Mailey Anne Part 1

After 7 big bleeds, 4 weeks of hospital bed rest, 2 weeks of home bed rest, 19 ultrasounds, 5 weeks early and millions of prayers later, our sweet little girl has arrived! Mailey Anne Sabin was born on Friday April 6, 2012 (Good Friday). She was 6 lbs 5 oz and 17 inches long.

The day that Mailey was born I woke up to another bleed. I had a feeling the instant that I saw the blood we would be meeting our baby girl that day. I also knew about the same time that I woke up, that my doctor had gotten on a plane and wouldn't be there for the delivery. I am so thankful that I work in the OB dept of my hospital and I knew I would be just as comfortable with the doctor that was covering as I would with my own.

When I got to the hospital I was contracting every 2-3 minutes and was dilated 1-2 cm. They gave me some medicine to try and stop my contractions but the medicine only slowed them down for about 20 minutes. When the contractions came back they weren't quite as close together but they were much stronger and I was getting really uncomfortable. After a couple of hours the Dr checked me again and I was 2-3 cm and he told me it was time to have a baby. At that moment I was so relieved that the pregnancy would be over but at the same time I was nervous for my baby because she would be 5 weeks early. At 2:30 pm the surgery crew came in and walked me back to the operating room and at 2:59pm our little miracle was born! She did really great initially, was kicking and screaming and doing all of the right things. The nurse wrapped her up and Nick brought her to meet me.

I was so emotional meeting this little girl that I had worked so hard to keep healthy for 6 weeks. She was so beautiful and perfect. I was so relieved to know she was ok.

After a minute or so being with me, she got tired and started to have difficulty breathing and was turning blue. My nurse and I both told Nick at the same time to get her to the nursery. I knew she was going to need a little bit of extra help breathing. I was initially really nervous that they would have to ship her to the NICU in Yakima. I said many prayers in my head while I waited for news on how she was doing and was filled with comfort that she would be fine. When they got her to the nursery, her oxygen saturation was only 56% (you want that to be above 95%). The nurses immediately put her under the oxygen hood and her O2 sats came up pretty quickly.

They also had to start an IV to help her blood sugar rise. Her blood sugar dropped because her tiny body was working so hard to breath that she didn't have the energy to keep her blood sugar up.

It was pretty amazing after getting some IV fluids and extra oxygen how quickly she began to perk up. My sweet Mom sat in the nursery and held her hand all day. It was so nice for both Nick and I to know that she was there with Mailey so Nick didn't have to worry about if he should be with me or baby girl.

Around 6pm my brother Mitch brought big sister Makenna to meet Mailey. She didn't really understand that this baby was her sister she just thought it was a cute baby. My mom was showing Makenna all of Mailey's fingers and toes. I imagine because of all of wires and tubing she was a little hesitant to touch her.

When Makenna warmed up a bit she would pat the oxygen hood and touch her hands and say "Ah, dats a nice baby!"

My moms finger and Mailey's tiny little hand.

When she was born and Nick first saw her he said "Oh my gosh! She has TONS of hair! And it's dark! He wasn't kidding!

About 8:30pm when I could finally feel my feet I got my buns out of bed and to the nursery, I had to see my baby!! There's nothing like the motivation of a mother when it comes to seeing her baby! A little after I got there she was stable enough that she didn't need to be under the oxygen anymore and I finally got to hold and feed my new baby girl! I was so surprised/thankful when my little 35 week baby latched on right away and was a nursing machine!

Makenna wanted to hold her to so she sat in my wheel chair with me. It was a wonderful moment getting to hold both of my beautiful girls in my arms!

Giving her sister kisses!

Nick got to hold her to! He had a huge sense of relief that she was here, safe, healthy and beautiful!

After Nick and I finished taking turns the family members that were still around got to hold her to. It was getting late and it had been a long day and my dad and brothers had gone home at that point.

Grandma Sherrie holding Mailey for the first time.

