It's a Girl!

She weighs 1 lb, 8 ozs and is 13 inches long.  She's a little peanut and has A LOT of growing to do still, but is doing well!

My morning started with some mild cramping, which ended up being contractions.  I called Ryan at work and told him he should probably get up here sooner than he had planned...just in case.  As the day progressed, it became clear that the contractions weren't stopping, and baby was ready to make an appearance.  Preparations started right away for a C-Section.  The surgery went as planned and at 3:29, we heard the magic words, "It's a girl!"  We got a quick peak before she was taken to the baby care area.  She was so small, but looked good and pink.

She was wrapped in plastic to help maintain humidity around her fragile skin and intubated right away to help her breathe.  That allowed them to administer surfactant which would help her lungs to function.  Once that happened, Ryan was able to go in and get a good look at her, taking a few pictures, etc.  He came back to me (still in surgery) to share the pictures.  It turned out that my uterus was starting to show signs of infection, and the placenta looked like it might have been starting to fail or separate.  So, it was obvious that they made the right decision to go ahead with things.  It was her time to be here!

I went to recovery where I got the feeling back in my legs and abdomen fairly quickly, and was back in my room by 6:00 PM.

Ryan was able to go see Maya in the ICN (Intensive Care Nursery) around 7:30.  He came back glowing with lots of pictures to share with me.  He felt great after getting a good look at her.  We went back down there together about 10:00, our first family visit!  J  She's very active, still moving around quite a bit - what a trooper.  She's really doing well for 26 weeks.  She is still on the ventilator, as it gives the pressure to her lungs, but she is breathing 100% room air – no oxygen supplementation.

I had just sent out an e-mail update the day before talking about how uneventful things were  – oh how quickly things change!  Life was boring hospital room and now we're parents!  What a magical day! 

More to follow in time...Thanks to everyone for your support and prayers.  They worked! Now our mantra is changing from bake baby bake to grow Maya grow!  :)

Love from our family,
Deb, Ryan and Maya