Good afternoon everyone! It’s been a little! Maelyn has been making some strides the last two days. When I arrived on Tuesday afternoon with my mom our nurse asked if I noticed anything different about her face… as soon as I looked I saw her feeding tube was removed! They said she went to on-demand feeds at 9am Tuesday morning. What a HUGE answer to prayer! She had been doing amazing with bottles that whole day and it was so good to see more life in her with cueing for hunger and her finding her voice! The whole week prior she was so sleepy and wouldn’t wake up to eat at all. Her weight has been fluctuating a few grams each day but she continues to take her bottles like a champ and it feels like we are getting into a better rhythm.

Maelyn remains on low flow oxygen, and on Wednesday they attempted to wean her down to the lowest dose but she had a few desaturations that caused the Dr. to put her back up a little to where she was comfortable. She did well the rest of the day yesterday.

Jeremy is working from home today, so him and I are headed up now to spend the afternoon/evening with her.

Praises:

• Off the feeding tube!!

• The small hematoma she had on her head from our vacuum delivery is almost completely gone- they’ve been watching this since birth

• She is eating well and staying awake for feedings!

• Her left kidney is showing good function! Her blood pressures have been good and she is showing consistent output with her diapers! Labs look good as well! (For those that didn’t know, Maelyn has a cystic right kidney that is not functioning- the same condition that I (Katie) was born with, except on the opposite side. With her having a working left kidney and me having a working right, we complete each other ❤️‍🩹)

A few specific prayer requests:

• Maelyn would tolerate the reduction in oxygen so she can complete her car seat test when she is off oxygen (a 90 min test where she will sit in her car seat and they monitor her stats to see how she does). Also, when she comes off the oxygen she can then have her hearing test done.

• Maelyn would continue to gain weight so we get steps closer to home with consistent weight gain

• That her good kidney continues to work well! She will be seen at Penn State Hershey Urology around a month old to have this reevaluated.

• For Jeremy and I’s hearts- it seems as though every evening it gets harder to leave her for the night and be separated. We just can’t wait to have our baby home. ❤️ lots of mama tears have been shed this week on our drives home.

• Wisdom for the doctors and nurses caring for Maelyn.

Thank you all for continuing to reach out, offering prayers, love, and support. For the meals, flowers, gift cards, cards, well wishes, and just checking in to see if we need anything. We are feeling so much love from our village and we are so hopeful that Maelyn will be home soon and able to meet you all 🩷