Introducing....

Farrah Joy

Baby M has a name! We were so blessed to have Farrah come into the world at 9:11 pm on Friday, July 6th. She was quickly rushed off to the NICU for assessment. We could hear her crying within two minutes after delivery. Her apgar scores were 6 and the 9, which is way better than what her mommy's scores were after a full-term birth. There is one NICU nurse assigned to two babies at a time, so Farrah is receiving excellent care and monitoring. Parents are allowed to visit their babies in the NICU at any time of day. Ray went back with her to the NICU as my ceasarean section was wrapped up. Farrah was able to breath on her own at birth and then they decided to put her on mechanical ventilation to help her. As of Saturday night at 9 pm, they were weaning her off the mechanical ventilation and were going to see how she did on her blood gas tests. The NICU world is new to us, so we will do our best to breakdown the technical descriptions and know-how as we become more familiar with it all.

Ray spent the night of delivery on the cot in my hospital room while my dad went back to our house. Ray was wiped out from everything and slept through the night despite all the monitoring and doctors' visits I received. I couldn't sleep for the life of me due to excitement, and when my nurse came to check on me at 3 am, she asked if I could bend my legs as the anesthesia wore off. If so, we could take a wheelchair ride to the nursery so I could meet Farrah. It was quite an ordeal getting me out of bed and into a wheelchair, but I was so eager to meet our baby girl. They wanted to keep me on magnesium sulfate for the first 24 hours after delivery as a precaution, so I was a bit lightheaded as we went over to the NICU. My night nurse said that it might be hard for me to see our baby in the incubator and to see her true size, but I was still so happy to see her.  She has ten fingers and ten toes, and as soon as we came over to her and I spoke to her, she opened her eyes and started moving all around. So that's what all those kicks, punches, and movements looked like inside of me. It appeared that she recognized my voice and her nurse said that it would be fine for me to reach inside her incubator and touch her. She responded to my touch by moving some more. We like to say that she is small, but mighty. All the prayers and support from everyone has carried us through the unknowns of the past three weeks and we trust that God will continue to protect her tiny body as the prayers and support continue.

Later on Saturday, my Aunt Laura visited Ray and me, and I took her back to meet Farrah. At that time, Farrah was trying to pull on the ventilator tube and was moving her arms and kicking. She has a little jaundice and will be placed under the phototherapy light with a little mask around her eyes. It looks like the little babies are sun tanning when this happens. Farrah's nurse told us that she is doing very well and they want to see how soon they can get her breathing on her own. We went back to see Farrah later on Saturday night when we introduced her to my dad, her grandpa. We didn't get a photo of  them together and will plan to before he leaves to go back home. Saturday night was also the first time that Ray and I were together in the NICU with Farrah. They were removing the ventilation tube during that time and Farrah seemed to be ok with less support for breathing. She also moved more when she heard our voices. My dad took the first family photo of the three of us, and we will upload that picture from his camera as soon as possible. They are keeping Farrah's incubator humid right now to give her an environment that is as close to what she was used to in utero as possible. At this point, she cannot have any blankets or toys in the incubator other than what the NICU uses. Eventually, we will be able to bring in toys for her.

I uploaded a few photos from July 7th. The first is of Farrah holding my finger and the second is to show her size next to my hand.

We were very happy to learn that it was possible for me to breast feed, despite all the blood pressure medications that I am on. They are all considered to be safe for a baby. When a baby is born so early,  a mom's body is not ready to breastfeed immediately, so I have been pumping every three hours or so to establish my milk supply. A lactation specialist came in to teach me how to pump on Saturday. My nurses are taking the colostrum from me and are putting it in the freezer in the NICU. The NICU nurses will give Farrah tastes of the colostrum in order to get her used to the concept and taste of feeding. I have been told that as I continue to pump several times a day, my milk will come in. We think that she is going to be a good eater, as she couldn't stop moving after I ate throughout the pregnancy.

The NICU doctors have told us that Farrah most likely won't be able to go home with us until two weeks before her delivery date, which would put her homecoming around mid-September. It is possible that she could come home sooner or later depending on how well she does in the NICU. I am currently still in the perinatal high risk unit due to the amount of monitoring I need as we see what my blood pressures do post-delivery. The magnesium sulfate kept my blood pressure low yesterday and then stopped infusing the mag late on Saturday night. We have been told that I will most likely be in the hospital for 4-5 days after delivery. I was able to walk a little yesterday before getting into the wheelchair to go see Farrah. They are able to control my pain with oral medications and so far, my recovery has been steady. My nurses want me to start walking more each day as I recover.

Ray's mom is scheduled to fly into town next Friday and will be staying with us for a long weekend. She has yet to see our house and is so excited to meet her first grandchild. Ray's sister may join her, but she has a pretty busy work schedule next week. My dad has been so helpful with running errands for us and helping to prepare the house for my homecoming. He and my Uncle Ed spent all day Saturday painting. They didn't wrap up until early evening and they plan to keep painting today (Sunday). Thank you so much dad and Uncle Ed! It has been wonderful having my dad in town, especially having him here with us when we were told that THE day for delivery had come. We are so blessed to have such an amazingly supportive family and incredible friends.