Maybe kinda sorta a good day?

With Clara starting steroids yesterday, and our recent luck, we really didn't know what today would bring. We thought we received our first indication in the parking garage at the hospital this morning. Chris was driving behind an old woman going slow enough that a line of cars formed behind her as we ascended the various levels to find available parking. Finally, this woman decided to park in a handicapped spot - yes, the handicapped tag was already hanging from her rear view mirror. Unfortunately, she was well past the spot when she decided to park, so she put her car in reverse. The only problem was Chris was the first car behind her. Chris couldn't back up because of the cars behind her and couldn't move to the side because there was no room, so she started honking her horn. The old granny in front never flinched as she backed right into Chris.

It gets better. As you know, we totaled Chris' car a few weeks ago and have been driving Morgan's parents' old beat-up 1996 full-size Buick station wagon. It is literally a tank with wood panelling. However, when the old woman got our of her car she told Chris "I didn't see you." What!?! The wagon is the size of a small island, the headlights were on, and Chris was laying into the horn while frantically waving her arms and screaming at the woman to "STOP!". Stevie Wonder could have avoided our car. Then the woman said, "I just want to get in that spot, so could you back up a little?" Chris tried to politely explain there were other cars behind her and agreed to drive around and come back to get her insurance information. The wagon actually received a pretty good battle scar, but the cargo was just fine. 

We weren't all that phased by our luck in the parking garage and just thought this was going to be another typical day in the summer of 2011 . . . but it actually sorta kinda turned out to be a good day. Most importantly, Clara and Wilson were wonderful today. Clara has only been receiving steroids for 24 hours but is already showing improvement. She is consistently between 21 - 28% on her oxygen and is down to 2.5 liters of pressure. (She was at 40-45% oxygen and four liters of pressure this weekend. Oxygen is like golf, the lower the scores the better you're doing). We won't know the short-term outcome of this steroid treatment until the weekend, but are celebrating her current improvements. Clara also gained a little weight and is now up to 3 lbs, 5 oz. Pretty soon they will begin weening her from the temperature controls in her isolette and we'll be able to dress her in some of her cute preemie clothes.

Wilson also had another good day. He weighs 3 lbs, 13 oz and is barreling toward four pounds! He is breathing on his own for the fifth day in a row and getting cuter by the second. Also, both kids tried nursing today. It was Wilson's third time nursing and Clara's first. Both kids did fairly well and will hopefully receive at least one of their daily feedings naturally or from a bottle in the next ten days. They have to be able to receive all of the food naturally or from a bottle before they can come home, which is part of the reason we get excited about these improvements.

We have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but are thankful for a reprieve from an otherwise pretty stressful week. Hopefully these good trends continue. (And really, can we catch a break on the car wrecks?)

Wilson tried to pull out his feeding tube, but
look at those chubby little fingers!