Just like a real baby!

As Amanda stated in the previous post, Clare is in her little cradle and has no IV tubes in her any more. What a joyous day!

To get here, she had to maintain her body temperature well enough for long enough to get here, and by last night, she did it. She's still not permanently out of the woods--if she keeps a low temperature for long enough, she won't digest her milk very well, and it will be back in the isolette/terrarium with her. It will be wonderful to just come in and grab her out of her cradle and hold her without relocating 7 tubes and wires.

She's found a peculiar (yet familiar to most parents) way to let us know she needs changing. Wow. She doesn't even need to scream or even fuss. Just sitting down next to her cradle and taking a whiff is enough.

In this shot you can see her gavage tube dermaplasted to the side of her face. She likes to grab it and yank, so as much of it is taped over as possible. The gavage tube is symbolic of her last major hurdle: she has to be able to ask for and take full feeds without complications. We work with her twice a day on this, figuring that any more will needlessly wear her out and make a next attempt that much harder, since she will be more tired.

Amanda and I also went to work today after her 8 AM care. I had a workshop for a new Civics curriculum in the morning and had to get checked out of PHS formally for the year. Amanda is going to start her limited schedule back at Fife High School, starting with a couple of hours and working her way up. She wants to save some of her sick leave and vacation time for when Clare actually comes home and we can spend full quality time with her.

We can wait to get her home from the context that we want to have her here and keep her, but in the same token, we want her here as soon as possible. As anyone with a preemie or chronically ill relative knows, living at TG is tolerable, but not the greatest thing in the world.