10-14-10 6pm

Today is the best day in little Riley's life so far. A quick rundown of the big wins for our little flower so far:

1) Her lymphocite (which help her fight off infections and sickness) levels are right where they are supposed to be. Additionally, due to her 22q status Riley may be eligible to receive a monthly CPV shot which gives her some hemoglobins - this helps the body fight off sickness and infections. So the normal levels are very good.

2) Her calcium is still being processed the way it is supposed to be.

3) The zantac seems to be doing what it is supposed to do as she isn't spitting up so much.

4) Her renal scan (her extraction organs - kidney/liver/intestines) came back good. She has a slight malformation of one of her kidneys, but it is actually something that happens in a lot of children not just ones with 22q. We will need to get this rechecked in a month to make sure that nothing has changed.

5) Riley had her first hearing test today and she passed that as well.

6) Nothing showed up on her blood culture in terms of infection, so they will be taking her off of her antibiotics.

She has also graduated to a crib that has an incline as well. I don't even have a bed that inclines. She will be having her eating study tomorrow to find out if her food is going down the right way - if I know my Jacobs' roots she won't have a problem finding her stomach, if anything it's that she is getting to much down there.

Today is a day that Michele, I and our family have been waiting for since this weekend. The bad news kept rolling in with no end in sight. Everything for our little one kept coming up whatever the opposite of roses is. But today was one for the win column for little Riley. She has been resting phenomenally well since the billirubin lights were finished.

I have just realized that my little one will be a week old tonight. I have never held her without some kind of wire or tube stuck to her, but even though it hurts me to remember this, today's news makes it so much less painful. Holding my daughter tonight gave me hope and promise for her future - there will be tough days ahead, I'm sure there will be more than I would like, but my little girl has fought more in 7 days then I have in a lifetime and already won important battles. People have told me that I need to be the 'strong one', but I just need to start following my little Riley's lead, because tomorrow has the promise of a different outcome.