs 8.4oz
19.4in
12:27AM 1/1/17
On the bright side we made the news with the first baby of the new year.
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