Sweet Savannah

Savannah's favorite napping position.

I think I've started this post 4 times now. Obviously my NICU brain is in full swing and I have no idea what happened with the previous 3 versions.

Little Miss Savannah is basically the rockstar of the NICU. She was completely off all oxygen one week after birth. ONE WEEK!! To put that in perspective, it took Owen 2 months to go completely off oxygen (in Owen's defense, he didn't get the steroid shots and he went through a lot of trauma before delivery). She stayed off oxygen for 4 days, but when we started working on teaching her how to eat, she had to go back on a low flow. She just didn't have the energy to eat and breathe all at the same time (this is normal).

No oxygen! It's so nice to see her face (mostly). That last tube is for feeding.

She has amazing nurses and I am reminded daily of the sacred experience it is to spend time in the NICU. Angels walk these halls and it is so neat to be a part of the miracles in these baby's lives.

Savannah is such a sweetie. Once they figured out how much to feed her, the "feistiness" the nurses saw went away. She pretty much never cries and she LOVES looking around at everything when she is awake. She is a great pooper (yes, I'm talking about poop on the blog) and has already nailed me (and her incubator) twice. During those moments I am grateful she's in the NICU because her nurse gets to clean up the mess while I snuggle her. :)

Giving a daily update for a NICU baby isn't really feasible. It's constantly 2 steps forward and one step back but most days don't differ much from the day before. Baby steps.

We have no idea when she will be able to come home. The doctors and nurses also have no idea. If you ask them they will tell you to plan on being here until her due date, and be grateful if she comes home earlier than that. So we are taking things one day at a time and letting her take the lead on how much she can handle. But she is a champ and we are seeing miracles in her development. We think she wants to come home as badly as we want her to!

Spending so much time in the hospital during the holidays means I often forget that Christmas is only a couple of days away. But I am given reminders all the time. Twice now the NICU has allowed Christmas carolers to stand outside the door and serenade us. It's awesome. We were also given a HUGE gift basket full of things only a NICU parent can truly appreciate. People are so good.

Being reunited with Owen is the best. (It's right up there with being reunited with my bed.) It took him about a week to trust that I wasn't going to leave him again, and now we are in a pretty good rhythm.

Owen has learned how to smile for the camera. It's awesome.

Merry Christmas!!

SHE'S HERE!!!

We proudly introduce:

Savannah Marjorie Ditto

Born: Friday, December 9th

Weight: 3 pounds 12 ounces

Height: 16.5 inches 

Dan and I each have a Grandma Marjorie, and when we realized she was born on my grandma's birthday we knew we had to incorporate the name. Owen calls her "Uhhhhhhhh-nana". Unfortunately he won't be able to see her until we bring her home. :(

The delivery took place without a hitch (except they had to give me 2 blocks because the 1st one only sort of worked). There were several scary potential scenarios that I was at risk for, but thankfully they ended up being non-issues and it was all fairly routine.

She has lots of dark wavy hair, dark eyes and the longest baby feet you ever did see. She's got at least a few weeks in the NICU, but that was expected. The nurses tell me she can be feisty for her diaper changes (oh boy!) and her little cry sounds like a kitten. We are in love and can't wait to bring her home so we can finally all be together!

Day 22 - The End is Near!

31 Weeks!

We keep learning over and over again that making plans is futile. Babies come when they decide to come (or in our case, when the docs decide to make them come).

Backing up a bit here - I've become well-versed in telling the 20-second version of why I'm here (each time I get a new nurse I have explaining to do). I also have a 2-minute version, and the more in-depth 5-10 minute version depending both on my mood and how inquisitive the nurse is. I will say that in general I get a jaw drop when they hear about my uterine rupture. Yes, it's that rare. But to tell the full story I have to back all the way up to tell about sweet Lydia. Rather than go into details here, if you're interested you can read this article. Minus the part about the happy ending, this is our exact.same.story. For reals. I like to think/hope that maybe what we went through helped the doctors to know how to save that little girl. What a blessing that she made it!

Anyway - because of that scary surgery where they removed Lydia's tumor (for us it happened when I was 25 weeks pregnant), the doctor had to utilize a vertical ("classical") incision, and it's rather large. Normal c-sections utilize a horizontal scar that is in the lower part of the uterus, thus minimizing any risk for rupturing.  It was my giant incision that spontaneously opened when I was 32 weeks pregnant with Owen. I was at home. Putting meat balls in the oven. And my doctor is quick to remind me that by all accounts, Owen and I should not have survived.

