Life with Emily Greer Brown

EG is eclipse ready. 😎🌘 Just kidding, guys. She will be all safe and sound inside. We can’t be adding any more damage to these retinas. 👀

Happy Easter from Emily Greer, who is NOT impressed with mommy’s picture shenanigans! 😡🐣✝️

Bennett said his favorite thing about Emily Greer is holding her and loving her. 🥹 ❤️He welcomed her home as only he could-by refusing to take a family picture unless it was in his room with his Henry Danger blanket. Did his Henry Danger make the family photo? Nope. Because mama has some sly hands and slid the giraffe blanket over it. Obsessed is understatement. Big brother is always asking to hold “Emiwy”, but he doesn’t seem to want to change her diapers. 🤔He even informed us, “she’s my little sister. I know what she wants and what she doesn’t want.” Ok, sir. I forgot you’re an expert, even if it’s only been five days. If Bennett were speaking in terms of fish, she’d be a keeper. 😍

A day late posting Miss EG turning F•O•U•R months! Milestone pictures look a little
nicer without wires and tubes hanging off us. Sorry, Willie K South, you’re not a very photogenic background. Her favortite things at home include, not pooping, not sleeping at night, and making sure she’s being held at all times. 😵‍💫😴

Bittersweet- being at once bitter and sweet
especially : pleasant but including or marked by elements of suffering or regret.

That is the word that comes to mind when I think back over the last four months. There was a tremendous amount of suffering. We were told that Emily Greer had a 50/50 chance of living or dying when she was born. The next two weeks were spent wondering which 50 we would be in. We were also told the endless list of issues she could have. Would she live? What kind of quality of life would she have if she does live?

Our first obstacle was her PDA, a heart defect. It caused her to drop her blood pressure. It could fix on its own, or with medicine, or even surgery. Thankfully it was fixed with multiple days of medicine.

Prayers were answered along the way. Emily Greer only had an extremely mild brain bleed. I know now how worse it could have been. Her bowels worked perfectly (a little too perfectly 🤢). Wiggling out of poopy diapers was her specialty. She was only on the vent for three weeks, which is crazy to me. I’ve spent enough time in the NICU to know not everyone’s story turned out like ours. It could have been much worse.

The next obstacle was the hardest and the longest: keeping her heart rate and SATs up, and she wasn’t a fan of breathing. Her daddy and I swear she just liked to hear the sound of the monitors. I will always have her nurses voices in my head yelling, “Emily! That’s not funny!” Or, “Emily!! You have to breathe! It’s part of life!” Or, “Emily! Purple/blue/gray doesn’t look good on you!” Or, “You’re going the wrong way, girl!” when she would stop breathing and change colors. This stretch seemed to last on and on.

Emily Greer’s next obstacles were eating and weaning her off the oxygen. She showed great promise in eating at first, but one step forward, five steps back. She got it through and now can’t eat fast enough. I just knew we were going to go home on oxygen. Once again, she proved me wrong. And then the hernias. Her umbilical hernia had always bothered me because it kept getting bigger and bigger. This surgery kept us there longer, but I was thankful she would be able to go back to her nurses who knew and loved her.

Along the way, we made family with her nurses, nurse practitioners, and doctors, and respiratory therapists. These people saw us at our worst. They saved Emily Greer. The nurses were amazed by how Hays could remember every number and medicine and what everyone said. Everyone were also amazed to see a daddy cry. I think people were just amazed I showed up in the beginning. 😁😬 Now, we ask about their families and their lives. I said goodbye to one of our main nurses and it felt like losing a friend. It’s an odd relationship you build with these miracle workers who keep your child alive. I didn’t get pictures with all of our nurses but it was a chaotic day.

Dr. Penales will always hold a special place in our hearts. She is the one who walked her over to me to let me see her before they took up to the NICU the day she was born. I will always remember her saying, “Oh, Emily!” Her decisions kept our little girl alive, and for that, we will be eternally grateful. Sorry I didn’t give you time to put your lipstick on before pictures.

Dr. Whitton was the one to make the call to take EG off the vent. Talk about a shock when I walked into her room and they were in the middle of it. In his defense, he kept telling me he was going to. In a way he kept me alive that day because he kept telling me to breathe. 🤣 He was right, she did better off the vent. If anyone was wondering what made Emily Greer grow so fast, it was “Miracle Grow”, per Dr. W.

Leaving yesterday, after 120 days, was like leaving family. It may be family that you never want to see again, but family none the less. If I could take these nurses and monitors home with me, I would. The NICU crew will always have a special place in our hearts. It takes a special person to be able to handle something so precious.

