She'd made a full recovery. There was no throbbing headache, no dizziness, no nausea. With her blood pressure under control once again, today Amanda was released to go home, but Eliana's fate was unknown. It had been a rough few days. The first 48 hours were scary. In that time, Eliana had spontaneously stopped breathing twice. She'd always resumed as though nothing happened, but it scared Amanda half to death.
She stood in the NICU now, gnawing on her lower lip while she watched Niels fawn over their newest family member. The kids were home with Rosa and Teun, waiting excitedly to hear that their little sister would be coming home today, but secretly Amanda hoped that wouldn't be the case. As much as she wanted her baby girlwith her , Eliana was safer in the hospital. She had 24-hour care and constant surveillance. If something were to go wrong, she had a competent staff readily available to fix it. "Love?" Niels' gentle voice brought her back to the present. "Ready?" he asked. He smiled excitedly. Eliana was comfortably buckled into her car seat, ready for the test. She looked so minuscule in the car seat; it was almost swallowing her whole. Amanda nodded and then the neonatal nurse went on to explain again that they'd be monitoring the baby's pulse and oxygen levels for 30 minutes of her sitting in the car seat. Often, the stats of low-weight infants dropped while in a car seat, so the test would determine if she was strong enough to survive the trip home. Amanda's mind strayed again, but before she knew it the test was over. Eliana was still peacefully asleep, her stats stable as a healthy, full-term baby. "We can take her home!" Niels exclaimed. But without warning, Amanda burst into tears. Of happiness, of fear... Niels' arms surrounded her. "Hey... We can do this," he promised. "She's a fighter. She'll be okay. We'll be okay. I promise."
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Amanda at a GlanceNames: Amanda Pontremoli, Amanda van Loon Archives
August 2017
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