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

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.

The past two days have really been bittersweet. First of all, Annie was discharged from the hospital, which meant we could go home. Going home to reunite the family was always the plan, but unfortunately the plan had to be modified a bit. While Laney is progressing every day, she has some more hurdles to get over, so the hospital extended her reservations by a few days.

As excited as I was to return to my own bed, having to drive Annie home with an empty car seat made for a challenging car ride. The ride was made easier by knowing that Laney was receiving excellent care and is showing marked improvements everyday. She had been off of medicine for over a day and that morning they had removed the IV from her hand, which meant that they were comfortable that she wasn't going to need any more meds. She was now just a little preemie who needed some time and some rest.

Unfortunately, grandpa had to cut his trip short due to the loss of one of his best friends. Bill "Leggs" Kesner was the best man in my parent's wedding and one of dad's best friends since college. I think dad was also his best man. Growing up we always heard stories about Leggs and our hearts are saddened by his loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with both grandpa, grandma and the Kesner family. As much as I didn't want him to leave, I felt reassured knowing that dad wasn't rushing home to an empty house. There were 4-5 fellow fraternity brothers who were travelling through the night from different parts of the country to attend the services and they were going to crash at dad's house. I can only hope that 5 fraternity brothers in their 60's, living together for a night will behave themselves better than they did based upon the crazy stories I heard about them from their teenage years.  If not, dad here's your warning to get a cleaning lady before next Sunday.

At this point, I think I can drive myself back and forth to the hospital with my eyes closed. (I promised Annie that I wouldn't test out my theory.) We are currently taking shifts at Laney's side and this morning is Annie's turn. I just got Macy down for a nap and I'm supposed to follow suit, but I felt like I needed to get some words out of my head and onto digital "paper" first.

Yesterday we didn't head to the hospital until midday, so we could have a fun morning with Macy, which was both beneficial for her and for her parents. Speaking of Macy, grandma took some video of her interacting with grandpa and if I ever get 2 free minutes, I'll share it. I'm not sure if it is just that he's a male, that he has a fuzzy mustache or if he's just willing to play along, but the smiles and giggles that he elicits from her are priceless. From what I could see, she was really running him ragged.

 So the highs and lows continue and we try to stay even keeled. Laney seems to have one more hurdle to conquer before our family can all be home together..Jaundice. Her bilirubin scores are a bit higher than we would want, so we anxiously await the results of each day's test. I'm amazed at how many new medical terms I throw around these days, like they have always been part of my vocabulary. Bilirubin is a brownish-yellowish substance found in bile, which breaks down red blood cells and is removed from the body in feces. Laney is currently under a bili light to help assist in the removal. Her most recent scores are down and she's looking better than ever.