Where has the year gone?!

It's hard to believe that my last post was about the Donut Dash back in November! It's amazing how time flies. Since then, so much has happened:

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Easter

In May I went into labor and during my stay at the hospital we discovered that I had a kidney stone that was causing my contractions. I was given a shot and medication to stop my labor, and it was effective for 10 days. Then, my water broke. There's nothing you can do to stop that! On June 28th, we welcomed Claire Lynn to our family.

She was 4 weeks early, but still 6 lbs 5 ounces and seemed healthy and happy!

She sure is loved by all of her siblings.

In August, we blessed her and were so happy to have Mike's folks and mine come out for it.

A few weeks later I was visiting Utah when my dad mentioned that he was troubled by Claire's breathing.

I had noticed that she held her breath while sleeping, but it hadn't concerned me - Mike has sleep apnea and has to wear a CPAP, and James had to have his tonsils taken out when he was 3 because of breathing problems. Still, when we got home from our visit, I decided to watch her closer while she slept. What I found was that she was stopping breathing for about 15 seconds at a time, all night long. I took her into our doctor, who ordered a sleep test, a chest xray, and a consult from a pediatric pulminary specialist. They discovered that her blood oxygen level was falling to below 80% (it should ALWAYS stay above 90% in infants) for 5% of the night, and below 90 for 20% of the night. They decided to put her on oxygen until either she grows out of it, or we find out what's causing it. It could be that her lungs stopped developing when I went into labor with her, it could be large tonsils, it could be silent GERD that makes her aspirate on milk, it could be neurological. 

Mike has given her (and me) a myriad of blessings, and I truly feel blessed that we caught it before something horrible, like SIDS, happened. Since she's been on the oxygen, she's been more alert, more vocal, and more hungry! I am so happy she joined our family!!!

On the 9th of October, Mike and I celebrated our 10th anniversary! We have known each other for 20 years now, and I am so thankful for the way our lives have progressed. I would marry him a thousand times over if I got to make the choice again!

This month, when we came back up to Utah, my grandparents came by for a visit and got to meet Claire for the first time. It's also the first time in over a year that the rest of the kids have seen them. I'm glad they had the chance to play a little and build that relationship.