Today Was A Great Day!

Each day that goes by, we feel more and more blessed. It's amazing how much love we hold in our hearts for our little girl - she has already filled us with more joy than you can imagine. We woke up this morning, had our wonderful hospital breakfast :) and headed down to the NICU to visit Harper and see how the night went. When we got there, she was sleeping and looked so precious. We snapped a quick picture of her "thinking face" and couldn't stop smiling looking at it. We also listened in on the de-briefing from the doctors, which was very positive! They ran through a few numbers which were way over our heads, but when they got to the new x-ray they asked if we wanted to see it. They pulled up the x-ray from this morning, and I could just hear Mitch say "Oh wow, that looks great!!" He has been the "x-ray guy" the last couple days and knows how things looked from the beginning. The doctors even joked with him that he is getting a crash course in radiology. The x-ray looked wonderful, and the chest tube is clearly doing its job. They kept the tube in today, but plan to shut it off tomorrow to see if the problem is fixed. They'll shut the tube off for 12 hours and monitor if any air is leaking back in. At that point, they'll clamp it - wait a couple hours and take a new x-ray to see if the tear is healed. Everything looked great today, and we're optimistic that the problem is solved. 

 Working through a calculus problem. 

We spent most of our day down with Harper. The three of us shared a special moment which warmed my heart. She had Mitch's finger gripped in her right hand, and mine in her left. She was wide awake and just kept looking back and forth at the two of us. We both said it melted our hearts, and she is the best gift we could ever ask for. Our family of three was all together! I was also able to start feeding her, which was great! We had two successful feedings today, and hope to sneak one more in tonight. She was getting pretty consistent on a 3-hour feeding schedule, and we'd like to stick with that as much as possible. She is doing great during feeding, which is very reassuring! Harper also met so many new faces today! Melissa and Jenna stopped by this afternoon to visit. They were able to go down and meet Harper, she was even awake for them to see. We also celebrate our "Mini-Christmas" here at the hospital. Since Matt & Jenny are in town from Arizona, we originally planned to celebrate Christmas this weekend. Clearly our plans changed a bit with Harper joining us, but we made it work. Every year we play this dice game, we refer to as "Yankee Swap." We gathered everyone in the family lounge and got to continue our yearly tradition. It was so great to see everyone and be together. It was nice to introduce Harper to more family members! 

Let the swapping begin! 

Aunt Jenny :)

Aunt Jennie :)

Uncle Austin :) 

She is so good at smiling with her eyes! 

At the hospital, they offer all new parents a "Celebration Dinner." Mitch and I enjoyed our celebratory meal tonight! We came back to our room to find our trays full of food and a flower to make it extra fancy. Mitch's tray was filled with a deluxe cheeseburger, baked potato, side salad and two chocolate chip cookies. I had chicken, baked potato, side salad and an ice cream cup. Even though it felt a little like high school, it was still fun to enjoy our "Celebration Dinner" together. 

Celebration Dinner! Notice the flower. 

My dinner, complete with a Diet Coke! 

Overall today was a great day! We spent some quality time with Harper, received great news regarding her tube, started breastfeeding, celebrated with a "fancy" dinner and having family here for Christmas! We're staying positive and hope to receive more good news tomorrow. 

Until next time...

-The Helleen's