Thanksgiving Ups and Downs

Thanksgiving arrived, and Claire Grace continues to be cared for in the NICU. So instead of baking pies and roasting turkey, Jim and I opted to keep Annie and Justin company at the hospital, visit little Claire, and create Thanksgiving memories of a nontraditional kind. During the last couple of days Claire has endured little spells where she stops breathing. It happened at first during feeding times as she was working so hard to eat. Then later some of them occurred during her sleep. She just sleeps so hard that she forgets to breathe! So, the newest development is that on Thanksgiving day the doctor decided she needed to be on oxygen. So another "wire" has been added, and below you can see her "new look." The good news is that she is no longer under the lights for jaundice (she was taken off once and then needed to be put back under), and though she had lost weight, she is now gaining. She is almost back to her birth weight. In spite of all that Claire has been through so far (they just keep poking needles in my feet!) she is so sweet and mellow.

We finally convinced Grandpa Jim to hold her, and here they are together. He looks pretty comfortable with her, doesn't he?

Between feedings, we hung out in one of the lounges at the hospital and played Phase 10 and Hearts (yes, even Annie!!) Then Jim and I went over to Annie and Justin's house where I heated up our Thanksgiving dinner of Corn Bread Stuffed peppers, salad, and rolls, and then we brought it over and ate together. We were glad to be able to be together, though not in a way we would have planned or expected. Little Claire Grace is our newest blessing, and we'll take her however she is given.


*As a postscript to the "Ups and Downs" of Thanksgiving - one of the ups was that the hospital didn't charge for parking. The downer, though, was that a local cop decided to bless us with a speeding ticket on our way over to Annie and Justin's to get dinner. You know, one of those end-of-the-month, holiday quota things. Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, sir!