There is no way to predict a rupture, which is why I've spent the past 22 days living at the hospital. (By the time I leave, I will have spent more time here than in our new house. Go figure.) So I'm not technically on "bed rest." I do not have an iv. I am in the hospital "just in case" I rupture again so they can whisk me down to the operating room and save me and baby right away. My room is the closest room to the elevators for that very reason.

So the question of the last 22 days has been "when should we deliver?" I have to deliver via c-section (the contracting that occurs in a normal delivery would increase the rupture chances exponentially), and obviously we are trying to avoid another rupture. The goal has always been to get to 32 weeks, and then take it from there. Obviously the longer the baby stays in, the better things are for her (and less time in the NICU!) But it's a bit of a gamble. Dan and I discussed everything there is to discuss and decided we felt really good about waiting until December 19th. I would be 33 weeks and 2 days - exactly one week beyond where I was with Owen. We felt it was a good middle ground of not pushing my body too far, but letting baby "cook" a while longer. So much for that plan! My doc came in yesterday afternoon and explained that she had just come from a long meeting with all the other high-risk doctors that was all about me! (I don't know how I feel about being so well-known around here for my crazy medical history.) Basically all of the doctors agreed that it would be crazy to let me get as far as I was with Owen. So instead of delivering on the 19th, we are delivering on the NINTH. As in, Friday. As in, TWO days from now.

We knew she would be coming early, but I thought I would at least have another week. Mostly though, we're just grateful for amazing medical care that can allow us to grow our family. And just in case you were wondering, going through all of this is more than worth it for the life we were able to give Lydia. I would do it again and more if I had to. Families are Forever!

Day 19

In attempting to focus on the silver lining of this eternal hospital stay, I came to quite the realization the other day: being in the hospital is just like being on a cruise! And I don't even get sea sick!  Think about it: I don't cook, ever. My food is brought to me and I can eat in bed if I want (and I don't have to tip the delivery man!) My nurses refill my water several times a day. My private room and bathroom get cleaned daily (along with the garbage removal). The elevators are NOT equipped with mats to tell me what day of the week it is, but since the nurses update it on my white board every day, I don't even have to keep track of a calendar. And I even managed to make friends with one of the kitchen workers who now makes sure that I get a smoothie of my choice delivered every afternoon. So I'm basically living the dream over here! ;)

But, I'd like to think that after about 10 days of cruising it would start to get old, and 10 days was about when all of the "perks" started losing their appeal. Since I'm here on an "extended vacation" they let me order my meals from the cafeteria menu (which is MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better than the regular food the patients are offered). But now even the cafeteria food is just ok and I'm ready for normal food again.

Um, does anyone else notice the blob of mystery meat on here?
Seriously - it made me gag like crazy and I couldn't
touch anything else because of it's nastiness. They seriously expect
pregnant women to be able to put that down?

Thanks to lots of phone calls and visits the days are not as monotonous as I thought they would be. I even found a piano that I sneak off to play every once in a while when the room gets left unlocked (yes, I know this hospital well!) Also, I take a nap pretty much every day (because, why not?) I'm hoping by the time baby girl gets here that I'm well-rested and ready for the crazy few weeks of recovering and juggling my NICU baby and my Owen. But of course the last few nights my pregnant hormones have kicked in and I'm starting to not sleep all that great (but lets remember that I'm in a hospital - lots of noise and lights and a teeny awkward bed probably don't help either.) One of the perks of delivering my babes early is supposed to be that I skip all the late-pregnancy woes, but it's almost like my body knows what's going to happen so it's kicking in anyway. Go figure.

Owen chugging the milk I save for him every day. He spilled it ALL OVER ME
about 30 seconds after I took this picture. I got to walk back to my room from the
cafeteria looking like I wet myself. 

Owen continues to amaze me with his awesomeness. It took about 10 days before both of us could say goodbye without sobbing. Which on one hand is great, that he's doing well, but on another hand makes me sad that he is used to life without his momma. Sigh. Thankfully he visits lots and he now knows how to get to the fish tank and his favorite statue.

This little spot was MADE for Owen. There is a light switch AND a sink all
within arms reach. He sat and played there for a good 30 minutes one day.