Lastly, we thank you Facebook warriors. Your prayers, thoughts, cards, gifts, and food were greatly appreciated. We lived off gift cards for the first few months. I truly believe we would not be where we are without your prayers. Seeing everyone’s comments always warmed my heart. Emily Greer is everyone’s baby. We promise to always update you. We love you!! 🩷 Hays, Kendall, Bennett, and Emily Greer!

From the Mayor of the NICU to the Mayor of Minden! Miss Emily Greer is finally home! 🏡We got our marching orders this morning and we didn’t look back. Ok, we did look back, but that’s a post for tomorrow. Big brother welcomed her home as only Bennett could (also a post for another time). 🤣 We are officially a family of 4️⃣ 💙🩷💙🩷

Papa finally got to hold Emily Greer!!

Our girl is weighing in at a whopping 6 lbs 1 oz! She finally got back over 6 pounds after those mean ole doctors wouldn’t let her eat all day Monday!!

She said she wouldn’t be held back though…she bounced right back to those full bottles quickly! Emily Greer did in fact understand the assignment!! 🩷

This is Dr. Penales (Dr. P)! She was the Neonatologist on call when Emily Greer was born and is her main doctor. She quite literally saved Emily Greer’s life!

There has been a whole team that we will hopefully be able to share pictures of but she’s been with us since Thanksgiving day!

Willis Knighton NICU operates as a team. Dr. M and Dr. Whitton have treated Emily Greer and made calls for her these past 4 (almost 5) months but we wanted to take a minute and thank Dr. P! She was honest and transparent during the hardest times but was encouraging and hopeful and never quit fighting!!!

Thank you Dr. P! We are thankful for you and your team and all you do for all the babies like Emily Greer!

Ya girl is serious about her groceries! She did so well with her 20ml bottles, that they have already moved her back up to 40ml!!

She has bounced back from her surgery so well and we are so thankful!!

Now to get this IV out!!

Our little boss baby mayor flexed all her muscles and got her vent out about 4 this morning!! 💪🏻

The young kids would say Emily Greer is standing on BUSINESS…TEN toes down!! 🦶🏼🦶🏼

She’s QUITE hungry too as she did not get to have a bottle ALL day yesterday!! 🥴

They are going to start her back on her bottles about 11 and we will go from there…hopefully we will be headed east down I-20 very soon!! 🩷

(They will leave the IV in her head until she is handling her bottles well and consistently.)

Emily Greer’s surgery went well!

Dr. Sorrells fixed a bilateral inguinal hernia (on both sides of her groin) and an umbilical hernia. Everything went well.

Now we are just waiting on her to come out of the anesthesia and be able to come off the vent. Please join us in prayer that this process is easy and quick!

Thank you all for lifting her (and us) up in prayer today! They have definitely been felt!!

“Patiently” awaiting the schedule for the day!

We feel the same Emily Greer!!

We do know she will have her eye exam first and after that, she will go back for surgery.

Please pray for her and her team today! Pretty big day for our girl but we know God has her in His hands! 🩷

I will forever be grateful to Southern Shutter Photography for capturing these precious moments. Emily Greer got her NG tube out the very next day. A few people made the comment that I should have waited until she got it out for pictures. My reply was, “No. It was part of the experience.” It’s not the most aesthetic accessory, but it kept our girl nourished. Emily Greer will always have these to look back on her time in the NICU. I don’t think I could leave these more than I do. 📸👶🏼

Happy due date, Emily Greer! We know you would have never made it to your due date, but you didn’t have to come as early as you did. 😉 Seriously, we have loved getting to see you grow the last (almost) four months. This day will always be special no matter what. 💖 Emily Greer weights a whopping 5lbs 15.3 oz. She said bring on six pounds! 🏋️ She’s in her gains era.

Well, the mayor couldn’t get out of the NICU completely unscathed. Emily Greer will have surgery Monday to repair a hernia in each groin and her umbilical hernia. 👨‍⚕️ It was not the news we wanted, but it’s better she has it done now rather than down the road. She will have to go back on the vent for surgery and stay on it for a few hours after. Hopefully she can come right off it with no issue. Big big prayers for her, the medical team 👩🏼‍⚕️ , mama, and daddy. 🙏🏼 Emily Greer is exasperated by y’all’s worrying. She’s got this! Nothing has stopped her yet! 👊🏻💪🏻

We have some other prayer requests to update with later but we had to share this sweet moment with you all!!!

We aren’t sure who is more in love in this picture…Mama, Bennett, Emily Greer or Daddy who is taking the picture!

We do know we have waited for this day for a long time!!

