Harper's Here!

Well, for those of you who have not heard, Harper decided to make an early entrance into this world! Here are her stats:
Born April 4, 2008 at 2:16pm
She weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces and was 17 1/2 inches long.

She's a petite little girl obviously but is doing pretty well. At this point she's back and forth off the nasal cannula and the cpap. The cpap lets her do less work, and she gets pretty tired breathing entirely on her own on the nasal cannula. But they'll keep trying to get her to stay on the cannula to see how she does. She's currently being fed through an IV, but the doctor put in orders to try feeding her 3 cc's of breast milk that I've been providing every three hours starting right now, so please pray that she processes everything well and that we can continue to do that.

She's doing great for a baby being born 5 weeks early, but they won't give us any timelines yet as to when we might be able to hold her, feed her, or better yet - take her home! We're just taking it day by day, hour by hour and it feels good knowing that she's in such great care.

A quick version of how it happened yesterday. We were scheduled for our weekly sonogram to check on the level of amniotic fluid. As I wrote in a couple of my previous posts, the doctor was concerned about her fluid levels so he wanted to make sure I was closely monitored to see if they stayed the same. Well, last Wednesday (when it was first measured) the fluid was measuring 10 centimeters. Two days later at my next appointment, it was measuring 11 centimeters. Yesterday when the doctor had me on the machine, he couldn't find a good measurable amount of fluid ANYWHERE, and it was determined that I had approximately 1.3 centimeters - way too low to let her stay in there.

So he broke the news that I'd be delivering her that day - no time wasted. And a c-section was our only option because of the limited amount of time. So while it wasn't exactly a scene out of a movie where they're wheeling me immediately into the OR, it was pretty quick and happened within 5 hours or so.

Jon and I were both obviously in complete shock, but we knew we were in good hands and wanted what was best for Harper. The surgery went well and she cried right away. She had a little trouble continuing to cry, but they let me see her for a sec before she went to the NICU, where she's been in great hands ever since.

Jon sees her a lot more than I do at this point since he's much more mobile than I am. He's faithful to deliver the little vials of breastmilk to the staff immediately, and then spend some time with her. We're so both in love and think she's so beautiful - obviously! This morning was the first time I got to really see her face since she got off the cpap and the big mask is gone. We took a few pics to show everyone!

I'm feeling pretty good and am just trying to keep moving so I don't stiffen up or get too sore.

That's what we know right at this moment! We're both pretty tired but getting as much rest as we can. Since she can't leave the NICU, we're just keeping ourselves busy in the room sleeping and thinking of things we still need to do at home. Needless to say we were caught pretty off guard and there are a few things we still need since we thought we had 5 weeks left! Carseat is our #1 priority. The dogs are over at Don and Jane's house, being spoiled I'm sure.

I'll check in again soon! Thank you for all your prayers thus far and continued prayers. They are definitely cherished for our little girl.

-Jon and Holly