Haven's Dramatic Entrance

Well... A LOT has happened the past few weeks!!  I have been dying to update the blog!  So many things I could post about b/c... Our baby girl is here!!!  She came a whole month early (at 36 weeks to be exact) and it was definitely a shock to us!  I was very vague on details on Facebook for the sake of time and not wanting to answer a ton of questions, so now that I've had a moment to catch my breath (but don't kid yourself I am sleep-deprived)... I'll update you!  If you are family or visited us in the hospital, you probably have heard this story!  If you haven't heard it, I hope you have a minute b/c this is a dangerously LONG blog post!

At our last doctor appointment in early May, we found out that Haven was breech.  Her head was up by my ribs and had been there for weeks!  So the doctor said at the next appointment we would see if she was still breech and go ahead and schedule a c-section.  Then Friday morning, May 20th, we went in for that appointment.  She was still breech, but there was also a note of concern from the ultrasound tech that the amniotic fluid was low.  She didn't let on that it was anything serious, but decided we should disregard the appointment we had with the doctor later that day and just go to the hospital to see the doctor right then.  We were a little worried, but under the impression that the doctor just wanted to double-check the ultrasound and we were only having to go to the hospital b/c that's where she was.  Not the case.

We get there and casually explain to the nurses that we were sent over from the office for our doctor to take a look at the baby.  Their response?  "Go ahead and sign here because we are admitting you for 24-48 hours of monitoring."  "What?!?!  I think you have the wrong person.  She is just supposed to take a quick look and make sure everything is ok."  "Oh no ma'am, we have orders to admit you, start fluids, and start monitoring the baby."  I FREAKED.  I am a planner (which is a nice way of saying control freak) and this was not according to my plan!  I was of course worried about Haven, but on top of that my Tippi Toes dance recital was the next day!  The absolute highlight of the year for my business was the next day and they were telling me I couldn't go to it!  I immediately start crying, stressing, you name it.  The nurse behind the counter says, "well you've been burning the candle at both ends haven't you?" My response?  "YES!!!" Followed by lots of tears.  So within 10 minutes of getting to the hospital, I have my own room and am dressed in the big ugly gown.  Oh, but it gets more hectic...

 My doctor calls... "You're freaking out aren't you?"  "Absolutely I am!" "She tells me that she hasn't seen for herself yet, but from what the ultrasound tech said, the fluid was dangerously low and we might have to have the baby TODAY."  So basically I go from a casual appointment, to being admitted to the hospital for monitoring, to thinking I might have a baby that day!  Talk about O-VER-WHELM-ING.  She came by in the early afternoon after they had started me on a bunch of iv fluids and said she would come by at 5pm for an ultrasound.  If the fluid situation wasn't better, we would have the baby at 6pm.  Oh, ok... baby at 6!  I was in shock.  And unfortunately rather than relaxing and calming down, I had to frantically figure out how to still have my recital the next day!  I spent the next several hours delegating duties to different people.  Thank goodness for the Broken Arrow franchise owner, my in-laws, and my teachers for taking charge and still putting on a fabulous show!  Russell also had to go home and pack... b/c let's face it, we thought we had another month so we didn't have a bag packed yet!  This was the first of many lists...

My sister got there before the doctor came at 5, so that was some much needed comfort.  And then what do you know?  The fluid situation got better so no baby that day.  The doctor thought the next day was a HUGE possiblity but that I would for sure have a baby by Tuesday.  So I called my parents and they got there the next day.  :)

To make an already LONG story a little bit shorter, the fluid situation got a little bit better on that Saturday so they moved me into a post-partum room instead of labor and delivery.  From that point on it was a day to day thing where we would do an ultrasound in the morning to check out the fluid situation and depending on that, we would have a baby or not.  Then on Tuesday, the day we thought for sure we would have a baby by... the doctor consults a high-risk specialist and she says if the baby is still doing well to try and push me to 37 weeks.. so another week of bed rest at the hospital.  By this point the hospital is our hotel room and we've really settled in nice.  I came back from the bathroom at one point to this lovely sight... man does my husband have a sense of humor or what?!

Since I thought I would be there another week, I got out of the yucky hospital gown and into my own clothes.  Figured we should take a belly pic so this is me on that Tuesday night.

Well my parents can't just burn up all their vacation time on me sitting in the hospital!  So Wednesday morning they started the 11 hour treck home.  And don't you know we would go in for the morning ultrasound and the fluid situation was worse.  However, the ultrasound machine messed up while we were in there.. they had to bring another tech in to help fix the problem... so needless to say, I wasn't really trusting the results of this screening.  So I freak out...again.  Not comfortable with having a baby based on that test.  Thankfully my doctor came to visit me... on her day off... and did her own ultrasound about noon.  Turns out the test from that morning was accurate and there was less fluid... so she recommends having the baby THAT DAY.  You want to talk about rollercoaster of emotions?!  Thought we were there for another week and then just kidding!!  Doctor comes back at 1pm and says the operating room is available at 3pm so that's when we'll do it!  So I call my poor parents who had made it half way home and that had to turn around and drive 6 hours back.  But they would have done it again in a heartbeat!  I love them!  So that 2 hours fly by... in fact, I'm kinda thankful it was so short... otherwise I may have worked myself up even more about the whole thing.  So at 3pm, we headed down the hallway and Russell was dressed like this...

And at 3:30pm on Wednesday, May 25th, Haven Jane Friske entered this world!!!

She was 6 lbs 9 oz (big for 36 weeks!... can u imagine if I had carried her to 40?!) and 19 3/4 in long.  And just the most PERFECT thing I have ever seen.  Russell got to carry her to the nursery (jealous!) while they finished sewing me up.  Since she was so early, they put her on oxygen for several hours and started some antibiotics.  She was in the special care nursery which is a step up from the regular nursery, but not serious enough for the NICU.  In those several days on bed rest, I had prepared myself for NICU so we were relieved!  However, since I had a c-section and couldn't get out of bed, and she couldn't come to our room... I had to wait until 12 hours to hold my baby girl.  So at 3:30am, I managed to make it into a wheelchair and Russell pushed me down the hall to go see my sweet angel.  There were definitely plenty of happy tears when I held her for the first time.  I just couldn't believe she was here!

And I was so incredibly grateful that she was healthy and well, just perfect.  We got this sweet picture during her first poopy diaper change believe it or not!  Russell is a pro now!

She was off the oxygen in less than 12 hours and got her last round of antibiotics that Friday morning.  They moved her to the regular nursery on Friday night at 10pm and started bringing her to our room for feedings!  We couldn't have asked for things to go smoother.  She got to go home with us that Sunday and every day since then has been an absolute joy!  As I type this right now, she is sleeping peacefully in my lap.  I could literally spend the day staring at her.  I am completely in LOVE.  Thank you to everyone for your prayers!  I know that she had plenty of people sending them up for her and truly believe God answered those prayers with such a smooth transition after the crazy week leading up to her birth.  Thank you to everyone that helped out at my house when I couldn't be here, who came to visit us in the hospital pre- and post-baby, and everyone that has brought food or will bring food!  We are so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.  I can't wait to see what all is in store for our sweet baby girl!  I am loving being a family of 3!  Oh wait... 4... Sorry Copper!  Ha!  By the way, he's doing great with her!  Many more posts to come... we'll see how many she'll let me get in during this nap time.  Sorry such a long post, but I had to let you re-live the drama with me!