The medium-length version of the story is that my water broke in big, gushing Hollywood style while we were eating dinner at home a little before 7pm on Monday (7/2/12) night, but I wasn't having any contractions at that point. After making a few calls (including my doctor and a friend to watch Owen over night) and some last minute packing, we made it to the hospital about an hour later, whereupon it was discovered that I was already halfway to full dilation. This would have been great news, except that Hadley was breech, and no one delivers that way anymore. So a Caesarean section it would have to be. Sigh.
Dad suiting up - Scalpel? Check. Smelling salts? Check.
Mom putting on a brave face pre-surgery. The hospital gowns are so flattering! :P
Because I was progressing quickly, there was no sitting around idly. There was a little drama with a competing delivery, but my doctor decided to push us through first (no pun intended). So within an hour, surgery was underway and all went pretty well, except when briefly shown our daughter, who was quite Smurf-like in color. After a few minutes of hearing no crying, we asked where she was and found out she had been taken to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) and placed under an oxygen mask/hood. She was born with a pneumothorax (collapsed lung), which made it difficult for her to breathe, but is apparently not uncommon when babies skip the trip down the birth canal. Dad was able to go and check on her, but I had to wait a couple of hours in the post-op recovery room before I could see her. Below is the oxygen hood just over her head, but the incubator was open so we could hold her hand.
By the next morning, she was out from under the oxygen hood and breathing on her own, but they wouldn't let her leave the NICU until she had had two successful feedings, each lasting at least 15 minutes. You can see the IV that they stuck in her head in the 2nd picture. Seems that it's too challenging to hook an IV up to a newborn's hands/arms, although they still tried and failed a few times according to her various scars!
IV-free by Tuesday evening, though you can see the red marks the tape left on her head!
Owen, Granna, and Grandad came back to the hospital on Wednesday morning to see Hadley. This was Owen's first time to meet his sister. She gave him a Lightning McQueen car to break the ice, which Owen thought was pretty awesome!
Other hospital moments: One of the nice pediatric nurses crochets these adorable hats and gives them to babies to take home! She was so stylish in her bassinet. :)
First non-hospital clothes for her car seat test.
Because of her brief time in the NICU under oxygen, Hadley was required to do a 90-minute car seat test where they record her vital signs while she sits in her seat. I think it's to make sure she can breathe properly and doesn't flop over in the seat. She slept through the whole test and passed! [Owen had to do this same test (because he was technically not full-term) before he could leave the hospital in Texas, too.]
Our "stork dinner for two" served the night before we were discharged from the hospital. Not too bad for hospital food: grilled chicken, London broil, asparagus, baked potato, green and fruit salads, cheesecake, and sparkling cider.
Big brother Owen is still figuring out what to make of Hadley. Though he's been pretty good trying to share Bo and some of his cars with her, she's still a curiosity. So far, it's been good. I think there are enough distractions to delay the realization that the pedestal is now dually-occupied. :)
And some more pictures of her since we've been at home... She, of course, loves to be held. Not so much against the shoulder, but more so that she can look around with her big, bluish eyes and take it all in. She is what I like to call an "aggressive sleeper" in that she sleeps easily, frequently, and was pretty oblivious to most of the goings-on in the hospital environment. But when she's awake, she's not wasting any observation time staring at the back of a chair!
She also likes to stretch her long arms, fingers, and toes. Her feet and hands do not resemble anyone's that we know - they are so long and slender! (Hers are the little ones!) Ha! We already took her to a follow-up pediatrician's appointment where her stats were something like 26% for weight and 71% for height.
She's pretty quiet, making mostly squeaking sounds with an occasional loud squawk if she's been kept waiting too long. I'm sure that won't last too long, since she'll have to compete in volume with her brother to get attention!
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