January 12th, 2007 - 6:35 p.m.

Hello family and friends - We both want to express to all of you our sincerest appreciation for your loving support, thoughts and prayers. We feel like your positive thoughts and energy helped Lauren turn the corner. How could she not feel the love? Today was a good day.

Lauren remains somewhat sedated, and she has been slowly waking up today. Because of the narcotics used to control her pain, Lauren still needs the help of a ventilator. (The drugs relax so many functions including her ability to breathe.) We hope to have her back on regular oxygen soon. Her blood pressure is amazingly stable, which is a marked changed prior to the PDA ligation. She is producing lots of urine, which indicates that her kidneys are working fine and she is flushing her body of the drugs. Her color is good, and she is comfortably stable. They moved her out of the super station neonatal ICU post-op room and back to her isolette, where they can better control the humidity necessary to keep her skin from drying out. (Her skin was becoming fairly chapped, and flaky due to the dry heat lamps she was under in post-op.)

As with any surgery, there have been some recovery challenges. Her body is retaining some fluid, which she is starting to flush out with the help of a diuretic. However, that process takes a few days. So, some of that fluid remains in her lungs. When they moved her this afternoon, they completed a chest x-ray that revealed some congestion in her lungs. So, they will continue to monitor that to ensure it clears up over the next few days. There is also a continued murmur in her heart, but our medical team doesn't seem too concerned about it. However, they did indicate that it could be a sign that maybe the clip isn't holding. It's too early to tell, but something they will also continue to monitor. Tomorrow, they hope to start some small feedings to get her digestive track back up and running. (Kaia has completely filled our freezer with milk for what we hope will be a very hungry little girl!)

We're not out of the woods yet, but feel confident Lauren now has a chance to start thriving, and putting on the necessary weight. We slept great last night, and woke up this morning with a renewed sense of optimism and hope. We haven't cried today, so that is also a nice change.

Your thoughts and comments have made all the difference in the world, and we are glad to share her journey with all you despite how difficult it is to write these blogs some days. We must admit that sharing her life with you is incredibly cathartic, and in some way brings us closer to Lauren, as we can't really touch or feel her, and sometimes can't see her face. Anything to feel close to her.

Much love,

Grant and Kaia