Special Visit

Reese and Claire--Reese is only 5 weeks older than Claire!

Reese, Claire, Raylee, Will, and Ryland--this is the only decent picture I got out of about six!

Today we were blessed to see the Malletts again; they had to come to town to tie up a few loose ends. Leland and the three older kids hung out at our house while Harmony, Reese, Claire and I went to play bunko with friends from church. We had fun and were able to get a few pictures of all our kids together. It was good to see them again!

Pictures, Finally!

Our Internet is finally working well enough for me to post pictures! Here are a few from the last three weeks...can you believe she's already three weeks old?!

My mom (Nana) and Claire
My Dad (Grandpa) and Claire
Will, Grandpa, & Claire
Will likes to "pet" Claire
Scott's Dad (Papa) and Claire
Big eyes!

Just chillin' out
Hi!

Sleepy girl
Awake!

Life

It is now just the four of us; all the family has gone and we are trying to get used to our new life as a family of four. Claire is doing great. Thankfully she finally got the hang of nursing, so that is going a lot smoother. She still just sleeps most of the time, which is kind of nice. It's kind of easing us into this new sense of normalcy. Will is interested in his new sister, but not overly so. He likes to touch her on the head and kiss her every once in a while. He's always interested as to where she is. I am doing pretty good; still tired, of course, but catching sleep whenever I can. Scott, if you will remember, the best dad ever, so he is of course doing everything he can to help out.

Last week was quite an emotional week for me, what with just giving birth, having to stay in the hospital an extra day and seeing my two day old with an IV in her arm. On top of all that our best friends moved away. Harmony and Leland and their three precious kiddos moved out of Big Spring on Wednesday (a little over a week ago now) and we were fortunate enough to be able to share one last meal with them before they left. I had told myself, "don't cry, you've done enough of that in the last two days," but when we parted ways in the parking lot, I couldn't help it. The Malletts have been very special to us over the last several years. They had always been here and it seemed like we'd always have each other.

But it was inevitable that with Leland being a teacher and Scott a youth minister that one of our families would eventually move on, and it so happened that it was their time to do so. It hasn't hit me quite yet because of the fact that I've been occupied with Claire and visiting relatives, but soon I'll expect to see them at church or to get a call from Harmony asking me if I want to go eat lunch or head to Midland with her. And that isn't going to happen. I miss them incredibly already and it's going to be difficult getting used to life without them here. I'm so glad that we were able to become such good friends with them and I know that we will remain friends; we'll just have to visit the Metroplex a lot more often! (Harmony, get ready, because we're coming as soon as we can!).

***Of course, my computer still won't let me upload photos...I've tried three times already. As soon as I can, I'll get pics up. Don't give up on me yet!***

We are HOME!!

Yea, we were finally released from the hospital yesterday!! :) The culture came back negative for Group B, which is very good news and also what we expected. I am so glad to be out of the hospital! Claire has been doing great since we got her home, she's eaten and slept. Maybe later we'll attempt a bath. Unfortunately, our Internet is having difficulties right now...what a week for it to go nuts on us! Anyway, I have tried several times to post more pictures but keep getting shut down. So, I promise, as soon as I can get it to work, more pictures will come! Thank you to everyone who has been keeping us in your prayers!

Not Quite Home

We just got some news about Claire. When Lauren was pregnant with her, she was tested for Group B Strep and the test came back positive. That meant that Lauren had to have antibiotics when she was in labor to keep Claire from contracting the disease. When it was time to deliver, she did get the antibiotics. However, there was still a 5% chance that Claire could still get the infection. They did a culture to see if she had it (all of this is a fairly normal situation for Labor & Delivery staff). Unfortunately, the culture was tainted (other germs were in the culture that weren't supposed to be in there) which meant that it was not conclusive. They are going to perform another culture on Claire today.....which means she cannot come home like she was supposed to. As you can imagine, this is not fun news for the any of us.

If the culture comes back negative, then she can go home and it's no big deal. If the culture comes back positive, Claire gets to stay at the hospital for about 4 days while they give her antibiotics through an IV (which is normally placed in the baby's thigh or in her head). That will not be much fun. At Terri's (Lauren's mom) suggestion, they started the antibiotics today until they find out the results of the culture.

The most annoying thing about this situation is that they have known since Monday morning that the first culture they performed was tainted. However, they chose not to do a second one until TODAY. If they had done the culture yesterday when they realized the first one was tainted, Mother and Baby could be coming home now. Wouldn't it be nice if doctors thought about these kinds of things a little more thoroughly. :(-

So for now, Lauren is at the hospital feeding Claire and waiting. Please keep all of us in your prayers, especially the new momma who was supposed to come home with her little, precious baby today.

She's Here!!!

Claire Elise Prather was born on July 8, 2007 at 10:14 a.m. in Big Spring, TX. She weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces and was 19 inches long. Both mother and daughter are doing very well. We will have more pics and information in the very near future!!!

Still Pregnant!

Yes, I'm still pregnant! We've made it to 37 weeks ;) I went to my regular doctor yesterday morning and he said that since I was to be 37 weeks today, I didn't have to be on bed rest or take Terbutaline anymore after last night. He even said I could go to work. So, I came home from the doctor's office, reported what he told me to Scott and went to work yesterday! So, technically, I only missed about 30 minutes worth of work between Friday and Monday. One of the ladies at work is convinced that I am going to have Claire on Saturday and her birthday will be 07- 07 -07. Honestly, I think that would be pretty cool, but I'm not holding my breath.

A small update on my grandma: her surgery went well yesterday; it lasted about 12 hours. The doctor said the tumor was about as large as his fist. It ended up being wrapped around her brain stem, so it is very good that they did the surgery to remove it. He said it was a life-threatening tumor. We are thankful that the surgery went well. Of course, she is still in ICU and I haven't heard anything today, but that is what I know as of last night when the surgery was finally over. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for her.

Well, I'm off to try and take a nap. It's getting harder and harder to sleep at night, so maybe I can catch a few winks this afternoon!