We checked into the hospital Monday night with the intention of taking you home on Tuesday after “rooming in” for the night. Rooming in is where we get to sleep with you in our room and call the nurses for any assistance…it’s kind of one last transition night before you go home for good since we didn’t have any one-on-one time with you while we were in the hospital.

Once again, things didn’t go quite as planned. Your father and I had a very hard time getting you to eat your minimum food requirements (60ml every 4 hours). We had a couple of nurses come to the room throughout the night to give us pointers and suggestions; however, it became pretty obvious in the early morning hours on Tuesday that you would not be able to go home that day.

Your mommy, who’s already been having a very difficult time with all of this, was pretty upset and worried. Your father was doing a little better….but we were both very anxious and stressed out. Our emotions were amplified by the fact that we were celebrating your 1 week birthday in the hospital. Your father and I have continued to grow closer through this entire experience and we were able to work with you all day and into the night Tuesday…and around 3am we realized it was very probable that you were finally going to get to come home on Wednesday!

We made it home around 2pm, unpacked the car, put you down for a nap, then relished in the fact that, after eight of the longest and hardest days of our lives, our baby girl was finally home!

At long last, our lifetime of happy memories can begin…

A special thank you to all of our friends and family that have reached out to us via phone, facebook, or this blog…my isn’t technology wonderful! We have a long list of people to call or write back. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, we’ll be in touch with you soon!

This blog has been too much fun, too therapeutic, and we’ve received too many great responses and comments from friends and family. I think we’ll consider the first chapter of your blog completed, but we’ll continue to blog on a regular basis and hopefully someday you’ll have a great memoir of your life.

Takin' Hailey Home

Hi baby girl! You’re doing great! It’s been a pretty rocky couple of days for mom and dad. You’ve actually been doing awesome; it’s just been very difficult for us to watch, feeling so helpless. You were officially 5 days old as of a couple of hours ago. It’s hard to believe, it feels like weeks to us.

Your blood sugars really started to stabilize about 72 hours ago. The nurses were able to drop your IV by 1ML every 3 hours for an entire day (Thursday). You started at 12ML, but when you hit 3ML you plateaued a little bit. You had to be at 3ml for almost another day (Friday) when your arm started to swell from the IV. That’s fairly common, but that meant you weren’t getting your IV fluids the way you should. Since this was the second time that happened, Nurse Teresa decided to pull the IV out to see how your little body would do. Your mom and I were on pins and needles for the next 3 hours.

Teresa checked your sugars 3 hours later. They weren’t as high as they had been…but they were well above the acceptable levels!!! Because your levels dropped and your first-time mom and dad were so worried, we were on pins and needles of another 3 hours. But once again our little princess reacted like a champ and your sugars were back up! Yeah Hailey!!!

Today is Sunday – the day we thought you’d be home. As of right now it looks like your little body has fully adjusted and your blood sugars are all normal according to the doctor. The good news, they officially think that you are recovered from your blood sugar issues and that there should be NO long-term side effects.

The bad news is that you haven’t quite mastered how to eat yet. For most babies this isn’t an issue. They can miss a feeding or two or not get quite as much food as they should and be okay. But because your body is still trying to find balance you need every drop of nourishment you can get. So until you master your eating skills, it’s going to be another few days in the NICU for you. 🙁 This has truly been the longest and most stressful week of our lives.

Mom plans on breast feeding you, but because of all your issues you’ve had to be bottle fed so far. We’ve been giving you some of mom’s milk along with some formula to supplement. The doctor has been increasing your food almost daily. The more food in your belly the easier it is for you to create the sugars your little body needs. Your eating slowed down on Friday; you weren’t able to eat everything you needed to in 30 minutes, so they had to give you a feeding tube. It was extremely sad for us to see. Though you honestly didn’t seem to mind at all once it was in, Friday was definitely the hardest day for your mom & I.

You had a tiny tube coming out of your nose that went to your belly. You were able to cry, sneeze, hiccup, and do all the normal baby stuff and you seemed as happy and as content as could be. Actually, you could even eat normally. The tube was just there for the times you didn’t get all of your food down in one 30 minute sitting. One of the nurses got a little zealous when she came in Saturday morning after the night shift nurse had gotten you to successfully eat for 4 straight feedings. She pulled the tube, but then she didn’t have quite the same touch with you as the night nurse, so the tube had to go back in. We were upset, because while the tube doesn’t bother you once it’s in, the process of placing the tube is very uncomfortable. It’s just so hard to see you going through so much…but you’ve been a trouper and are a super strong little girl!

