Backtracking to Tuesday July 3rd, my NST did not go well to say the least. The baby's heart arrhythmia sounded terrible...almost every fourth beat. Wednesday July 4th I was confirmed for a last minute c-section the following day at 10:00 a.m.
The c-section itself was pretty uneventful. There were two OB's performing my surgery due to the possibility of heavy bleeding due to my fibroids which ended up not being an issue. The doctors were amazing and I just want to hug both of them for doing such a great job in the absence of my entrusted OB who was on vacation. As far as the baby goes, there was a pediatric cardiologist as well as a NICU team on hand to tend to our daughter as soon as she was born.
Clara Elise was born on July 5th at 11:16 a.m. weighing 7lbs 5 oz. She was kicking and screaming and absolutely beautiful! My husband was able to finally hold her after the NICU team checked her over. The time was short lived before they took her away again. The cardiologist wanted to perform a 24 hour EKG to eliminate the possibility of a secondary heart block. On top of the heart issue, Clara had very low blood sugar so was put on IV fluids and fed formula every 3 hours. The first NICU nurse allowed me to put Clara to the breast immediately, but she did not want to work for any breast milk or the lack thereof because she had already been fed two bottles of formula due to low blood sugar by the time I was able to visit her five hours after my surgery (I will save my struggle with breastfeeding and how I overcame the challenges in my next post). It was heartbreaking to see her tiny body hooked up to all kinds of machines and an IV.
The cardiologist met with us on Friday and delivered the great news...CLARA ONLY HAD 20 PREMATURE ATRIAL CONTRACTIONS IN 24 HOURS!!! This is opposed to having one every four beats while inside me. The doctor also said that there was no evidence of a secondary heart block. So needless to say I feel very good about having her when I did. I can't even explain the relief I felt. I couldn't stop crying after receiving the news. Now the only thing we were waiting on was for Clara's blood sugar levels to rise so that she could be released from NICU and stay with us in the hospital room.
To sum up the rest of our hospital stay, Clara was in NICU for a little over two days. My husband came down with strep throat somewhere in the middle of that and couldn't visit us for 36 hours after starting antibiotics. Yes you read that right. Fucking strep throat...seriously?! BUT, we were finally able to leave the hospital on Monday with the most precious gift ever :)
The rest of the week was met with many challenges, lack of sleep, and an overwhelming feeling that I have no idea what I am doing. I realize that these feelings are normal. I also realize how lucky I am, and I do not take for granted anything that I have been blessed with. She is precious.
I am leaving you with some pictures that I have taken with my fancy pants DSLR camera that I never really used until now. Enjoy!
Tummy time not going so well...
Proud Papa
