Elizabeth Day 1

    After our miracle Elizabeth started breathing we headed back to the Labor and Delivery room to meet her siblings and grandparents.  As we entered everyone was so excited to see us.  The doctor had been in and had briefly filled them in on what had happened in the OR, but he might have down played it just a little so they weren't so nervous, the C-Section had taken about 20 minutes longer than what the doctor had told our families so they were a bit anxious to see us.  I was still pretty drugged and not quite feeling my best so some of the first little bit is a little hazy, but here is what I remember.  We let Michael and Addison come meet Elizabeth first.  They were so intrigued by her.  Addison surprised me because I didn't think she would be that interested in her but I was totally wrong.  She could not get enough of her little sister.  She wanted to hold her and be right by her the whole time she was there.  We had let the kids pick out a gift the day before for Elizabeth and they gave it to her and were excited, until Addison remembered she wanted to get her this big rattle thing that we never bought so she was really upset because she really wanted Elizabeth to have that.  After the kids met her we gathered the grandparents in the room and had Elizabeth blessed.  It was an amazing blessing, we didn't know how much time we would get so we wanted to make sure she got one right away.  She was blessed in her birthday suit with some blankets wrapped around her, Beautiful. We then let the grandparents take their turn holding our beautiful baby girl.  Of course Addison was right there with them making sure her little sister was doing okay. Then we let our siblings who were able to be there come in and see her too.

   After everyone met our angel we had the photographers from NILMD (Now I lay me down to sleep) come in and take some pictures for us.  They spent a little over an hour taking pictures of us but Elizabeth started to not look so good so Jake asked the photographers to leave so we could spend time with her.  The nurses were also trying to get her vitals and do some of there stuff.  So she was taken and weighed 4 lbs 12.3 oz and then measured at 18 inches long.  She was still having a hard time keeping her own temp regulated so she was under the heating bed to help but she also had been taken off her oxygen during this time and started to turn a little purple.  So we all got nervous but as soon as we put the oxygen back on she started to look pink again.  It all is a bit hazy and I look back now and think what a miracle she was and then we spent the first few hours having everyone come see her so it was a lot for our little girl. She was so strong and such a fighter and we were so grateful to have her that we were scared we had over done it but of course she pulled through. After the photographers left our siblings all left too.  They wheeled Elizabeth and me together over to Post Partum at about 7pm. Our parents came with us to make sure we got situated and they said their goodbyes reluctantly but knew we all needed some rest after the long day. It wasn't until 8pm that we were finally alone with our sweet  Elizabeth.  It had seemed like such a whirlwind day that we were so grateful to have some quiet time.  OF course the nurses needed to keep monitoring me due to the surgery and all.  So they came in and did what they needed to every couple hours and were so respectful to us and our time with Elizabeth.

   At about 9pm Elizabeth still hadn't eaten anything.  I had tried to nurse but she wouldn't really suck so we tried a special bottle but again she really wouldn't suck. So we then did a syringe filled with formula for her.  She swallowed the food but was not happy afterwards.  She was really fussy and it was the most we had heard out of her.  At 10pm the CNA came in to bathe our little girl for the first time.  So we lifted my bed as high as it would go and put Elizabeth in the warming bed they brought in for her and lined it with water proof pads.  Jake got in position to video the whole thing and they started the bath.  She was still fussy from the whole eating thing and then was being unwrapped and give a bath so she was crying but it was so wonderful to hear her little cry even though I just wanted to hold her and make her stop, I also just loved hearing her because she was such a miracle it made it real for me to hear her.  After her body was cleaned they wrapped a warm towel around her and started scrubbing her head.  She immediately stopped crying and was so peaceful looking while they cleaned her head and hair.  She loved that part of the bath and it was so cute to watch.  She had tons of black hair at the back of her scalp and it was wavy, it was so cute. After her bath we put her in her clothes and just held her for a little bit.  Special care nursery came in and said that the next best option for her to receive food would be putting in a feeding tube.  So we said we were fine with her having a feeding tube.  They came in and tried to put it down her nose but it wasn't working so they just put it down her mouth.  She took 6ml of formula and was content after that.  They then came in every three hours to feed her 6ml of formula.  I also was pumping to give her whatever I could get. The nurses would just add my colstrum to the syringe and fill the rest with formula and feed her through her tube.

    So after all this it was late as you can expect and we didn't want to sleep because we wanted to soak in every minute we got with our Angel.  So we tried taking turns sleeping.  We would nap for about an hour if that while the other would take their turn just holding and being with Elizabeth.  Jake stayed up for about an hour, one time,  just sitting on the window ledge while she slept in the warming bed.  She was so content in there that he didn't want to move her but also didn't want to leave her side.  At 1am the nurses came in for me to try to get up walking for the first time.  I did wonderful at walking to the bathroom, they were impressed.  I feel like my recovery was very much on the back burner and I was being sustained by the many prayers and thoughts but also by my Heavenly Father who was allowing me to be strong for my sweet time with Elizabeth.