Dear Mom

Dear Mom,
Hi, it's me, Aubry May. I turned 6 months the other day and I thought you may like to know what I am up to.
I like to eat bananas right from the peel, Aunt Michelle cuts the end of the banana off and scoops it out- yum, yum.
I also eat oatmeal. Green beans make me puke.
I am a great kicker and stretcher. Aunty and Uncle say I will either be a swimmer or a biker, my legs can get going a hundred miles a minute.
I am fussy.
I really just like to be held all the time and since I can't yet say words I just fuss.
Although last week I started to hang out for a little moring time in my crib.
Auntie likes that.
Speaking of my crib, I have a new banner over it, it says my name. It's pink, with flowers and so cute.
Thanks mom for an odd letered name, it makes the banner hang so cute.
Aunt Michelle also cut down a large, regular size bumper to fit my smaller condo size crib.
That's right I didn't have a bumper gaurd all these months however Aunty didn't like that sometimes my legs or arms would hang out the sides.
I really love living with all my cousins.
I wear size 3 diapers and 9-12 months clothing.
I know that you thought of me on Mother's Day adn that you miss me very much.
I wish I could say I missed you but really I don't know you; but maybe one day I will know you. I know that you love me, and dad too and if I was old enough to understand prayer I hope I would pray for you.
I'm sure there are other things I do that you would like to know but I'm only 6 months old and I'd much rather play with my dolly, a package of baby wipes or crinkle up some paper.


Oh and one last thing, pray for me. Auntie says I am a miracle from God, that he has something special in store for me. That I was chosen by Him to do good works.
I want to do those good works.
I want to share the goodness of God in my life to others.
Thanks for having me mom. I love you for that.
-Aubry

Christ Is Risen

He is risen indeed!!

From our family to yours...

 5 generations

Baby Update

Little One is doing good.

She successfully made it through day 4 on Tuesday and as of 5 pm yesterday she was morphine free.

Basically every few hours she gets scored. Her behaviors are recorded:

sleep, eat, muscle tone, sneezes, etc. 

Each behavior has a point value, the lower the score the better she is.

A combined score of 16 or higher would flag her withdrawals as "too much" for her little body and therefore morphine would be considered/given.     

Again so far, no morphine!

Since you've been asking, here are some of the details regarding Little One:

she was born on 11-11-11 @ 9:33am

she was full-term and weighted 5# 14oz and was 19.5 inches long.

She has a decent amount of hair and it is dark.

Her feet are long and skinny, like Steve's and Justin's :)

And she already has the cutest birthmark.

I've also gotten questions regarding her development and it's actually been very interesting learning the info about drug positive babies.


First of all once Little One makes it through this detox she will be like any other baby, her little quirks related to detoxing will be gone and it will be as if she was born with a clean bill of health.


Her organs and internal body is normal and functioning just fine, there was a concern about her kidney when she was in utero but the Healer has healed her.


Developmentally in the future: only time will tell. The doctors and nurses mentioned that the drug use isn't as damaging as any alcohol use mom may have misused. Interesting huh? The legal drug of alcohol is far more dangerous than her legal prescription meds or illegal opiate use. From the info we have on mom, it seems she was far more interested in opiates over alcohol, so believe it or not that is good news.


We are really trusting God that all will be well with Little One and these first days of her life will be a chapter closed with no future reference physically in her book of life.


While we want to be angry at mom:
we are not, 
disturbed and confused, yes; but she is a hurting young lady in desperate need of the freedom that can only come through Jesus Christ.


Also in the baby supplies department- where do I begin?
So far I have:
-a pack-n-play/bassinet,
-turned my dresser top into a changing table (just need a changing pad)
-have about a dozen newborn clothes from Sarah and my granddaughter
-pulled out some of my old receiving blankets- fresh from the 70's
-have a car seat thanks to Illana Belle being a growing almost 1 year old


Prayer Requests:
- wisdom on the work front, I've never worked and had a baby, do I continue to do so? do I cut back a day? who watches Little One while I do work?


- Continued strength for Little One as her body adjusts to a drug-free life


So that's the update for today, thank you all for your texts and loving comments, boy isn't life just one adventure after another?


Love and peace,

Don't Get Me Started on Legal Drugs

Today is the crucial day in our baby’s life.

I will not use her real name because I am not sure legally what I can say here because we are only temporary parents. So I'll call her Little One.

Little one's mom struggled with the misuse of prescription pain medication while pregnant. Since mom was incarcerated for 3 days before giving birth Little One was not born with the meds in her system; however her system only knew life with medication, life with no physical pain.

On Sunday she began to show signs of withdrawal and was moved into the NICU.

Excessive sucking, sneezing and yawning, muscle tightness to name a few.

The "old school" way of dealing with this situation was to medicate baby with morphine at the level mom was using and then slowly wean baby off, this took weeks, even months; we were fortunate enough to have the leading doctor on the Eastern Seaboard in this area of research and study visit Little One and use a new form of treatment. 

Little One has been allowed to begin detox right from birth and will only be given morphine if her symptoms are severe enough to need it.

So far, no morphine.

Today is day 4, today is hump day, the doctor feels as though if she can make it past today with no morphine she should be fine to detox all her own. Although he said it would really only push her chances right past 50/50. So today is the day, and tomorrow and the next day.... 

When will she come home?

We just don't know?

Once Little One makes it through her detox and realizes that people and love can sooth rather that medication she will be like any other baby born "sober".

Now I'm off to register at Target because it was recently brought to my attention that I'm gonna need some baby stuff.

Sarah has hooked me up with several baby clothes and items but if memory serves me right babies need and go through more clothes and diapers than anyone else in the household; of course if we were all wearing diapers we'd have a whole other issue going on here.

Prayer Requests:

Please be praying with us that she does not need the morphine at all.

Pray for no lasting effects of the drugs on Little One

Pray for the NICU doctors and nurses caring for her, that they'd see Jesus in us and that we would be able to speak Him to them.

Pray that this life transition would be smooth for all 5 of us.

Thank you all, this journey is never dull is it?

I wouldn't have it any other way.