4 Weeks and 4 days old

Hello everyone,

First of all, thanks for all the encouraging words in your comments. It really helps knowing that so many people care for a little girl they only know through pictures and words.
Today Willow did pretty good. She is stable and resting peacefully. She was up to 2 lbs 14.5oz today!! However, she got alot of fluids yesterday, including some more of grandpa's blood, so we'll see what she weighs tomorrow. She is still on her vent, and probably will be for a bit yet. It is best for her right now, as it helps her rest and use all her energy to fight the infection. They still havn't completely narrowed down what type of infection it is, but they know it's bacterial and in the bloodstream. They are treating it with antibiotics and will continue to do so for probably another 8-12 days. The good news is that her stomach and intestines still look good, so they may resume feedings tomarrow. Willow's Dr. said she could have resumed feeding today, but she wants Willow to concentrate all resources on kicking the infection, and not on digesting food.
Today she got a platlett transfusion, which went very well. They are still giving her sedation as needed, but as of 5:00 PM they hadn't given any since 8:00 AM, which is a good stretch of time. I think that show's she is already getting more comfortable. Tomorrow we should find out the results of her blood cultures. This will tell us if she has any infection in her spinal fluid, which we don't think she does, and hopefully they can pinpoint exactly what the bacteria is and aggresivly attack it with specific antibiotics.
I'm feeling good myself and was able to go see Willow last night and a couple of times today. I should have brought the camera, because she was looking very cute sleeping away in her isolette. Tomorrow I promise pictures. Even though she's sleeping most of the time she is still moving around. She's not as active and "squiggly" as she was, but she will be again soon enough. Thanks for reading and I'll write again tomorrow, "hope"fully with more good news!

Josh