SOCIAL MEDIA

March 8, 2017

Adilynn's Arrival | Part 2

I started Adilynn's birth story a few months back and with her first birthday one week away, I figured that I better go ahead and finish her story. Read about her arrival then continue reading to see how our stay went so differently than I could have planned.

After our sweet girl arrived, our family came in to meet her. The hospital that we were at does not allow any one in the room for 2 hours after the baby is born to give the parents time to bond with the baby. I am so thankful for this because there was so much going on afterwards and it was so sweet to have those moments with just Michael and myself.

When our family came in, they passed our sweet girl from person to person, loving all over our 9 pound bundle of joy. After spending a few hours there with her, we were transported upstairs to the 5th floor for recovery. The 3rd floor was for delivery, the nursery, and the NICU so up we went. Unfortunately this wouldn't be my last time on the 3rd floor.

As we got settled in our new room, the nurses started coming in to take care of me and Adi. She had her own nurse who I did not care for at first. She was very pushy and I couldn't always understand her which made me frustrated because what she was saying was important. See, when Adi was first born, she was big for her gestational age. So they automatically started watching her blood sugar levels. It was low right after her birth but nothing too concerning yet. When we got to the 5th floor, they came in and did another test, which entails her getting a prick in her foot to make her bleed, then testing the blood on a digital reader. 

Her nurse continued to monitor her levels and they were still a little low. I had already begun to breastfeed Adi and the lactation consultant had come in to help with that. Everything was going great until Adi's nurse checked her levels again an hour later. The levels just continued to either drop or stay at a level that made the nurse uncomfortable. She decided to try to give Adi some formula to help. This caused a big ripple with the lactation consultant and the nurse but the pushy nurse that I didn't think I liked pretty much told the lactation consultant to get back because Adi's health was most important. She wanted so badly for the formula or my breastmilk to help get her levels up so that she didn't have go to the NICU. She kept trying and trying anything she could to get Adilynn to eat. It was pretty amazing to see how much she cared about her and how concerned she was that I would have to be away from her if we couldn't get her levels up. 

The pediatrician on call came down to see us when her levels still wouldn't rise. She gave me the news I really didn't want to hear. If Adi's levels didn't rise, she would have to go to the NICU. If blood sugar numbers stay too low, it could cause all kinds of issues so it was important that we figure this out. I never even thought about something like this happening. Definitely not how I saw my first few hours with my girl going. I continued to breastfeed (she latched like a champ just a few minutes after birth) and pump/try any means I could to get that liquid gold out and to her but it was to no avail. Her levels got low enough that the doctor said that we had to get her upstairs almost immediately.

There is no doubt that this moment was the hardest one I have faced since meeting her. Forget giving birth to a 9 pound baby. Letting her leave my eyesight after waiting 9 months to see her pretty much broke my heart. I was so sad and overwhelmed and the tears started flowing. I had this beautiful baby girl and now I wasn't going to get to spend those precious moments with her. Instead, she would be taken down to the NICU and be hooked up to machines that I had no idea what they were or when they would be taken off. How was I suppose to let them take my girl away from me when all my instincts just wanted to hold her and kiss all the little parts of her that I had been dreaming about the past 9 months?

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