Nana Carole was so excited to hold this sweet baby finally!

Grandpa Larry.

Auntie Amie with Makenna supervising.

Uncle Taylor.

She also got to get her pretty hair washed and a quick sponge bath.

Makenna also had to supervise that. She was so funny! I loved seeing her so protective so quickly.

Snug as a bug!

It was a long day but a great day! We were so happy Mailey was healthy and all of our stress over the last 6 weeks had paid off. This day also brought a new meaning to "Good Friday" at our house, because it was a GOOD Friday indeed!

She is here!

Mailey Anne Sabin 6#5 oz 17 inches born at 2:59pm. She's getting a little extra oxygen in the nursery right now but is doing fabulous! Lots of dark hair and cute as can be! Can't wait to hold her later when she can come out from under the oxygen hood. I'll post more pictures and info later.

Baby??

I had more bleeding this morning, and I'm contracting every couple of minutes and medicine hasn't stopped them. Waiting another hour but it looks like we're having a baby today!

Because I'm only 35 weeks, she may still have some difficulty respiratory wise so please say a prayer for a healthy baby and a safe surgery! My mom or Nick will keep you all informed!

We Have a Plan!

I got to home from the hospital today. I'm still on bed rest the next little while but at least I'm home. I did get permission to go to church (just sacrament meeting) on Sunday since it is Easter. So I will get an outing that isn't to the doctors office. LOL! I didn't have much bleeding yesterday and none today. I had an ultrasound today and drum roll please.... my delivery date has been scheduled! I only have two weeks left and I will deliver at 37 weeks. Yahoo! Obviously if I go into labor or bleed before then she may come earlier. I am so relieved to have an end date in sight! I can hardly wait to finally to meet this baby girl!

So much for bragging...

After bragging about how good I was doing and that only had a few more days to get to 35 weeks, karma came and kicked me in the placenta. This morning I woke up to blood again. Woke up Nick, waiting for Mitch to get to my house to watch Makenna and headed to the hospital. Talk about dejavo.

Baby is still happy and is once again footling breech and is kicking my placenta right where the tear is. Thankfully things haven't been dramatic enough for to be shipped again, but I am going to be in the hospital for at least a few days. I have to make it to Wednesday before I can safely deliver here and as of right now there is no solid plan. I just get to be here for now and we'll play it by ear. Being a planner, this playing it by ear all the time is driving me crazy! I can't do much about it so I guess I'm going to have to go with the flow. :o) I'll update again when I have something new to report.

Picture time!

Yesterday was my brother Mitch's birthday. I needed to take a few pictures of Makenna for a project I was doing for him. These are a few of the pictures we took of my beautiful little girl. She is getting so big. I swear while I was in the hospital she grew a couple inches and so did her hair. Her hair also got curlier. I didn't think that was possible!

Say "cheese!"

Super star!

I love this curly little head!

This is the project I was doing for Mitch's birthday. It was my first pinterest project, it was also about the only one I like that could be done from my couch. Nick purchased a dozen balloons and on the end of each balloon, I made a tag with a reason why Makenna loves Mitch. Each tag also had a picture that was associated with reasons why she loves him. The picture of her holding the stars was one of them. Mitch likes to take her outside and watch the stars and the moon, so on the card it had that picture and said "I love you because you teach me about things, like the stars." Others included a picture of him with a wagon full of his nieces and nephews that said "I love you because you are a great uncle!" It was fun thing to do, and Mitch thought it was cool too. Makenna liked "helping" putting the balloons in his room.

Here is me and my preggo belly in all it's glory at 34 weeks and 2 days.

My doctors appointment went great on Thursday. It was great to see my work friends for a little bit! Baby looked great on both on the monitor and on the ultrasound. During the ultrasound I got to see her little lungs practicing breathing. That was really nice to see! She is still measuring about a week and half ahead and appears to be a little over 6 pounds. I have another appointment next Thursday, and I believe we will schedule a delivery date that day also. My bed rest restrictions might be lifted a little bit too but, we'll see! It will be nice to have a for sure end date in mind, although I know that plan could change anytime if I bleed again or if I go into labor before that date. I have to make it until Wednesday in order to be able to deliver in Ellensburg. Only 4 more days! The end is near!

