Meriah continues to breathe on her own.  I was in with Crissy and Adam when the nurse transfered baby Meriah onto Adam's bare chest -- skin-to-skin time!  Meriah has a lot of mouth movement.  She looks like she's trying to nurse.  These mouth movements sometimes come without her being touched.  As she settled onto Adam's chest, she opened her eyes for the first time.&nb

Baby Meriah is off the ventilator and is breathing on her own.  Adam said she took advantage of her new freedom and stuck her tongue out.  The next few hours will be particularly critical.  Continue to pray that her breathing continues, and also that her brain functionality continues to be healed.

Praise God!

Adam and Crissy have made the decision to take Meriah off the ventilator.  They will not put her back on if she stops breathing on her own.  Her breathing still looks good.  Continue to pray.

Adam and Crissy have spoken with the head doctor.  His recommendation is to go ahead and take Meriah of the ventilator.  He says that her lungs are completely clear now.  He expects that she will be able to breathe on her own now; she is initiating every breath on her own.  He says that more time on the ventilator will not improve her prospects.

I just arrived at the hospital.  Adam and Crissy spoke with the neurologist earlier.  He says that he is seeing some glimmer of hope.  He saw some response when shining the light in Meriah's eyes, and said her shoulder is stronger.  This is just a small positive sign, but it is enough that he has recommended keeping her on the ventilator to avoid adding additional stress to

I arrived safely in Charlottesville, and was able to spend a few minutes with beautiful baby Meriah.  I had caught a brief look at her before she was rushed away from the hospital in Harrisonburg, but it wasn't enough to realize what cute little gal she is.

Update from Somer:

Meriah's breathing is significantly better, but she is not response except for reflexive movement.  Doctors would expect her to be moving at the temperature she's at now.  If you put your finger in her hand, it will squeeze, or if you touch her foot it will twitch, but aside from these reflexes, nothing.  Somer says she doesn't open her eyes at all.

Just called Somer for the latest:

They've talked to the doctors who are still not very optimistic.  Meriah is not warming as quickly as they hoped she would.  Earlier today she wasn't breathing on her own, but since then she's been breathing about a third of the time.

Meriah's warming has been moved earlier; it began at 5am.

Somer just got off the phone with Adam, who just talked with the doctor.  The doctor is not positive.  He says that Meriah is not heavily sedated, but is not responsive, and has not been trying to breathe on her own today.  He says that babies with lowered body temperatures can still respond to stimuli, and they are not seeing this.  Because of the extended time with low oxy