December 18th, 2025
9:35am
Ruth got a blood transfusion last night and seems to be handling it very well. She will be getting more as they continue to draw blood for lab work, but they will use from the same blood donor bag that the last transfusion came from. Her body temperature is where they want it and her oxygen level is stabilizing with less supplemental oxygen needed than she needed yesterday. So they’re likely going to reduce the intensity of her respirator soon to help her lungs develop more naturally. She is getting a slightly higher dose of vitamins and minerals from the IV, and the doctor thinks we’ll be able to start small doses of Hannah’s breast starting at 2pm this afternoon.
Praise God for progress and stability! We only know for sure what will happen in the next few seconds, and we can only trust in His mercy.
Pray that she can keep her blood pressure up. It’s on the low end.
5:40pm
Hannah got this right after we returned from the NICU this morning and I was off settling billing choices. Made her cry—it’s talking about the importance of skin on skin, breastfeeding, etc. Fortunately at this hospital we are likely to get such opportunities at the earliest possible time. Scares us to touch her at all right now.
Blood pressure seems to be doing better. They fed her more of mom’s milk while we were up there.