Welcome Zoe!

What a crazy week!  We are excited to announce the arrival of our baby girl, Zoe Marie Smallwood!  She was born on Saturday, June 4th at 7:19am, 5 lbs, 1 oz.  We are all home and doing well, relaxing and enjoying life as a family of 4!

We've been so anxious to get home.  It's been a crazy ride this week.

(Sorry in advance for spelling and grammar mistakes.  It's late. )

I had a Dr. appt. on Friday, and since I haven't gained as much weight as with my last pregnacy, my Dr. ordered an ultrasound to check the weight of the baby.  On my way home, she called me and said the baby was measuring small, and they wanted to monitor me, so she told me to come back.  Then she called back again and said that after talking with the specialist, they decided to just go ahead and induce that night (my cervix was already soft and she was very low).

We got in, and they gave me something to start labor that night.  Contractions were actuallly already started and I wasn't feeling them (so I probably would have been in that night anyway), then they got worse as the night went on, but not too bad. At 2:20am my water broke, and the Dr. decided to give me Petosin to move things along at around 7am. 

Right away my contractions started getting strong and back to back.  Suddenly, the baby's heart rate wasn't on the monitor and the midwife ran over and started moving the monitor all over my tummy, frantically trying to find it.  Then, she ran out of the room and I heard her saying, "I need help, my baby's down."  I was a terrified mama at that point.  A team of people ran into the room in a half a second and they were telling me to turn over on all fours.  Then the Dr. told me that they got the heart rate back but it was low and they needed to get her out now.  They wheeled me out and it was so fast from there!  I was so scared and wondering if we had lost her, but I was in awe of how the nurses and doctors were so quick and calm. They were like a machine.  Everyone seemed to have a job and they were just telling me they needed to knock me out and in a few minutes I'd have my baby. I knew something was wrong, and they had this sense of urgency, but they were  amazing and so under control and professional, like they had done this a hundred times. They put the mask over me and that was that.

A little while later Rich and my mom were standing over me.  They told me they got her out, and she was ok, but had some breathing issues so they took her to the NICU.  The umbilical cord had been wrapped around her and was cutting off blood supply. I guess their goal in an emergency c-section is to have the baby out within 10 minutes, and they had Zoe out in 7 minutes.  They do assimilation drills all the time to practice, and those nurses and Doctors at Kaiser Riverside  Labor and Delivery are just plain amazing.  

So Zoe had a rough little start in life.  She was in the NICU, and had some breathing issues.  She was making a grunting sound, which could mean fluid in her lungs, and when she breathed in she wasn't getting enough oxygen, so she had to have the oxygen tubes in her nose. Since she had breathing struggles, she couldn't eat and was on an IV for fluids and nutrients. 

It was a roller coaster ride from there.  Her oxygen levels would get better, and they'd ween her off the oxygen, but then they gave her a bath, and I guess that was a little stress and her levels were back down, so she had to be put back on it.  Again, she got better and things were looking up, then they moved her to the incubator and same thing. Then she started doing well with oxygen, and they weened her off again and she was maintaining good levels on her own for a while, and that was BIG.  

The next thing was starting feedings.  They started with very little and gradually increased with each feeding.  As they increased the feeding, they could decrease the IV, and the new goal was to get her off the IV.  They increased by 1 ml each feeding, but she was doing so well, they started increasing by 3 mls each feeding.  The concern was her breathing again and getting too tired when we got up to the bigger feedings. She had to take the feedings in 20 minutes, and if not, the rest had to be given through a tube that they had now put in her nose to her tummy.

It was SO HARD to see my tiny little baby in there with tubes and an IV all over her, and know she had to endure all the poking and prodding.  I wanted her with me in my room, where we could hold and love her, and instead she had to be in an incubator hooked up with all sorts of wires and tubing, and we could just go visit her. :(

Her feedings were at 2, 5, 8, and 11 (am and pm), so every three hours.  I would pump whatever I could get, then go feed her and spend some time rocking and holding her, and then go back to my room and sleep for an hour, and get up again and do the same thing. The nurses in the family care center (recovery) were the sweetest, and I don't remember all the names since they kept switching shift, but I loved them.  they took such good care of me, and they always asked me how Zoe was doing.  A couple times one would even bring my motrin and ice water down to the nursery for me if it was time, she said she knew where to find me. :)  The NICU nurses that Zoe had were wonderful too, and I don't know how they do that job.  They are objective and can do the tough stuff the babies need like tubes and needles, but they are really nuturing and loving to them at the same tme.  It must be so hard. Zoe's nurse changed every  12 hours, and we had our favorites of course, but really they are all angels in there.  

Her neighbor in NICU was my friend from High School, JD's baby girl!  That was so cool to run into him over and over as we visited our babies.  What wasn't so cool was that I haven't really seen him since High School, and the first time he gets to see me I had just had a baby!  I'm sure I looked just like he remembered me lol! Oh well, either way it was so nice to catch up a little and see an old friend! :)  Can't believe we are parents now.  It's crazy.

I stayed as long as I could, then I had to go home... without my baby.  That was tough.  It felt so wrong, but we were hopeful.  She had been doing really well with her feedings at that point.  The day I left, the nurse took the IV out and she was at her full feedings.  She usually did great, but sometimes she'd get tired and it was a fight to keep her awake to finish. 

Rich talked to the Dr. and he told us if she did well with all her feedings the next day, she could go home that night.  I called in the middle of the night and she was doing great, but I guess her 5am feeding that morning took too long, and they were debating.  So all excited to bring her home, I found out when we got there the next morning that we might be looking at another day.  Rich and I were there for all her feedings that day, and we were just keeping our fingers crossed.  At 5pm after her feeding the Dr. said if she did ok for the 8pm, we could take her home then!  There's a whole other story for that one, but long story short she was finally able to come home with us!  She had pulled through and proved that she was a trooper and getting stronger! 

We finally got home that night and it felt so good! It has been a crazy week of ups and downs, and I've been an emotional roller coaster (sorry Rich!).  One of the biggest blessings we've had has been that in all this, we didn't have to worry for a second about Bailey.  She slept at my mom's in her bed there, and each day she got passed around between my family, Rich's family, and my aunt, grandma, and cousin.  They were taking her to the park, playing all day with her, taking her to Castle Park... it was one big party for her!  She was loving life and got to hang with all her favorite people nonstop having a blast.  We are SO GRATEFUL to our families for everything they did for Bailey.  She is so well-adjusted and comfortable with everyone that she didn't miss a beat.  I'm sure she missed us, but she was still surrounded with love and fun.  The last couple days I had stayed at the hospital on my own and Rich took her home to get back to some sort of normalcy for her, and he spent some good quality time with her before we brought Zoe home.  

So here we are!  And would you believe I didn't take my camera, or any camera for that matter.  We have LOTS of phone pics though.  She is just precious.  Sooooo tiny and fragile, and the cutest little thing.  She looks EXACTLY like Bailey when she was born, only with darker hair, so they are gonna look like sisters for sure.  We are blessed blessed blessed with our two little girls, overwhelmed with love once again.

Thank you to all of you for your love and support.  We got endless Facebook and email encouragement, and it meant so much! I can't wait to get some cute pictures to share, especially since Bai is so excited and cute with her.  Welcome to our family, Zoe!  WE LOVE YOU TO PIECES ALREADY! :)