Cute as a button

Emma was the star of my trip to Iowa City this week! I was excited enough to see Diane and John, but it was a pleasant surprise to get to see Emma, too. She is adorable. Small but perfect in every way, with fuzzy hair and soft pink skin and big, beautiful eyes. She was happily wiggling around, opening her eyes when she heard Mommy's voice, peeing and pooping up a storm. What more can you ask? Di and John, with the help of the great music therapists, made a recording of them reading stories and singing to Emma, so she can hear their voices even when they're not able to be there. It's very clear she's surrounded by caring nurses, respiratory therapists, and all sorts of other people in scrubs. One of the captains of Emma's cheerleading team, Aunt Martha, came by while Diane, Danette, and I were there, making it very clear that though Emma is small, her fan club is big.

Emma will have her ups and downs. This week there were a couple of scary moments. She essentially got a goober (yes, that's the medical term--ha) stuck in her throat, causing all her alarms to go off and her oxygen rates to plummet, but the medical team swooped in and took care of her quickly. Also, it sounds like getting all of her electrolytes, glucose, and such balanced is just always a moving target, which is totally normal.

Even though it's clear that Emma's in a place that can and does care for very sick babies, Emma is healthy and thriving and is worthy of tremendous celebration and smiles. On one hand I've felt the need to show sympathy to Di and John because even though all is well, it's a scary situation. But Di has said over and over that they're just so happy and proud and blessed to have their little Emma Mae--so let the jubilation and joy be magnified.

That's the news from Iowa City, where the women are strong (especially Diane), the men are good looking (that's John) and the children are above average (Lucas and Emma, of course).