After The Tenth..... When The Fun Really Begins

We just returned (well...it was JUST when I started this post, but now it is over a week later so that isn't accurate any longer) from Laney's inaugural visit to the Empire State, where she got to meet her great-grandma (GG) , Uncle Adam, Aunt Kim, Grand Aunt's Anne, Marla and her new Grand Uncle Jeremy. We didn't really make the rounds this trip, as it is a little harder to shuffle everyone around.

During our visit, we took a ton of pictures and Grandma took two tons, so I have to go through them all and pick out some good ones to share.

Before flying back to Florida, we shot over to Connecticut to visit Aunt Tori, Uncle Americo and Cousin Connery. As an added bonus, Grandpa Kupper. There are a ton of stories to tell about our adventures, but the trick is to find the time to write them down before they fade away. (UPDATE...they are already fading. I'm hoping that when I finally find some free time to look at the pictures that some of them will come back to me.

Keep an eye out for the next post, which will have the pictures. Based upon my current productivity levels, I should have that post ready in early December.

My oldest daughter (still working on making that sound normal) is a woman of many faces and many emotions. While Annie and I were primarily focusing our attention on getting Laney home and making sure she was ok, Grandma was working feverishly with her camera. During the course of her stay, she really captured the essence of Macy and her depth. In the pictures below you should notice that she's already showing her studious side, her daredevil nature, her love for her daddy and the never ending laughter that emanates from her and because of her.

While I don't have any great pictures of it yet, Macy has also shown a surprising amount of love for Baby Laney. It is almost approaching obsessive levels as she constantly runs down the hall to peek into the Pak-N-Play, to get a look at the baby and to try and give her a kiss. Our only issue at this point is teaching Macy to be gentle with Baby Laney, but she'll get it soon. I'd rather have to teach her to be gentle than to try and convince her to like our newest one.

Being in the room while my children were born was hands down two of the most amazing experiences of my life. For Macy I was nervous and excited because I had no idea what to expect. For Laney, I was a ball of stress due just the typical nervousness of having another child and then a lot of added stress caused by the worry related to our pregnancy complication, which caused her to be born via an early scheduled C-Section.

I'm sure that many of you know that Laney joined us roughly 5 weeks early and she had to spend 7 days in the NICU before she was able to come home. I had mentioned that we had an issue in the pregnancy but intentionally didn't mention the name of the condition due to the scary nature of what you would find online. But now that Laney was safely delivered, I feel more at ease providing more of the details. Due to Annie's advanced gestational age (the doctor's words and NOT mine) she had to see a neonatologist and experienced a number of extra ultrasounds. It was during one of these procedures that the technician discovered something unusual. It turns out that Annie had a very rare condition called Vasa Previa along with marginal Placenta Previa.

Now before you run off and Google it, let me tell you a little about what it means. (If you are currently pregnant or thinking you might get pregnant again in the coming months, you can skip down to the next paragraph, I won't be upset) Annie's placenta bifurcated and there was a vessel connecting the two. This vessel happened to be providing blood to Laney and then happened to cross over her cervix. This condition is considered rare due to the unlikely nature that all of the these factors would be just "right", but they were. Essentially the only affect of Vasa Previa is that going into labor would put the vessel at risk for rupture, which would be quite dangerous. Instead, the standard of care is to find a point in time where Laney had matured enough but before it was likely for Annie to go into labor. This point is often believed to be 35 weeks, so that's when Laney was born.

I had expected her first week of life to be a potentially challenging time, but I never imagined how draining the experience would be. The NICU is really a special place; difficult and at the same time, full of hope. Considering how early she was born, Laney was sizable and appeared to be in better shape than many of her neighbors. Annie and I decided immediately that we wanted someone to be at Laney's side as much as possible, which sounds easier than it was. We started taking shifts, so we could expand our coverage and try to be there for Laney's feedings. Little ones eat every 3 hours, which goes REALLY fast when it takes almost an hour to complete one feed. Our time in the NICU was made a little bit easier by the really wonderful nurses that watched over our newest little one, but it was a really really draining experience.

Being able to spend as much time with Laney as we did was only made possible by the assistance of Grandma. Annie and I spent long stretches of time at the hospital while she watched over Macy and a performed few other roles (cook, housekeeper, launderer, dog sitter and photographer). Thank you grandma for all of your help, it was appreciated more than we can express.