So What Did You Do This Week? I Had A Baby!

As some of you may have heard already, we had our beautiful baby girl this week! Big surprise! I woke up Sunday morning with a "stomach ache" that Tylenol wouldn't cure, and was tracking contractions by noon and into the hospital by one. Iris Helena joined us at 1:02 AM- suffice it to say, this labor was quite a bit different from my 5 hour Riley labor! We got to hold her once before she was taken away to the nursury, then the Special Care Nursery, and then to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). She's early, obviously, so her lungs are a bit under developed, and she also has a stubborn case of pnemonia. We haven't been able to hold her since that first time, which is pretty hard to take, and it's so difficult to see her covered in wires.

She was born 19 inches long, 5 pounds and 13 ounces, and full of sass! The NICU nurses tell us that she has no difficulty making her wishes known, even under all the sedation! We named her Iris, thinking that such a sweet and gentle name would rub off- but it looks like we have another Riley on our already full hands! We're so excited for her to get better so we can take her home. Riley doesn't understand why she can't see her, and it's causing her some stress, I think. Iris's antibiotics will take 7 to 10 days to run their course, and then we need to concentrate on getting her lungs up to scratch, and then we'll be able to bring her home. So, sometime between 2 weeks to a month. I'm optimistically thinking it will be 2 weeks to the day.

Thank you so much to all the people who helped and supported us while I was in the hospital, and who are continuing the help now that I'm out. (By the way, I feel fantastic!) We appreciate it more than we can express. It was so nice not to have to worry about Riley on top of everything else! Thank you!