The first month

It's almost impossible to imagine that Claire has been in our lives for a month already, though in all honesty the first week was such a blur that I think that I feel a little cheated.

The first 2-3 days consisted of me pumping in my hospital room in-between visitors and nursing assessments, then trying to make it to the NICU for Claire's every 4 hour 'cares' (which at that time consisted of a diaper change and temperature). Initially she was in an isolette to help her with temperature regulation, but because of her being the fighter she is, she was in a big girl crib within just about a week after being born.

Our biggest concern (after knowing that she was more stable than expected) was whether there was a perforation or other issue with her bowels. We wouldn't know this until she started taking oral feeds and since breast milk (colostrum specifically) is the absolute best the doctors wanted to wait until my milk came into feed her. No pressure there... I kept pumping and doing manual expression day and night but things seemed to be very slow going-especially since it seemed everyone was watching and waiting... Finally at day 4-5 I was able to get colostrum for miss Claire and they didn't see any initial signs of a problem but they wouldn't know for sure until she worked up to taking a full feed. At this point a NG tube was placed so they could give her the breast milk. Prior to the NG tube she was receiving all of her nutrition from an IV which started out in her hand, then she had two in her poor head. Luckily (and thankfully) after the second head IV went bad she was taking enough through the NG tube that an IV was no longer needed.

While in the hospital it was relatively easy to go back and forth between the NICU and my hospital room but on day 5 I was discharged and we now had to figure out when and how (who would watch Owen) to get to Claire's cares which were now every 3 hours. We were (and still are) extremely blessed to have AMAZING support from family (moms,  Deborah, Jeannie) and my friend Wendy so that we were able to make regular visits during the first couple weeks while Jake was off work.

From the very beginning Claire showed us that just in case we were wondering, yes- she was the fighter we thought she was while in utero. She has showed us every day that she is running the show... Feisty yet sensitive, and a bit of a princess too :)

Today, on her one month birthday, she was diagnosed with a VSD (ventricular septal defect) which basically means  there are several little holes between the 2 ventricles in her heart. Claire,being the the tough little girl that she is, has no major symptoms (other than being tired) and her body seems to be compensating well. The cardiologists have said that most likely she won't need surgery and we will just need to follow up with them in a month.

I think it's safe to say that our little Claire has been and will continue to be full of surprises...