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Today was a really good day. I think Cora woke up this morning and suddenly decided to get better. First, they were able to completely wean her from the dopamine this morning, her blood pressure has finally stabilized. Then, the doctors decided to take out her chest tube. Finally, they have her ventilator turned down very low, and so long as she handles it well, they're going to extubate her tomorrow! She'll still have the lines in, they're continuing to wean her from the pain medication but she still needs some, and also, she's still continuing with antibiotics. No idea how long before she can come home, but being off the ventilator and breathing on her own is huge. She'll still be on oxygen, but that's so much better than a vent. And she'll be able to eat on her own. And we'll finally be able to hold her again!

I can't even tell you how relieved we are. We even went out for dinner tonight with a few friends. We were supposed to have the New Year's party at our house, but when Cora got sick, none of our friends got together anyway. So it was nice to get together, toast the new year, and celebrate our good fortune and good health.

I'm really touched by the outpouring of support from friends (including all my blogging friends). Everyone has been so kind and caring during this difficult time. Honestly, all of the positive energy is exactly what we needed to make it through. I really appreciate the offer for gifts, too. For people who have never met me, and especially those of you who don't even know my name, to offer to send gifts, wow. I can't tell you how touched I am by the offer. We really don't need anything though. We already have everything we need for Cora. We are fortunate enough to have family that has helped us out, we received some generous monetary gifts. Along with our tax refund for 2007, we will be able to pay off the bulk of our medical bills from the pregnancy and pay off the rest over the next year. Sucks the money has to go to pay medical bills because we were under-insured. It would have been a nice start to her college fund, but oh well. (Next time around, we'll be sure to have a much better policy! Damn student health insurance.)

We would love, however, for those of you who can, to donate to either Cincinnati Children's Hospital (for the Fetal Care Center), or [outing the name of my mediocre school] KCH (for the PICU). It's even possible to make the donation in Cora's honor:

I also encourage giving in other ways, such as toys and books for the children. Or maybe you'd rather give to your own local children's hospital instead. For those of you who are currently broke law students and have no money to give, then we ask that you go give blood. Cora received that gift during her surgery, without which she wouldn't have made it through her surgery. (She even needed more blood afterwards.) While there isn't anything we need, I do want to make tribute to those who have saved our daughter's life by passing that gift onto others.

Again, I am really touched by everyone's support. It has helped tremendously.

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