Phew, while writing this, I can see my last blog. That was a really long time ago! Well, first of all I don't have access to the internet anymore, which is a real bummer to this blog, but whenever I can get it back I'll try to post more often.

The biggest news is obviously that Celes has been born, but everything didn't go as planned. She was born at McAlester Regional Medical Center in McAlester, OK at 10:00 AM on February 26th. She weighed 5 pounds 4 ounces and was 19 inches long. She was about one month premature. The reason we went to the hospital in the first place was because Kim's blood pressure was up. After staying overnight she was having contractions, so they had to go ahead and take her. When she was out, she only cried very lightly once or twice for a couple of seconds, and she wasn't breathing for quite some time. So, after getting out of the delivery room, they took her out and put her in another room where they could keep an oxygen mask over her. She stopped breathing several times and was having seizures, so later that day they decided to take her to St. Francis' EOPC (Eastern Oklahoma Perinatal Center) in Tulsa, OK. There she has remained, until this date. We're hoping to have her home in about a month or so, if everything goes well.

The reasons for her stay are varied. At first she was having apnic periods and seizures, so they explored all the causes, but the cause was, sadly enough, in the brain. The doctor said it was maldeveloped, and it was the part of the brain that affected movement and motor skills, including breathing. They don't know what this will cause in the long run. She's also had 2 surgery's. The first was a PDA ligation, and the second was to put in a trachea tube and G tube. The first is a hole in her throat to help her breath, the second is to feed her through (since you can't feed a baby with a hole in its throat).

My family has been more than helpful these past couple of months. My mother has raised a whole bunch of money through fundraisers and donation jars, and practically every family member I can think of has sent a card to us or cash or whatever. I've lost my job because I had to spend all my time with her, but they say I can get my job back when I'm ready to come back. I just hope they're not lying (of course they also told me I wouldn't lose my job in the first place).

We were staying at the Ronald McDonald house in Tulsa right beside the hospital, but we had to leave because we weren't able to spend enough time with Celes, but it was just too hard to spend a lot of time with her because she was on the minimal handling protocol which meant we couldn't hold, touch, or talk over her for the first few weeks, and after that, there just wasn't much room beside her bed to see her and remain comfortable. But, even still, we stayed as much as we could and were constantly calling and checking on her.

I taped a lot of what went on on Michael's digital video camera. Sometime in the future I will copy it all and burn it to CD, but for now I have other priorities...

Also, Kim and I have decided to start a diet. The Atkins Diet... From reading the book, and learning why and how a person gains weight, we feel like we can quickly and easily burn off these extra pounds and get to our recommended weights. Its a really good book, I would recommend that everybody try it...

Sorry, but since I haven't been online in a long time, I don't know any websites off hand for the site of the day... Anyway, later everybody!