Sean and I have been pretty busy trying to figure out things for our family and while we don’t mean to be mysterious, we haven’t said a lot either, so here are answers to some common questions.
What happened?!?! – I couldn’t have answered this question last week, everything happened so fast. I asked my doctor before we left the hospital – ‘what just happened?’
The theory is that Grace’s placenta, which was still inside my uterus, became infected and triggered early labor. They were able to stop the contractions temporarily, but they kept coming back, then I got a fever, a sign that the infection was dangerous for me and Sophia. They took out the stiches in my cervix and labor progressed, then stalled. Then they couldn’t find Sophia’s heartbeat, they found it finally, and it was dangerously low, so they did an emergency c-section.
Now that I write that I’m not sure how I managed it all without going crazy. I think I might have at one point. Sean will tell you stories of how I verbally abused the anestisiologist for asking me questions, probably ones that she needed to know to do her job, but ones that I wasn’t able to answer at the time. (For example, when she asked ‘Have you had any pregnancy complications,’ I said ‘YOU HAVE GOT TO BE $#%@%$#$% KIDDING ME! and Sean had to answer the rest.)
After that, FINALLY, some good news. Sophia gave out one short cry. A nurse said she was breathing. They let me see her for a second before bringing her to intensive care. Then they called to say she was healthy. We had a healthy baby girl. That is what happened.
Is it weird that ya’ll are so happy? - Sean and I are by far the happiest parents in the NICU. For parents who don’t expect something to go wrong, I imagine it would be terrifying and devastating to see your baby so small and needing so much medical care. But Sean and I remember March. We remember Dr. Berry telling us she was already gone. That nothing could be done. We met with our minister to talk about her funeral. When there was a small chance that she might survive, we knew the most we wanted was a healthy baby. Grace is healthy. She needs time to grow and learn some basic skills (how exactly does the whole suck-swallow-breathe thing work?), but she is our healthy baby girl and we don’t care what size she is. We are so happy to have her with us. So, maybe we look nuts smiling all the way to the NICU, we are just really happy to be there.
How is Sophia doing? - Sophia is doing great. She is attached to a lot of equipment, which is a bit scary looking, but it all makes sense. Sensors keep track of her heart rate, breathing and body temperature. She gets some food (fluids with vitamins and fats) through an IV and gets breast milk through a feeding tube. We get to hold her twice a day, which may sound odd, why not all day long? But there is a balance. On the one hand, holding her is great for bonding and sharing family love, studies show that it improves the baby’s health overall. But at the same time, over-stimulation can be harmful. Babies her size need to conserve energy and calories and focus on growing. If they interact with people too much, they can make less progress. So there is a balance, between minimizing interactions so she can sleep, conserve energy and grow as much as possible, and being there to hold her and love on her each morning and evening.
Well, that is enough for today. I’ll try to write more later and put up some more pictures.
What a true and absolute blessing! I have been praying for your family since Jessica told me what you were going through. My prayers will not cease, but I celebrate with you! Congratulations!!!!