What a week!

It's been one heck of a week for us.

First of all, we have a new blog host, as it seems our old one has gone out of business. If you are reading this, you got the new link. Thankfully, Clare's Grandma Nardah had printed out the old e-Bloggy posts, so we transcribed them into this new Blogspot blog (God bless you, Nardah!).

Second, on Tuesday, Clare had a significant setback. At her care at 2 AM, it was apparent from her diaper that she had been bleeding. This happens in preemies as their underdeveloped digestive system gets used to milk and formula, but could have several causes, including bacterial infection. Because of that, she went off feeds immediately and went back to the electrolytic IV fluids and emulsified fat she was fed in the NICU, and will remain on that for her life support for the next remaining three days, to let the contents of her intestines empty and to let them heal. Our most wonderful nurse practitioner Meg Keith broke the horrible news to us when we got to TG for her 8:00 AM care. It was a tough day all around, and it seemed for the rest of the day that we couldn't do anything right. We did continue the kangaroo care.

A little about "kangaroo care": it is a method of holding Clare close to our skin for long periods of time to assist in bonding to her parents. Unlike term babies that get plenty of bonding chances with their folks, preemies spend most of their time sleeping in isolettes, and this diminishes their bonding capacity with their parents. Studies show that babies who go through kangaroo care have less bonding issues with their parents, are able to nurse better and more frequently, and have been shown to have less emotional issues later on. Definitely worth the time (and quite wonderfully comforting for the parents too).

She was healthy enough to stay in the ICN, although she remains in her Giraffe isolette incubator. She's starting to wear clothes like sleepers and preemie t shirts, is still growing (despite being taken off foods), and is starting to realize when she opens her eyes that those people are her mama and daddy (or at least the milk lady and the hairy chest one).