Natalie's First Christmas

For Natalie's first Christmas the three of us pretty much hung out at home. There was so much sickness going around it wasn't worth getting her out and having to go back to the hospital. My family was sick, so we decided to postpone our gathering until everyone was well. However, we did make it to church Christmas morning to hear the Christmas story and sing some Christmas carols.

 Opening her first Christmas present

Christmas Pajamas

Santa found our girl :)

Merry Christmas

17 day NICU stay

At St. Vincent's they give all babies a 4 hour window to make improvements before sending them to the NICU. Natalie was borderline. When her 4 hours were up she had shown some improvement with her breathing so they decided to keep her in the well baby nursery a little longer. Around 4am on Thursday December 4 Natalie was admitted to the NICU just to help with her breathing. She was so close to not going but they didn't want to hurt her by not sending her. They do not like to take risks, which is perfectly fine with me. Natalie ended up being put on oxygen and a ventilator just to apply pressure to help her breathe so she wouldn't work as hard and burn calories. Plus this would help her lungs to develop some more. She was off of the vent and oxygen by Sunday. While in the NICU she developed an infection and was put on a 10 day antibiotic which ended up being what kept us longer than originally planned. The antibiotic was given through IV 3 times a day. She also had jaundice and was under the light for 3 days. Although it wasn't the ideal situation and wasn't the easiest thing I had ever done, I would much rather all of this happen while we were still there instead of bringing her home and then having to take her back. I definitely wouldn't have been a fan of that. Daniel and I made the journey to Trussville every afternoon when he got off work to go see our baby girl. We were both exhausted but wouldn't pass up going to see our baby girl for one night. Every time we visited the NICU we counted our blessings. There were 11 babies at one point in there and Natalie was the biggest one. The smallest baby weighed 1lb. While Natalie had some obstacles to overcome along the way; there were others in there who had much bigger obstacles.

This was the first time I got to hold her. She was 2 days old.

Nana holding her for the first time.

We have on clothes. :)

Dressed and ready to go home.

 

Daniel and I appreciate all the prayers that were sent up for our baby girl during this time. She made it home on Saturday, December 21. Just in time for Christmas! ;)

Natalie's Birth Story

Short Story:
Natalie Rae was due on January 13, 2014; however, I had some blood pressure issues going on and then developed preeclampsia which caused her to be delivered 6 weeks early on December 4, 2013.

 

 

Long Story:

I was put on bed rest due to my blood pressure being borderline high the week before Thanksgiving. I had no idea my blood pressure was high. I had no symptoms whatsoever. My doctor moved me up to weekly appointments to better monitor my blood pressure and I was having to take it twice a day at home. Bed rest worked, but it was so hard to be on bed rest when I felt perfectly fine.

On Tuesday, December 3 I had a doctors appointment in Trussville to check my blood pressure and do an ultrasound. Momma went with me in hopes to do some Christmas shopping afterwards. (Just a few stops because I was suppose to still be on bed rest.) I was quickly called back for an ultrasound and Natalie looked perfect, the fluid levels were great and she had an estimated weight of 5lbs. 3oz. While Natalie looked perfect, I on the other hand was apparently developing some problems I was unaware of because again I had no symptoms. I was leaking protein into my urine but on a scale of 0-4 I got a 2 plus my blood pressure was a little higher than what it had been being. At that point Dr. Taylor walks in and sends me straight to the hospital for a 24 hour urine test. So I go and check myself into the hospital for testing. Within 30 minutes mom and I are in a room and my testing had began. I called Daniel to tell him what was going on and that it would just be an overnight stay. He came to the hospital to stay with me so that momma could go home. It was a pretty boring night just hanging out. Daniel and I talked about what our options were and what we were going to do. We prayed all night (there was little to no sleep). Dr. Taylor came in Wednesday morning and said that everything was looking good and that I would be going home that afternoon. So I called and gave the rest of the family the update that there wouldn't be a baby that I would be coming home on strict bed rest. However, my urine test wasn't up until 3pm and that would be the ultimate decision maker. When 3pm rolled around my test was up but it would be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour before we got the results. At this point everyone is still saying we are going home. At 4pm Dr. Taylor walks in and looks at me and Daniel and said, "You are having a baby tonight probably around 7 or 8." In 24 hours I had developed preeclampsia and was on the verge of eclampsia. I was no where near ready to have a baby just yet I still had 6 weeks left before she was going to arrive. I had absolutely nothing with me at the hospital except a camera so I guess we had the most important thing for the time being. Daniel went out and called our parents while I was being officially admitted to the hospital. The nurses came in to start the IV and I was asked a thousand questions. I was put on magnesium to keep me from having seizures because of my blood pressure and preeclampsia. (That stuff is awful.) Once the magnesium got into my system is when things started getting a little fuzzy for me and I lost track of time. At some point momma and Jake showed up. Daddy was already at work and had a load scheduled before we got in touch with him so he wasn't able to be there. (Remember, I was suppose to be going home so I told him earlier in the day to go on to work I would be home and see him on Thursday.)  Around 7 Dr. Taylor came back in and said it was show time. I was carried to the OR while Daniel suited up for a C-Section.

 

 At 8:08pm our lives changed forever. Natalie Rae Morrison was born weighing in at 5lbs. 6oz. and 18.5 inches long. She was perfect in every single way.

 

Welcome

Welcome to our blog. I have been debating starting a blog for a while now. My mother and a few other family members have been on me about it, so I thought I would give it a shot since I now have the most adorable little girl ever to blog about. :) Plus maybe it will help me in documenting important events in her life as well. I can have good intentions right?