😍😍😍

Not much to report today, which is always a plus. We just wanted to share this comparison. The first picture is from November 24th, the day after she was born. The second picture is from today. 👀 It has been truly miraculous to see Emily Greer grow from then to now. God has been so good to us! We thank him every day for His blessings. Every day is one step closer to blowing this joint and going home! 🏡 👨🏻👱🏻‍♀️👦🏼👶🏼

This little angel has had a good day! 🩷

She is eating well and will begin to start getting weaned off her caffeine. She’s not really excited about that but honestly who could blame her? 🤷🏼‍♀️

We keep telling her to keep acting right so she can to her own house! She seems really excited about that prospect and so are we!! 🙏🏼

Emily Greer makes is known how she feels about eye test day! 🙄

She did pass her hearing test yesterday and has done really well on her feedings. They are putting more in her bottles and she is handling it well. 🎉

We finally feel like we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel and we are so excited! We are just praying all of these final preparations to leave continue going well! 🙏🏼

We can’t wait to bust her out of here and it is feeling closer and closer!! 🙌🏻

Nope! Your sleepy eyes are not lying to you! 👀 The nurse practitioner walked in and said, “I’m pulling it!” We finally get to see all of her and it is the most glorious sight to behold! 😍 Oh, and mama got to give Emily Greer her a bath for the first time yesterday! EG is still not a fan of being clean. 🧼🙅🏼‍♀️

We heard words like, “discharge”, “car seat test”, and “hearing test” this morning. Music to our ears. 🎶Mama and daddy can’t get this baby home to her brother fast enough! 🚗💨

As Olaf ⛄️ once said, “All good things. All good things.” Pray that she rocks all these tests like she’s rocked the rest of this NICU stay.

Emily Greer has her very first official photo session today!!! 📸

She was so excited about it that she’s been on her best behavior! She’s taken all of her feedings by bottle and hasn’t even needed help all through the night and today!! 💪🏻

We don’t have any specific timeline but we know the feeding tube will come out in the next day or two and we are beginning to prepare the process to go home! Nothing is planned for sure yet, but the conversations are starting!!! 🎉

The mayor is wide awake this morning and ready to face the day!! 😄

Hopefully, we have the wardrobe crisis fixed for now…but she’s patiently awaiting her first shopping spree! 🛍️

She has finished her last 2 bottles completely!!! Our girl means business!! 🤨

Praying praying praying for the next bottles to go just as well so we can get this unfashionable tube gone! 🙏🏼

🚨Houston, we have a problem🚨

Emily Greer is down to 2️⃣ outfits in her hospital dresser. This is NOT ok! 🤪

As you can tell she isn’t really too concerned about it! 😴

We think it’s just as good of a sign as any to let her head on to Minden…but these 🍼 feedings! 😩

She is doing better with her feedings so we are just praying she keeps on getting better! 🙏🏼

So here we are bringing some more clothes to the mayor…we can’t have her fashion suffering…🩷

Switching formula, upping feeds, and taking 93% of feeds by bottles, OH MY! 🍼

Dr. W switched our girl to a less calorie formula because she no longer needs the extra calories! I guess when you’re 5lbs 11.2 ounces you can cut back a little. 💪🏻

🙏🏼 IF Emily Greer keeps going with her feeds the way she is, she can get that ugly NG tube out in a day or two. We will finally be able to see that beautiful face!

Raise your hand if you are tired and just want people to leave you alone! 🙋🏼‍♀️

Emily Greer struggled with her feedings through the night but knocked it out of the park this morning!!💪🏻

However, she has stolen all the hearts in the NICU and everyone from nurses to RTs to NPs to the doctors have her spoiled rotten!! 😍

Today is eye exam day and the mayor is exhausted at even the thought of it! 🫣

But we just told her…get up, dress nice and face the day…look good, feel good! And she perked right up because she knows she looks good in her fashionable wardrobe! 💃🏼

Pray today for her eye exam and for her to master this bottle business without her oxygen! She’s working hard!! 🙏🏼

Adjustments! Adjustments! Adjustments!

That seems to be the name of the game these days! Please lift up Emily Greer’s team as they figure out what is going to work best for her and keep her getting stronger and more independent of her supports!! 🙏🏼

🩷But is this not the sweetest, most content face? We may be a little anxious but Emily Greer knows it is all just fine! 🩷

Who knew this bottle feeding stuff would be so hard! Emily Greer talked Daddy into some snuggle time to make her feel better. It worked! 😍

It takes a lot of skills to drink a bottle and it’s sure tiring for this baby! She seems to get choked a little and just struggles from there. 😢

But she and her team are still working hard and we know she’s going to get it all figured out! It’s just frustrating to watch and wait…but we know it just takes time! 🩷

Emily Greer says she refuses to show her face if we make her try so hard on another bottle! 🙅🏼‍♀️🍼Dr. Whitton said she’s steering the boat when it comes to feeds, once again reiterating it’s Emily Greer’s world 🌎 and we’re just living in it. Everyone has said that the feedings are the hardest part. Big girl WANTS to eat but she’s not so sure about putting in all this extra work. 💅🏼

Big prayers she can get these bottle feeds down! 🙏🏼