B- (minus)

Today when we visited Victoria (at 9am) the doctor said he would give her a B- (minus). She was not exactly where he wanted her to be today. He did remove her chest tube, so that was one improvement. However, they are still in the process of weening her off of the drugs she has been administered. They were hoping to start bottle-feeding her today, but that will probably be put off another day. Actually, right now they decided to stop feeding her milk and just give her a drip until she levels out a little more. When we visited her this morning, she was sleeping. The doctor wants her to be more awake than she is but not as agitated as she has been while awake. They are trying to find a happy medium for her. Our hope was to be a room with Victoria today, but that looks to be put off until tomorrow unless she shows signs of needing to be held in CICU a little longer. In this picture, you can see where her incision was.

This morning we saw the surgeon again, Dr. Knott-Craig. Each time we've seen him he describes Victoria as his "difficult little baby" because of her delicate surgery. We took a picture with him so you can see what he looks like. He's a very nice man. You can see an interview with him on http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3895075412000707339.

Marie Harbison dropped by today and treated us to lunch. She's been a great blessing to us. When we returned for our 1pm visit, we were surprised by some of Mark's family. Here is a photo of Mark with his cousin, Stella, and her children (Harrison, Caroline and Mallory). It was great to see them, even if it was for a short period of time.

Mark and I had a visit from one of his life-long friends, Lloyd White, yesterday. Lloyd was so sweet to take us out for dinner. We had a great time visiting with him.

I believe that the adrenaline from the past week is wearing off and I'm feeling tired and at times, a little down. It's been such an emotional week that it's worn me out. For this reason, it sure has been a blessing to receive all the visits from old friends and new friends that we have met during our stay here in Birmingham. I cannot say enough that God is good. He has sustained us during a crazy time. When we thought we were at the end of our rope, He would show us that either the rope was a little longer or that His hand was right under us when we couldn't hold onto the rope any longer. He has never let us fall and He has never left us alone. He has shown us His love through His Word, our circumstances and His children. He is a great God!

PS - Look at these claws! Mama needs to clip those nails!