We're home!

Nora finally made it home from the hospital last Saturday, and we've all been getting used to our new normal. She is a good baby who rarely fusses unless she's hungry. Since she's a preemie, we have to wake her up at least every three hours to eat (sometimes she beats us to it at 2 hours!) until she is over 5 lbs. She's a very sweet girl, and we've enjoyed having her home.

Today we went to Nora's first pediatrician appointment. Everything checked out great! She is now up to 4 lbs. 6.4 oz., and the doctor said she is a very strong girl. We go back again in 10 days just for another check-up since she was in the NICU and they want to follow her more closely. 

Some have asked about the red spot on Nora's forehead, and after today's appointment I have some answers.

It's called a hemangioma, which is a buildup of blood vessels that usually disappears on its own. Until Nora is 6 months old it may grow a little larger, but after that it should start to fade from the middle outwards. If it doesn't go away on its own, there is medicine to treat it, though the doctor seemed to indicate this was a last resort and he expects it to go away with time.

We're thankful to God for his graciousness to us in giving us such a healthy baby despite her coming so early. He has continued to bless us with her quick development and growth, and she has been a wonderful addition to our family! 

Out of the Box

Our big girl (4 lbs 2 oz!) graduated out of the incubator today and should get to come home on Saturday as long as she continues to gain weight and maintain her own body temperature.

"What is Friday for?," you ask. Yes, today is Thursday and I think she should get to come home Friday, but Friday we get to my favorite part of being a NICU mom (note the sarcasm) - you have to "pass a test" in order to take your baby home. No, it's not an actual test, but you have to spend the night at the hospital and care for your baby while the nursing staff occasionally takes vital signs. To me, it feels like we have to earn permission to take our child home. I'm quite bent out of shape about the whole thing, but I'm going to play by their rules and give them another 24 hours of my life and then I'll move on and try to forget about it.

I can't believe I finally have just one more day to prepare for Nora's homecoming! I'd better get busy.

Week 2 in Pictures

Being a NICU mom

I have a whole new respect for NICU moms now that I am one. I know I can't even know much of their heartache, because my baby is extremely healthy and just needs time to gain weight and take bottles, but I'm sure we share some of the same emotional struggles.

I began this journey with the attitude that it would actually be a good thing that Nora wasn't home yet. After being so sick and having surgery, it would be nice to be able to heal at home for awhile before having to take care of a baby. But, as the days go by and I feel better physically, it's harder for me to not have her here.

There are annoying practical things about visiting your baby in the NICU that make the experience even harder. For example, you have to wash your hands for 3 minutes before ever laying eyes on your child (obviously, this is for good reason, though most moms don't have to follow this precaution). Also, you can only hold your baby during a "hands-on" time, which happens at 8 distinct times during the day (and the nurses may start the hands-on time early, meaning you could come to the NICU, wash for 3 minutes and then miss out on getting to hold your baby). Understandably, the babies need to rest between hands-on times so they can adequately develop, but it's frustrating to be told when you're "allowed" to spend time with your child.

Then, there are the haunting thoughts that run through your mind sometimes and tear your heart to shreds. 99% of the time I'm able to push these thoughts away and avoid them, but there is the 1% when my still-hormonal self is overcome by these thoughts that lead me into a crying misery.

"What if my baby cries and there's no one there to comfort her?"

"Does she ever get lonely?"

"Does she know I'm her mom?"

"I want to be the mommy and know what's best for my baby but, instead, I have nurses telling me what works for her."

The doctors are talking like Nora might be able to come home next week. I realize that, when measured against the vastness of her life (Lord-willing), Nora's two-week stay in the NICU will seem like a blip. But, nevertheless, these are a hard two weeks. I'm trying to stay strong, and I'm comforted by the fact that this will all be over soon and she'll be home with us.

Week 1 in Pictures

 

When Levi first saw her

When I first saw her

Under the jaundice lights for 1 day

First bottle feeding by Daddy

Welcome to the world, Nora Wren!

