Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Making Progress

We just got home from visiting Clara at the hospital along with Cristina's parents, Dan and Brenda, and what a great visit it was! She passed the dye test this morning which means that her esophagus doesn't have any leaks, so they were able to take out the chest tube that had been in place to drain the surgery area. She was obviously much happier about this situation because we were able to handle her quite a bit and she didn't fuss or get upset at all. She was alert, making eye contact and looking around most of the time we were there, so that was great because up until now we haven't gotten to see her eyes much.

The next step to being able to bring Clara home and start the next chapter of our family will be her success with nursing. In fact, just as we were getting ready to leave tonight, Clara was looking like she wanted to try eating (sucking on her hand, turning her head). So Cristina gave it a try and it was a good first attempt! The best part was just seeing the two of them interact more and knowing it means that she's closer to coming home. We can't wait!

I also wanted to post the below video from last Friday, the day her breathing tube was removed. It was a big day for Clara and Cristina got to give her some medicine in her newly functional mouth!

3 comments:

Ben and Kristi Graves said...

oh my word! she is so precious! =) thanks for sharing the good news and sweet video! can't wait til you can have her home where she belongs!

The West Family said...

Ooh... I just can't get enough of her sweetness. She looks totally excited to be in Oompa's arms! And I heard that Nana got to change a poopie... very exciting! Auntie can't wait until her turn to hold her:) Hannah loved the video... Give her kisses from all of us!

Caryn said...

Praise the Lord for this great progress! Keep taking lots of pics & videos. What a great testimony she'll have to show & tell of the goodness of God!