December 23, 2009

Aisling Catherine Brewster was born on December 16, 2009. She came 11 weeks early and weighed 1lb. 11oz. and was 13 inches long. Baby Aisling is currently being taken care of in the NICU at University of Illinois Medical Center. Since day one, she has shown tremendous strength and determination. Every day she has made progress and is thriving. Over the past 7 days, she has increased her lung functioning and has been using the least restrictive oxygen intake. She has also increased her food intake from 1cc of milk per day to 4cc's. With this increase in food, she should start to pack on the pounds. Our hope for her is to gain weight, start breathing on her own, and to maintain her own body temperature.

Every time we visit Aisling, she is quite active. We've had many opportunities to hold her. She's even mad a few funny faces while we sing to her. All in all, she is doing quite well.

Ger and I would like to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers. We are extremely grateful for all of your support and help, especially while Ger is still in the hospital battling high blood pressure, heart and lung problems, and a dislocated knee.

We are hopeful that Ger will be out of the hospital in time for Christmas, so that we can have some sense of normalcy in our lives right now.

Stay tuned for further information.

Much love,

Chuck and Geraldine