Three years ago this week...

...I was getting ready to have my little girl. 

I thought I'd repost the blog entry I made right after Hannah was born.  Enjoy!!! 

Cheers!
Sharon

P.S. Easter photos are still on my camera (there aren't too many)...I'll post them soon.

April 13, 2007 - 11:08:36 AM

Written By: Sharon

Hello All-

 

Well, as most of you are probably aware, Hannah Rose has arrived!!! She was born on April 9th at 10:17 PM. Right along, we have called her our little diva, and her arrival into the world followed suit.

We were admitted Sunday night for our induction, and after monitoring me for a little while, they decided that I was contracting too much on my own to start the induction...so much for the pains being "false labor". They pumped me full of fluids and told me to get some sleep.

Monday morning they started the induction around 9ish with a mizo tab. That got me dialating and contracting enough to start the pitocin. It didn't take long for that to kick in, and after more contractions than I ever thought I could handle, I got my epidural :)

From there, everything happened really quickly. When I was at 7 cms, Craig went out to the waiting room to tell his parents where I was at, and by the time he got back to the room, I was ready to push. It took only about 20 minutes to go from 7 cms to fully dialated. Thank goodness I only had to push for 45 minutes.

So, now that you've all had the play by play of the delivery, here's how Hannah is doing now...

After she was born, they let us hold her for a few minutes and then they took her to the NICU for evaluation. They got her all hooked up and did an echocardiogram on her to see exactly what her heart looked like. Everyone in the NICU kept saying how alert she was and how big she was compared to all of the other NICU babies (most of the ones in there are premies).

Since the first night, she has had several more echos and everything is progressing really well. They have bumped her first operation to possibly next week, and she is back to the original plan of getting the Pulmonary Band done, as opposed to the more risky surgery that they thought she might need.

Yesterday was a great day for all three of us! Hannah had her Baptism in the morning, and didn't cry when the Priest poured the water on her head. Then, they told us that they were moving her isolet within the NICU. We didn't know what that meant for her, but after asking lots of questions, they told us that when the babies get moved to the sides of the room, as opposed to the middle, that means that they are being "upgraded". Now she doesn't need the constatnt watching that she originally had. It is also more private on the sides of the room, so it works out nice for us when we visit. Most importantly, the nurse asked me if I wanted to try feeding Hannah!! She had taken so well to her pacifier, and seemed ready to nurse, so they wanted me to try. This was such an amazing thing for us, since we didn't think she'd be able to eat at all for a while, never mind nurse in my arms!! We were also so happy to have her out of the isolet, another milestone for her!!

She wasn't into feeding, but they said that it will take time. They put a feeding tube in her, so until my milk comes in, she will associate being next to me with having a full belly. Right now our goal is to get her as big and strong as possible before her operation. Works for me!!!

We had her out of the isolet for about 2 1/2 hours total. It was so nice to have family time with her. She fell asleep in my arms, and Craig and I just sat there watching her the whole time. My neck is still all kinked up from looking down at her!

Each day has brought us new things to be thankful for. Before Hannah was born, we had so many people telling us that they were praying for our family, and it is working!! We have learned to take each minute of each day as a blessing and hope that the next one gets even better.

I was discharged on Wednesday morning, so I am home now, though we have been spending as much time at the hospital as we can. I will try to post updates as often as I can, though between pumping and visits to see Hannah, it has been tricky. Also, our new computer does not allow me to post photos on this site...argh!..so if you haven't seen any of the ones that Craig has sent out, please email me your email address and I will do my best to send you some. My email address is heffalump23@yahoo.com.

Thank you again for all of your continued support!!!

Love,

Sharon