Since then, you’ve gone another 6 or 7 feedings without the tube, so that’s a GREAT sign. Mom and I just got home from the hospital…we’ve been going to see you every 3 hours since we’ve been home. You took the bottle today much better than you have been; daddy fed you this time. It still takes the full 30 minutes, but you’re gettin’ better!

That’s all for now. Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Karen are in town to see you. Grandpa and I are off to see to see the new Star Trek movie while Grandma and Mommy take a nap. Mommy’s VERY sleepy right now, but more about that in another post.

We’ll see you in a few hours for your dinner feeding!

We love you so very much,
Mom and Dad!

Well, it looks like we will be going home tomorrow; sadly you will not be going with us. You’ve been progressing nicely, but not quite fast enough to take you home tomorrow. Though we are super anxious to have you home, we’d rather you stay in the NICU until you are as strong as you need to be.

Your IV is half of what it was just yesterday and you’re well on your way to a full recovery with no long term side effects! The doctor hopes that you will be off the IV late tomorrow and that you’ll just need another day or so after that to be at 100%.

We are so excited for you to meet Maddison, and Jasper, and see your room, and to start breast feeding, and to get settled in to our routine…or should we say your routine.  We are most anxious to get to hold you & love on you as much as we want, when we want, how we want, and in the comfort of our own home. Oh, the things one takes for granted.

Though it’s been tough, this whole experience has made your father and I grow closer than we ever thought we could be. It’s also made us realize just how precious your life is – we already love you more than either of us ever thought possible. You truly are our precious angel.

With love,
Mom and Dad

Love at first sight	8lbs 0.5oz
Our bundle of joy!	Look at all that hair!

More pictures: http://nash.shutterfly.com

Mom and dad were a little sad last night; you had to spend the night in the NICU without us. You are doing great and are going to be a super healthy little girl, but you’ve been having a little trouble regulating your blood sugars. They say it’s relatively common and you’re doing really well now, but it was a little nerve racking for a couple of worrisome first time parents.

So what happened? When you came out your little body was producing too much insulin causing your blood sugar to be quite low. With low blood sugar you body has trouble producing enough heat. They attempted to bottle feed you some nutrients. You were able to get a few down right about the time your lab tests came back. When they realized how low your sugars were, they immediately went to plan B: to put you on an IV and admit you to the NICU. Of course, our hearts sank when she said NICU because that’s where all the “sick” babies go.

Mom got to see you for a few seconds after you were delivered, but didn’t really get to meet you until about 9pm last night because she was stuck in bed because of her c-section. Luckily, your father was allowed to make visits to the NICU so he took the grandparents back (one at a time) to see you and each time he did, he would take new pictures and video so mom could see how you were doing. It helped a lot, but was still very scary for mom to never have held or even gotten to touch you!

By 9pm mom was recovered enough to move to a wheelchair so she could make the trip to the NICU. You were in the middle of finishing a bottle of formula when we arrived….which is the next step in the direction of recovery. Yay – go Hailey! The nurse explained that your blood sugars had leveled off, with the help of your nutrient packed IV, and that they would now slowly begin to take you off the IV and onto bottles in the hopes that you will be able to maintain everything on your own. They say that could take a day or two, or it could take a week; it will all depend on you. We are in no hurry as long as you stay healthy we don’t care about the rest.

After you were done eating, mom got to hold you for the first time! It was a truly life-changing experience to see such a miracle in the making. You were so content and peaceful. I am sure you had to be exhausted after such an eventful day. We just stared in amazement and how perfect you are. You had not been able to get your bath yet with all that was going on, so your hair was still a little messy but it definitely appears that you have a full head of dark and curly hair! Hair bows will become our best friend. 🙂

After mom held you it was time for some father-daughter time. Mom says dad looked like so natural sitting there with you. We didn’t want to make you too tired so we decided to head back to the room after about an hour. Once we got that back to the room, your father passed out. Mom had not seen him that tied in a long time, if ever.