Yesterday I also got my first billing statement from the UW hospital, telling me that my insurance will be billed a mere $77,060.34 for my 4 week stay. Thank goodness for insurance!!! That is the only statement I have received so far, and that almost $80,000 doesn't include 2 ambulance rides, the doctors charges, Swedish hospital, anything I have had done in Ellensburg or delivery of this little girl. Yikes! She just might be a million dollar baby when this is all done!

Feeling Blessed

I thought it might be fun to show you what Nick and Mitch worked on last week. They set up our new babies bed, and organized the closet. Instead of having to buy two new bed sets, I decided to go the cheap route and re-use the crib set that Makenna used and stick with the lady bug theme. I got a new toddler bed set for Makenna from target, I had no idea when I ordered it how closely it would end up matching the crib set. I was really happy with how it turned out. There are some other decorating ideas that are still a work in progress but I think It will turn out great when it's all done. One of the first things that will happen soon is the black shelf will come down and above both girls beds, they will have painted wooden letters of their names. Our new baby has a name but it is a secret until she arrives. I know it's kind of silly but it's the only thing we have control over and it's kind of fun to have a secret. I have a few pictures and other fun things from pinterest I have found that I would like to do but that will have to wait until I can be up and moving more.

These poor little girls will have nothing to wear... lol! On the left is Makenna's clothes, some are the next size up but almost everything fits now, and on the right is newborn size clothes for our new little girl.

When we woke up Saturday morning, I looked outside to see that our rear right tire was COMPLETELY flat! There ended up being a 4+ inch screw sticking out the side of our tire. The strange thing is it wasn't the sharp end of the screw that was stuck, it was head of the screw that was stuck in it. We purchased our tires at a tire shop in Yakima so Nick quickly put the spare on and started to head to Yakima to go get the tire patched or replaced. On his way out of town he decided last minute to stop by one of the tire shops here in Ellensburg to at least get a quote to see if it was repairable and what the cost would be. They told him they could repair it for $12! $12 is way cheaper than the $25+ in gas he would have spent to go to Yakima so he stayed there to get it replaced. When the guy brought the car back to Nick he said it required such a little patch that he didn't have to pay ANYTHING! It's the little miracles in life to be thankful for.

While Nick was getting the tire fixed he took Makenna and I over to my parent's so I wouldn't have to wrangle her from bed by myself since we thought he would have to be gone for a few hours. It was such a beautiful day out! My dad made a camp-out spot for me on the patio so I could sit in the sunshine with my feet up. It was so nice to enjoy the sunshine, I haven't gotten to enjoy it in over a month and it was just what I needed! I got to watch Makenna be my dad's big helper while he did yard work. She thought she was the coolest girl getting to be Papa's big helper.

When they were done doing yard work he brought the little kid slide up on the patio so I could watch her play but she decided that the slide would be more fun inside. My dad happily pulled it into the house and she went up and down the slide probably 4000 times. When he first brought it in the house, she would go down the slide, run over to my dad, give him a hug and say "thank you." She's getting so good at using her manners. Makes me a proud Mama!

Things for me are still stable. I haven't had any impressionable contractions nor have I had anymore bleeding since I've been home. *knock on wood* Hopefully things will stay that way for at least the next 8 days! I have been feeling so blessed since I have been home. I have the best family and friends a girl could ask for. They have helped us out in so many ways, with Dinner, Makenna, or even just stopping by for a visit. I am so happy that I have been able to enjoy sunshine, see my family everyday, and get to watch Makenna play. I feel like I missed out on so many special moments with her while I was in the hospital for a month and I am so blessed I get to be apart of those moments now. Life is good!