Lucy arrives!

  Thursday morning we arrived at the hospital at 6 am.  After we were admitted they took blood, did an echo on the baby to check her heart and then we were ready for delivery.  It was about 7:30 am so we had a four and a half hour wait.  As we watched Law and Order, we had several doctors, nurses and care partners stop in to talk to us about delivery, breast feeding and the NICU.  Then at 10 am, the nurse and doctor swoop in to tell us one of the other cases was delayed and  we were up.  Mike changed into scrubs (he looked so cute!) and we headed to the OR.  Mike had to sit outside for thirty minutes while they prepped me.  They gave me anesthesia (man it sure is weird to hear everything but not feel anything) and  leg compressions and we were ready to go.

  Mike sat with me above the curtain.  He was told by friends not to look and I don't think he wanted too.  I also was watching the doctor white board.  I was brought in at 11:02, incision was made at 11:22 and she was out by 11:35.  Crazy how quickly it all goes.  But when we heard her cry, it brought tears to both of our eyes.  After everything we have been through it was almost surreal to hear that cry.  The nurses wrapped her up, put a hat on her and brought her over for a peek.  Man, she was little, but oh so adorable.  They whisked her away to the NICU to check her vitals and do an echo on her heart and we moved onto recovery.  I felt pretty good, just a little pain.  But the worst was the itching, all over non-stop.  They allowed us to go see her before we settled in our room.  When we arrived in the NICU we found out that the hospital was no longer allowing anyone but parents due to the flu outbreak.  We were very sad that our family was not going to be able to meet her (probably for awhile).

  I was placed on bed rest for the next twelve hours.  Our family kept us company for a while and then Mike and I got some rest.  As soon as bed rest was lifted we headed down to see Lucy.  By 1 am, she was hooked up on all her machines.  They have a feeding and saline line through her umbilical cord, oxygen through her nose and she was placed on a breathing tube to relieve stress.  We visit her about three to four times a day.  We can't hold her, but we are able to touch her head and hands.

  As of now, she is stable and doing well.  The cardiologists have not decided what path we will take.  They are giving her a few days to settle and stabilize.  All the nurses say she is doing so well.  We are hoping to know more by Monday.

I'm to be discharged on Sunday and we are hoping a room opens up at Ronald McDonald house so we can stay close by to visit and talk to her as much as possible.

We want to thank everyone for the prayers, emails, posts and text messages.  We really have no words that can express how grateful we are for the support you have shown us through this emotional process.  We are praising God for our precious little girl