Hey Gang! *hugs* This is my first chance to check email, and I have time to reply to one group, but not all (and don't want to multi-cc various groups.) I'm recovering and hobbling around in Albuquerque at my in-laws' house where I'm going to be staying for the next few weeks until Amber is released from NICU. I did get to briefly see half of Amber's small face as she was high up in her transport unit just before flying out, but I don't really count it as "getting to see her." Friday was an emotional day
getting to see Jade and Jason again after 2 nights and then finally seeing
and holding Amber. She was in an isolation room until Saturday night and
then moved out into one of the plastic enclosed beds with the little holes
you can reach through.
I was very thankful to have Jason's help Friday through Sunday evening here in Albuquerque because there are a lot of things I cannot accomplish by myself. He and Jade drove back to Los Alamos last night though so that they can attend half-weeks of work/school and return on Wednesday afternoons every week, and then they will miss Thursdays and Fridays and be here with me and Amber. The next few weeks are an emotional struggle as I cope without them those times and be away from home and have my baby in the NICU.
Amber is doing well, although it's a mystery why she is so very small, even
for being premature. She came 4 weeks before my estimated due date, but the doctors had calculated a due date 10 days later than mine because all my early ultrasounds showed a small baby (already!), but when they did tests to discover her gestational age, she came out at 35 weeks, which is a good compromise between both dates. (Incidentally, I had decided if I were to pick a birthdate for her in May if they had wanted to schedule me for a c-section, I would have picked May 18, and she came on the 18th, just a month early!) The doctors say my placenta was also very small, and it could not keep up with her growth needs or amniotic fluid, and she was showing signs that she needed out. They hesitate to guess at what would have happened had she not given those signs of distress, or had those signs caught.
I had a c-section under general anesthesia after the results of that
morning's MRI showed an epidural might not cover fully where it should, so
Jason was not able to be in there to see her born, nor could I see her
after. And the trouble of having a breathing tube for that left me with a
cough which is PAINFUL to the incision.
I've visited with Amber every day since Friday and gotten to hold her. She
is still on an IV and has a feeding tube through her nose. She was under UV lights yesterday for jaundice, but was off today and they will see how she does. She is one of the tiniest babies in the NICU, and the nurses go crazy over her. Jason has gotten pictures uploaded to somewhere, and he says he's emailed them somewhere, but I have no idea where because it's in none of my groups!
I can't believe we have 2 early purkle babies! Bipper's at 3 weeks, and
mine at 5 weeks, and arriving only 9 days apart! I hope to see some updates on here from her on her little Lumpy!
I need to go lay down now, and am not sure when I'll be on again, but it
will be a while before I can catch up in my various
groups/forums/sites/guilds.
.......
fawN
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