I am very grateful for the hospital and for professional staff that can watch over Alicia during these few days. I do miss her terribly, and I do wish that I could see her, hear her, touch her, but I know right now the hospital stay is good for her, and it's good for us too. We get to rest.
If you noticed in the past few entries, I didn't mention too much about Alicia's condition, that's because for me her condition isn't too much of a concern.
When they first admitted her, they took an X-ray of her lungs and did find some stuff in there that shouldn't be in there. So their guess is that some milk probably got in there, and her body is working hard on getting it out. Over the next few days, they took a blood sample and a urine sample and had them tested. They found that her white blood cell count and a certain protein count were high which indicates that her body is fighting something. Thankfully, when they checked her urine they found no indication of bacteria or virus, which means that she didn't contract anything and that more than likely the infection is just from the milk going down the wrong way.
We've been really careful with feeding her, but we'll just need to be even more careful in the future.
Alicia continues to be a delight and a joy for all who meet her and come in contact with her. The nurses say that she's really smart and a sprightly. She interacts well with her environment and is really aware of her surroundings.
People have always told us that her skin is really fair, and I thought I knew what they were talking about, but for some reason this time at the hospital Linda and I became more acutely aware of this fact. Maybe it has to do with the fact that she's not in an incubator this time, and babies are a lot closer to her, so we can do a more ready comparison. =) Looks like we've got a little Snow White on our hands.
Linda and I have been enjoying the gift of having extra time on our hands. We've been resting a lot. Last Saturday, I slept for three hours in the afternoon and could have slept more, if I didn't have to get up to go back to the hospital. Linda and I have also been enjoying having time to ourselves and just enjoying being with each other. I really love my wife. She is an amazing woman. The strength that the Lord has given to her is amazing.
Thank you for all of your prayers friends. I believe they are truly truly sustaining us through this time.
It's funny this time around, my main concern hasn't been for Alicia's health. In fact, in my mind, she's perfectly healthy, which she is, I think my main concern these past few days has been, "Why won't they let me in to see her?!" =) Anyway, she'll be out before we know it, and then we'll have her all to ourselves again.
Oh, one thing you can pray for is for protection over us and our family. My sense is that we are in an intense spiritual battle at this point. Now you need to know that I'm not one of those that sees a demon under every rock. But you also need to know that I'm acutely aware of patterns and seeming coincidences. When things happen in sequence, that are quite out of the ordinary, something is usually up in the spiritual realm.
So, Alicia's black out experience happened early Friday morning. Friday night, Linda and I were in a cab on the way home from the hospital, when suddenly the car in front of us stopped short, causing our driver to stop short as well. This actually happens a lot in Taiwan, so Linda and I have gotten used to freaking out for a second, and then sighing with relief knowing that we stopped just shy of hitting the other car. Except, this time, our sighs of relief were immediately followed by whiplash and a jammed finger as the truck behind us rammed into our cab. Thankfully, we were physically fine, and nothing of ours was damaged. The cab and the truck on the other hand were a different story. The truck's front headlights were smashed, the cabs rear bumper was detached, it was not a pretty sight.
Like I said, we're fine, so it's nothing to worry about, but I can't help but note the timing of it all.
So life goes on, we continue to wait for our daughter to come home . . . again. =) We continue to rejoice in her life, health and progress. God is good!
:)
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