Baby Update

Baby Faye is still haning in there. She is still breathing on her own and is for the most part maintaining her body weight. I'm told that its typical that premie babys usually loose weight right after birth due to their bodies attempting to maintain its temperature. So though she hasnt really gained any more weight the fact that she hasnt lost any either is a positive sign.

On the other hand her mom has now been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. I've done a little online research about the disease. Apparently it causes the body to produce a thick mucous in the lungs and pancreas causing frequent lung infections, trouble breathing and trouble metabolizing food making it difficult to gain weight. If both parents are carriers of the gene then the baby has about a 25% chance of having the disease (from what I've read). There is a test they can do at birth to determine if a baby has the disease or not. If they havent done so already I assume that once Faye is strong enough they will perfom the test on her. Mom was supposed to be released from ICU within the past few days so aparently her lung infection is getting under control. Hopefully now that she has been diagnosed with treatment and managed care the average life expectancy for someone with the disease is in the late 30's or 40's.

My brother is hanging in there. He's had to do a major bit of growing up over the past week! I hope he has the strength to handle the long long road he has ahead.