A Baby Story

It's been a while since I've posted, but for good reason! Our newest family member arrived early Friday morning!!! This time around was almost as exciting as the last time. My water broke at 2:15 in the morning, and though I tried to climb back in the bed and pretend it wasn't happening, the contractions began right away and I had to face reality and wake Hubby up. We both hopped onto our laptops to send quick emails to work and and friends, then gathered the kids up and headed to the car. We tried to keep the kids asleep by not putting their coats on and wrapping them in blankets instead, but the cold woke them up. We drove to my parents, dropped the kids off and sped off to the hospital. By the time we checked in, it was 3:45am. I was 7cm dialated upon check in, and within half an hour was 10, pushed once for the head, a second time for the rest of the body and praise God, we had our second daughter!

She was 8lbs 8oz and 22 inches long. Beautiful and chubby with a nice loud cry. She got 9 and 10 on her agpar. The first 12 hours were fantastic, then things took a sudden turn. Her temperature, heartrate and respiratory rate went up, while her routine bloodwork came back with a shifted white blood cell count. I was GBS positive but did not arrive at the hospital in time to get a full dose of antibiotics. You need to be there for at least 4 hours. I only got one dose of penicillan. Because of this red flag in our chart and the sudden show of symptoms, the doctors became concerned that she might have possible infection. The medical team made the decision to discharge her from the nursery and admit her to the NICU. As upsetting as this was to Hubby and I, especially since it was almost an exact repeat of what happened with the Little Guy, I understood the logic of airing on the side of caution rather than the, "let's wait and see what happens" approach. I did not want to unknowingly take a sick baby home and end up in the ER a few days later under dire circumstances.

Once she was in the NICU, some of her vitals stabilized, but her blood cell count was still off. They put her on two antibiotics and monitored her. They performed a spinal tap and ran lots of tests, but everything came back negative. I was allowed to breastfeed, which was comforting for both of us. Hubby stayed two days until my official discharge, after which time he went home to take care of the kids. I took up residence in a rocking chair next to her bed in the NICU for the next five days. A couple of nights I was able to get a room on the NICU floor, and one night ended up sleeping in a meeting room/library. The final two nights the nursing staff agreed that she was healthy enough to room with me. After her last dose of antibiotics she was cleared to go home!

Now we are ALL recovering from the ordeal. The baby is getting used to her very loud and active surroundings. Lil' Miss is head over heals in love with her new sister. The Little Guy is trying to figure out his new role in the family. Hubby and I are learning to function with only a few hours of sleep at night! Soooo.... if my posts are infrequent for a while, it's because we are adjusting to life with three little ones.