It's a girl!

She's here early...9 weeks early...Harper Elaine Doyel was born on November 11, 2010 in Guatemala City. I had an emergency c-section due to an infection and at 7:04pm, our precious babe was born!  She is doing well, really well, considering being only 30 weeks old, but we realize we have a long journey ahead.  We will make frequent updates on here with pictures and prayer requests.  She's adorable, she's ours, and we are so happy that she is  doing well.

Today is day 9 and Harper continues to amaze us.  She's more alert and awake and they are taking tubes out one by one. Each day she tolerates more and more food which will help her to grow. They haven't weighed her again since her birth but we're assuming she's still around the same as when she was born.  Her color has gotten a lot better and her skin is silky smooth.  We have been reading to her which she seems to enjoy because she calms down and just holds on to our finger and listens.  Yesterday while I was reading and Nate was holding on to her (not holding her yet, just putting his hand on her head and on her butt) she just laid there with her eyes open.  She has completely stolen our hearts and we are so in love with her.

Our prayers continue to evolve as things continue to change, but right now we are:

• praising God for the steps that have already been made: off the ventilator, eating more each day, not showing signs of infection, breathing well, and going "poopis" (as they say in the hospital) on her own multiple times a day.
• asking God to protect her body from infection which they say is the next biggest risk.  They are taking the tubes out of her belly button to avoid infection.
• asking that He make her lungs strong and developed to continue breathing independently
• praying that she make a full recovery to a 'normal' newborn-mentally, physically, and emotionally

  THANK YOU for your thoughts and prayers for us and Harper, we have felt such encouragement from everyone in this most difficult time of our lives.  Friends are making us meals, running errands for us, sending emails, calling, praying, visiting, etc. and we are so thankful for these things.  Like Nate said in one of the update emails, it's nice to know that while we pursue a life abroad, family and friends all over the world still feel very close to us especially in a time like this.

If you would like to call us, we would love it.  The number is 011-502-5704-2944 and if we don't answer, just leave a message and we'll call you back.  We are visiting Harper two times a day around 10am and 7pm.

Again, thanks for all your support, we love you.

Nate, Laura, and Harper