Settling in...

Well, its been six days since Amelia joined us and I have to say, things are going well!! She's an amazing baby. Although she has an attitude about nursing (mainly, that its not easy enough for her!), we're persevering...most of my days are spent pumping, nursing, then bottle-feeding. Oy... I'm tired. Her arm is doing well, as far as we can tell. We won't see the pediatric orthopedist until June 8, but in the meantime, we're just pinning her right sleeve to her torso, which stabilizes the arm. And other than me picking her up too roughly this morning (half asleep), she rarely seems to be in pain. So far (knock on wood) she's my best sleeper... I'm enjoying 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night (in two shifts).

The girls are doing so great with her! Surprisingly, Lexi is willing to share me with her baby sister. She loves to watch me pump and ask questions about what I'm doing. She's a little too wild around the baby, but I can't blame her. She just doesn't know. Abbi is my little helper - when she wants to be. She likes to hold the bottle when Amelia eats and is willing to run around to get diapers or burp cloths when I can't get up. The best part is when they both sing a lullaby to Amelia. The windows shatter and the neighborhood cats howl in approval, but its a beautiful gesture all the same...

The plan is to take Amelia's newborn photographs within the next few days (I need a happy, sleepy, well-fed baby), but in the meantime, here are some pictures from coming home and Abbi's first time holding the baby.

Amelia Rose is here!

My baby girl has arrived and thank goodness she didn't wait a moment longer...

Many of you know its been a rough pregnancy for me... worries of prematurity, loads of contractions since early in the second trimester, lots of pain these last couple weeks. We've had 6 ultrasounds, 2 of which proved we were having our third daughter. The last of which guesstimated the baby's weight at 7lb 4oz (which would have put her around 9 pounds today based on the assumed rate of growth of a half pound a week). So, when my water broke at 4:24 this morning, I was beyond thrilled. She was finally on her way, and on her own!!

So, we waited for my mother-in-law to come watch the big sisters and made it to the hospital around 6am. Due to my contractions coming just 2 minutes apart, we had to bypass breakfast for Russ. I'm so glad we did, because we got checked in to L&D triage and the nurse checked me... I was already 6 1/2 centimeters dilated and barely able to stand through the contractions. At 8am, I had enough fluid pumped into me to get my epidural, but was warned that my platelets were low...which carries more risk for the epidural. Great. In the midst of a very painful contraction, I said, "Screw the risks. Give it to me." THANK GOODNESS I did.

For the next hour, I relaxed... feeling definite amounts of pressure. The nurse (Cheryl, you ROCK! And btw, she also helped with Lexi's labor!!!) wanted my epidural to work as much as possible. She checked me at 9 and I was complete! Time to push!!! So, we went to work...and work I did! (Anyone remember the meaning of the name Amelia?!) The mood would shift from joking (Dr. Cannon is awesome and he and Cheryl did so much to help me out emotionally AND physically) to serious and back... at 9:45, the NICU team was called in, 3 nurses jumped onto my bed, and the mood definitely turned serious. Cheryl had pissed me off enough to get me pushing to avoid a c-section, but Amelia's arm was stuck behind my pubic bone and the cord was wrapped around her neck. So, Dr. Cannon had to basically break Amelia's arm, pull her head out and hand her off to the neonatologist (whose dad was Abbi's neonatologist!) at 10:00 am on the nose.

I got to kiss Amelia before Russ held her, and then she left for the nursery. News of her weight has quickly made the rounds of the maternity ward... my "little" lady weighed in at 10 pounds, 2 ounces. She's 21 inches long. And she is HUGE. Already bullying the other kids around. lol!

Actually, we're waiting on news about her arm. Xrays show that the right humerus is definitely broken, but we're waiting on a pediatric orthopedist from Childrens' Memorial in Chicago to decide how we're going to proceed... and once we make that decision, we'll know when she can join us in our room.

Here are some pictures that Russ took of her, and one that our NICU nurse Ruth took for us as a family. The girls will come to meet baby sister once she leaves the NICU. And then we'll have a billion more pictures!!!!!!