Born April 10 at 1:46 a.m., 3 lb. 9 oz., 17 inches
more pictures to come!

An alternate, and equally fitting, title for this post would be What happened?! That's what we were all wondering after Miss Nora decided to come 7 weeks early or, rather, my body decided to kick her out.

You see, I had a "normal" pregnancy. I hadn't had complications, though I had quite a bit of nausea and was somewhat miserable a lot of the time. But then, about a week and a half before Nora was born, I started having terrible back pain. Looking back, this is when everything started to come crashing down, but no one was able to put together the strange signs my body was sending.

I wasn't having lower back pain, it was more in my shoulder blades and chest, so we all assumed it must just be a chiropractic issue. In fact, I went to the chiropractor three times in one week and each time he temporarily made the pain go away. But, he couldn't figure out why it kept recurring. Another sign was that I was feeling nauseous all the time, but that can just come on in the third trimester during a normal pregnancy, so no one was the wiser and I was prescribed yet a third nausea medicine.

Let's skip to the diagnosis. I had what's called HELLP Syndrome, an advanced form of preeclampsia. Here's what the Preeclampsia Foundation says:

HELLP syndrome is a life-threatening pregnancy complication usually considered to be a variant of preeclampsia. 

HELLP syndrome was named by Dr. Louis Weinstein in 1982 after its characteristics:

H (hemolysis, which is the breaking down of red blood cells),
EL (elevated liver enzymes) and
LP (low platelet count).

How did we discover this? I left work early on Tuesday, April 9 with the terrible back pain again. I also generally felt bad. I couldn't get in to my normal chiropractor that day and the pain was so bad (9 out of 10 pain) that I found another chiropractor who could get me in immediately. After the adjustment, the pain was temporarily relieved for about an hour. When it came back with a vengeance, I couldn't stand it. Though I had already scheduled an appointment with my regular chiropractor the next morning, I knew I couldn't make it through the night with such pain. So, at about 10:30 p.m. Levi decided we should go to the ER. I'm so thankful we did. 

You should know that I had been to my OBGYN appointment earlier that day and everything appeared normal. My blood pressure was normal (usually it's extremely high with preeclampsia) and nothing else seemed amiss. But, in the ER, it was a totally different story. My blood pressure was 180/118 and blood work and a urine test showed signs of preeclampsia and HELLP. My liver was not functioning well, which it turns out was the cause of all my back pain. Plus, my platelet count was extremely low, causing me to come close to requiring a platelet transfusion. In other words, I was very, very sick. My body had compensated as long as it could and it was giving up. 

The doctor said I should expect to deliver the baby "soon," but I had no idea how soon that would be. In fact, as soon as I reached the other hospital by ambulance (we went to the hospital that doesn't deliver babies because we thought it was just back pain), I was swarmed by a group of nurses and doctors and told that I would have to be put completely under since my platelet count was so low and they would do an emergency c-section. Levi barely arrived in time to see me be wheeled into the operating room as I was bawling and telling him how scared I was. I was in such an emotional shock.

For the next few days I was very sick. My blood pressure was still out of control and my blood work wasn't good. Slowly, though, my platelet count improved and I began to recover both from HELLP and from the c-section. Nora was fine from the beginning. She didn't need oxygen and was just put in the NICU to help her develop her feeding mechanism. She will still be there for a little while longer, though she's doing well and starting to take a bottle. I stayed in the hospital for 5 days and am glad to finally be home. Now we're just waiting for her to join us. That day can't come soon enough.

Date Night

Last night Levi and I went to the annual Norman Medieval Fair and then tried a new restaurant in town: Firehouse Subs. It's really neat because the restaurant asked the Norman Fire Department for some old gear to hang on the wall and Levi's training jacket is there - name and all!

Flatlander Progress

Check out our awesome logo, designed by my sister Amy:

We're getting excited as more and more pre-launch business tasks are getting checked off the list. Stay tuned!