Sunday, June 22, 2008

More Clara (because that's what you really want)

On Saturday morning, we were informed that Clara had to go to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit because she had fast breathing, low oxygen saturation and increased levels of inflammation markers in her blood.
They started her on some intravenous antibiotics and gave her some oxygen to breathe. After about 6 hours on the oxygen, she was able to go back to breathing regular room air, and has been breathing slower and having 95- to 100-percent oxygen saturation ever since. Hooray for her!
As for the inflammation markers, they are down, but still a lot higher than where they should be. For that reason, it is expected she will be in the NICU for 5 to 7 more days, meaning we get to live in the hospital! Hooray for us! (not really, but really, because while not very comfortable, we can still go in every 3 hours to feed our little beauty and hold her and care for her and change her diaper and bathe her and just be her parents and never let her go, except when we have to leave) The hospital staff has really been great and we are so blessed to be able to stay here as long as they have an extra room.
While she gets the antibiotic treatments, we are trying to let all her time be spent eating or sleeping, so she has lots of energy for her little body to fight off whatever is bothering it. The thought of staying here for a week is daunting, but our families are making it a lot easier. Jordan's siblings came up this morning and brought our clothes (the hospital makes the list as Homeless Shelter #2) and lunch, and then his parents brought dinner and stuff for breakfast later. Crystal's mom is coming up Monday to stay for a while, and also stayed with us on Saturday for a few hours. Their support and the prayers of so many of you are greatly, greatly appreciated. This has been a humbling experience for us and has made us so grateful for all we have and all the wonderful people around us who love us.
We will continue to post updates (thanks to McKay-Dee Hospital Center's free wireless Internet!) and pictures as they are available. For the meantime, enjoy a couple pictures here ... one with one of the cute bows made by Crystal's sister, Maren (see the link on the right of the page for more of her awesome bows), and another of Clara smiling after being urged on by Jordan's mom.

3 comments:

PML said...

Oh, she is so adorable! Newborns are so sweet. I'm sorry to hear she has to stay in the hospital for an extra week. That is no fun at all. But thank goodness for doctors, medicine, tests, and all the great advancements we have. It makes the stress levels stay under control. Good luck! I hope she can come home (wherever that may be next) soon!

Ali said...

Aww, that smile is so cute. She is an absolute doll. We'll have to call you guys and arrange something else it sounds like as far as a visit goes...especially if she's in recovery still. I'm sorry you have to be there still. But thankgoodness they found all this before you went home and are getting her healthy and prepped to go home! Keep posting pictures!!

amelia said...

CONGRATS YOU TWO!! What a beautiful baby girl.