Daily Hope: New Year

Hope: Day 25; looking so sweet and innocent

Hope rang in the New Year with style, as expected. She had another good day today. She has remained off the Dopamine, has been on room-air on the ventilator, and has continued to do well with her feedings. A chest x-ray today revealed that her right lung has re-expanded and is doing great!

Today Hope had an "interesting" moment. Grandpa would probably refer to the moment as "unlady like" at best, but Aunt Em refers to it as "blossoming personality". So this is how it went... at the end of the day, Grandpa was getting ready to go for dinner so he told Hope something to the effect of "Hi Hope, it's Grandpa, I'm leaving now, but I'll be back tomorrow. I love you." To which Hope responded with some interesting body language. First, she raised her little fist up to her cheek, then she raised her middle finger, ONLY her middle finger. To which it is most likely that Grandpa gasped or something, and then she put the same hand over her ear, covering her ear, not wanting to listen. Aunt Em thinks this is a great sign, not only is Hope overly active, but she also is blossoming with an incredible personality!! Oh, and she OBVIOUSLY knows what is going on and was a little bit mad that Grandpa was leaving and expressed her sentiments. Either way, it was definitely one of those precious, priceless moments, a moment worthy of a Discover commerical:

• 3.5 weeks of Mom on bedrest in hospital: $thousands of dollars
• Emergency c-section for preemie Hope: $tens of thousands of dollars
• Being flipped off by your 26 day old 1.5 pound granddaughter: priceless

Today, the first day of 2009, brought Hope a new look for her fashion show. Today, Hope is sporting a wonderful pink fluffy hat, designed and handcrafted by Peggy, Hope's favorite respiratory therapist (sorry for those other RT's out there but maybe if you bring the hats Hope's opinions could change).

Hope's family had some more visitors today. John & Pat Durham stopped in Indianapolis today for the SECOND time to see the family... AND they brought some incredibly adorable little clothes!!! In case you didn't hear before, John & Pat happened to be able to stop at the hospital on the day that Hope was transferred and had surgery, their presence was so helpful and appreciated at that extremely intense and emotional time.

Dad gave today, the first day of 2009, a rating of 7. Hope maintained and continued with her tiny progression forward. Also, we haven't been keeping score lately, but today would appear to be 1 point for Daddy seeing as Hope's hat is still on.