Welcome!

 This precious little baby girl made a surprising early entrance into this world yesterday, screaming to announce her arrival. On Halloween I mentioned to my doctor that I thought I might have lost some amniotic fluid. He did an ultrasound and saw that my level was low, but not super low. So, he set up an appointment for me to come back in two weeks and they would check it again. Throughout the week I kept thinking I was losing more, but I didn't want to be super paranoid. However, I was getting nervous after a week. So, I called and went in again. Another ultrasound revealed that I had lost 50% of the amniotic fluid that I previously had and there was a significant risk to the baby. So, he said that he wanted to get me delivered that day, even though I was a day shy of 35 weeks. He optimistically said that we should have the baby here by 4:00. It was 10 in the morning. Allrighty! I hurried home and packed a bag and we were off. When I got to the hospital my contractions were already regular, but not hard. This was surprising since I wasn't even close to my due date. I knew I'd been having contractions, but didn't feel like they were the real thing. After a very long day and a very slow progression, our beautiful Nellie Mae was born. She weighs 5 lbs and 2 oz and is 18 1/2 inches long. We think she might have red hair just like her big sister. She doesn't have a lot of it, so it's kind of hard to tell. She has beautiful tiny features and I just love her to pieces already. After she was born they whisked her away to get her breathing. She's had a rough time of it, especially through the night with her lungs just not well developed yet. I got to see her for a few minutes from a stretcher about an hour after she was born, but I couldn't really tell what she looked like with her CPAP machine on that was as big as her little face. Then they kept her in the Special Care Unit overnight. This morning she was doing better and they were able to lower her oxygen some. They will need to monitor her closely for the next few days to make sure that she can get rid of all the fluid in her lungs, that there is no sign of infection, and that she can breathe normally.

I did finally get to hold her for a few minutes this morning. It was wonderful! She is such an amazing little girl and I can't wait to keep her with me and just be able to stare at her as long as I want and snuggle with her. Welcome to the world, Baby Girl!