Kangaroo Care!

So far so good today! I know the road to recovery from gastro can come with a lot of ups and downs and twists and turns that we can't always be prepared for and ready to take but right now Hailey is doing amazing and we are just soo happy! We got up this morning at 6am and got to do kangaroo care with Hailey for the first time and let me tell you, it was amazing!! (Here is a website that describes what kangaroo care is and its benefits: http://www.prematurity.org/baby/kangaroo.html) While we were in the NICU this morning we learned that they are planning to start giving Hailey Pedialyte today! This is a big step in the right direction and we are praying that she does well with it so we can move on to breast milk! I will be discharged from the hospital tonight so Mike and I will have to start a new daily routine that involves going to seeing our baby girl in the NICU. Its going to be really hard to leave her here at night and go home but we all need our rest so that we can have a speedy recovery and move forward on our new journey in life as a family. Thank you everyone for all of your warm thoughts and prayers, they seem to be doing wonders for Hailey!! Here are some more pictures from earlier in the week!

What a rollercoaster...

Up until this year when we found out Hailey had gastro, I never thought about what it would be like to not be able to hold my baby when she was born. Seeing all of these new parents around me in the hospital holding their babies and taking them home has been quite a lot for me to swallow. I knew we weren't going to get to hold Hailey for the first few days of her life and I was well prepared for what was to come thanks to my new best friend Britni who went through this experience just 9 months ago with her baby girl Ava who also had gastro, but it is still very hard to watch. Tuesday was such a rollercoaster of emotions for both Mike and I. In the morning we got to feed her some breastmilk on her lips (not much) and we were so happy to see her eyes open and everything just felt great. In the afternoon things changed.. the doctors wanted to put a PICC line in to feed Hailey TPN and after they explained the pros and cons to it I had to sign a consent form for it. Mike had to go to work so I was nervous being alone but thankfully Britni came to visit me while they tried to put the PICC line in Hailey. We waited and waited for what seemed like forever and finally they told us we could come down to see Hailey in the NICU. So we got down there and we were all excited, thinking they put the PICC line in and taken some other tubes that Hailey didnt like out. Well that wasn't the case when we got there.. I looked at my little girl's arm and saw it had been poked at a few times and was all red with a bruise forming by her wrist. The nurse came over and said they weren't successful getting the PICC line in and I almost broke down right there.. Poor Hailey I looked into her eyes and could see the tears built up and the pain medicine keeping her from crying.. I felt helpless.. I couldn't hold my little girl and comfort her and that's all I wanted was to calm her down against me. The nurse told me they were going to try to put the PICC line in again later in the night and all I could think was what if they are unsuccessful again! My little girl has to go through this again.. and all I can do is hope and pray that it goes in this time without any problems and with as little pain as possible for Hailey. Mike came back to the hospital after work and I told him what happened to Hailey and that they were going to try again tonight. He felt horrible.. we were both so sad. We went down to see her and to our suprise the nurse asked if we wanted to hold Hailey and while Mike and I were both excited I couldn't contain my emotions and started crying because I hadn't expected to hold her soo soon! I had told Mike he could hold Hailey first since I carried her for the past 36 weeks but he insisted I hold her and it was a moment I will never forget! The nurse even took our picture! While I obviously look like a wreck in the picture and mike looks amazing its the best picture in the world because it shows our true feelings in the moment. What a perfect first picture of our new family! You can see how happy we are to have her in our arms! After an eventful day we woke up the next morning to find out that Hailey's PICC line had to be taken out again and that they were going to try to put it back in for the 3rd time later in the day. We were soo upset to hear this but hoped and prayed saying that the 3rd time's a charm and it was thankfully! I will update more tomorrow!

Pictures and a video of Hailey!!

Below are two videos of Hailey "blowing kisses" (sucking her lips because she is hungry) its bittersweet to watch...

First picture of Hailey!!

This was right before they took Hailey off for her surgery. I can't find the adaptor for the camera to download more pics at the moment but I will most certainly be posting a bunch more by the end of the day!!

Hailey was born today!!

Hailey and I are both recovering from our surgeries right now and we are looking forward to going to see her in the NICU in about an hour! She weighed 4lbs 14 oz. at birth (probably alittle less due to all of the bandages/gauze they put on her before they weighed her). The pediatric surgeon just came in and told us that they were able to put everything (small intestines, large intestines, and a fallopian tube) back inside so now we just wait for her to recover! I feel so relieved now that her surgery is over! I will add pictures alittle later promise!

Hailey is going to be born soon!!!

So we had a BPP (ultrasound) today and Hailey's intestines are dilated to 1.65cm and the doctor said when they get to 1.7cm they will do an amnio to check her lung maturity and if all looks good a c-section will follow because they don't want them getting anymore dilated! While we are upset that her intestines are dilating, (it's to be expected with gastro) we are also very anxious for her arrival!! The doctors as well as my mother think that she will be born sometime next week so we will keep you all updated and let you know when Hailey will come into the world!! Until then we will pray for her lungs to be matured and our little girl to be the fighter that she is!! Mommy and Daddy love you Hailey and we can't wait to give you all of our love! <3