Day 3

Today was another good day for Elise. Also a good day for me, as they released me from the hospital. Thankfully my hospital was connected to Riley so I was able to spend most of my stay with Elise but it is nice to be free! This morning Maggie brought Emma to see Andy and I which was absolutely awesome! We missed our big girl but she's been having fun with her aunts and gramma. Emma is not allowed in the nicu until she is 3 years old, so she can't see her sister. They have a beautiful play area outside of the nicu and she enjoys spending time with us there and seeing pictures and videos of Elise.
The neurosurgeons visited us a few times to check on Elise and said that she is doing very well and her shunt is working properly. Her head circumference has come down a couple centimeters, which is what they would expect at this stage. It will continue to decrease in size but she will also "grow into her head" with time.
Andy and I each attempted to bottle feed Elise today. She was not terribly interested in the bottle which they say is normal for a preemie and is probably unrelated to her condition. She takes the rest of the milk through her feeding tube. We will keep working on the feedings daily and I have faith she will get the hang of it soon enough!
During the most difficult time of my pregnancy when we received Elise's diagnosis, my church was reading a book together called Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge by Mark Batterson. I cannot even put into words how helpful this book was during our journey. There were numerous times where I would save an excerpt from the book because it was so profound and applicable to what we were facing. One day, after Andy and I had recently decided to name her Elise because of it's meaning, I came across this in my reading (see below). I saved a picture of it with Elise's name and sent it to Andy. We knew that we were going to have to completely dedicate our sweet girl to God and that this was confirmation that she was in His hands.