While 2011 started out pretty rocky for us, it ended on a prosperous high!  The best thing in the world happened in January.  Well, actually, January didn't start out so well.  I was almost 32 weeks pregnant when I was put on strict bed rest due to pre eclampsia.  I had gone in for a routine non stress test and after three nurses checked my blood pressure & asked me a couple of questions I ended up in the hospital waiting for a C section.   But, luckily after two day of waiting for the steroid shots to work their magic on Corrine's lungs, my blood pressure stabilized enough to go home on bed rest.  We made it to 33 weeks and had a C section to bring little Miss Corrine Elaine into the world on January 13, 2011.  My blood sugar had dropped down into the 40's (which is pretty low) right before surgery and it made Corrine's blood sugar drop.  The doctors were planning on taking her down to the NICU anyway since she was seven weeks early, but with her low blood sugar they rushed her down after cleaning her up.  

We got to hold her briefly before they started working on her in the NICU.  

Bryan and I were practice parents.  We were completely under the supervision of some totally AWESOME nurses.  She ended up staying in the NICU for three weeks.  Corrine was on O2 and a feeding tube not to mention the other wires that monitored her heart rate and temperature.   In order to be discharged from the NICU she had to take all of her formula out of a bottle in an allotted time for a 24 hour period.  She was discharged on O2 and stayed on O2 for two months.  Apparently it is normal to send infants home on O2 in Colorado.  The doctors told us that if we lived at sea level she wouldn't have had to go home on O2.  

Fast forward through 2011, Corrine is hitting all of her developmental milestones.  She makes us laugh every day.  She is a healthy, very happy baby and we couldn't be more grateful for that.  I can't imagine what we ever did without her.  

In an economy where the unemployment rate is at an all time high, I am most grateful for my job.   Although it pales in comparison to the birth of my sweet baby girl, it is a job I love and it give me the flexibility to stay home most of the week with Corrine.   It also gives me health benefits for us, so that even after all of our hospital expenses we were still able to pay for having a baby.  I don't take that lightly.  

This is a picture from my office window.  It's actually the porthole window in the forward galley of an Airbus 320 flying over the Rocky Mountains.