3.2.1. welcome to the world Adilyn!

I had a regular doctor's appointment scheduled for 8am on Wednesday morning - the plan was to get measured quickly, hear the heartbeat and head in to work...I wasn't scheduled to see my regular Dr. since she was working at the other office location, so I told Dan he didn't need to come with this time - assuming it would be quick. He was planning on heading to Mankato for work that day anyway, so it seemed to work out well.  Little did I know, this would be the day that would change our lives! 
I went in with the nurse to get my blood pressure and right away the nurse asked if I normally have high blood pressure. I responded, "no - it's been normal for the whole pregnancy and I've never had any problems...".  She led me back to the exam room and told me to lay down for 10 minutes and she would come back to take my blood pressure again since it was really high.  She came in and took it again, and said the Dr. would be in soon as she walked out.  I laid there for what seemed like forever and the Dr. came in with a somewhat concerned look on her face.  She let me know that my blood pressure was very high and I had protein in my urine sample -- which was cause for her to be concerned.  She asked if I had headaches or swelling - to which I answered yes, but thought those were both pretty normal aspects of being pregnant.  She then told me that she was worried about the combination of what they were seeing and wanted to send me to the Hospital to get monitored for a while.  She let me know that they were primarily concerned with me having preeclampsia - and having seizures if they let it go so long.  So I called Dan to tell him I was on my way home and needed him to come to the Hospital with me - fortunately, he hadn't left for Mankato yet, so he called to let his business partner know he wouldn't be able to go.  Then I called my manager at work to let her know the situation and that I would probably just be in the office later that afternoon. 
When I got home, we quickly grabbed the 'Hospital' bags that I had JUST packed that week (just in case - since we didn't know what was going to happen).  Dan and I headed to Fairview Southdale in Edina to get checked into the Maternal Assessment Center to be monitored.  Right away, they brought me into a dark exam room and hooked me up to the machines to take my blood pressure every ten minutes and listen to the Baby's heartbeat.  They told me to lay still and try to relax so they could figure out what was going on.  I laid in the room like that while they drew blood to run some labs.  After about an hour, the nurse came in and said my Dr. wanted to call me.  Sure enough at 11am, Dr. Johnson called my cell phone and asked how I'm doing...I said I felt fine, but obviously wasn't sure what was going on.  She said "Well, you are going to have a baby today! We'll be doing a C-Section at noon...I'll be in shortly". I hung up the phone and let Dan know the news - to which we both just kind of smiled and looked at each other saying "Wow! this is happening"!!
We decided to send out the signal (to our parents, friends and family) letting them know the news - especially since we weren't sure what was going to happen with my blood pressure situation and the Baby. 

By the time everyone came in to talk me through what was about to happen, it was noon and they were bringing me into the operating room.  Once I got my epidural, I couldn't feel a thing below my chest and the drape went up. Shortly after, Dan came in the room to hold my hand and stand by my head.  The procedure seemed to go quickly - I could only feel people moving me around, I couldn't tell where they were moving or pulling.  Then I felt a ton of pressure on my chest and heard her first little cry - our little girl was finally here with us!  The Dr. had to finish stitching me up and then they reported back to me that she weighed in at 3 lbs 11oz and was 17 inches long.  Adilyn Rose Powers was finally here!  They brought her upstairs to the Special Care Nursery to be monitored right away - but said she looked healthy and was passing all of her tests and looked great!  I was then quickly rolled into the recovery room to be monitored myself.  I was hooked up to have my blood pressure watched again - so I didn't get to up to the Nursery right away - while Dan just kept going back and forth to check on Adilyn and me.  It was nice to get reports from him on how she was doing even though I couldn't hold her yet. At about 2pm they said my numbers weren't dropping, so they had to start me on Magnesium.  I had to wait until 3pm before they brought me up to see her - though they had to keep me in my hospital bed and wheel me up to her.  She was all hooked up to monitors, so I wasn't able to hold her right away, but I finally got to see my little girl! 

They brought me into our room down the hall - what they called the 'penthouse suite'.  I spent the next 24 hours with an IV hooked up to me, being checked on by nurses about every 2 hours - blood pressure, pricks to draw more blood to monitor my platelets, reflexes and check my stomach.  The nurse told me that once I was on the mag, I would feel like I was drunk or stoned - not sure if I would describe it as that, but I definitely felt like a different person.  I pretty much just came in and out of sleep - waking up to see our excited parents standing bedside to congratulate us. 

It's hard to believe our little girl is already 5 days old! I was discharged yesterday - and am officially no longer a patient at Fairview Southdale Hospital.  I am, however, taking up residence in one of their parenting rooms downstairs so I can be near to my little girl for the rest of her stay here. Hmm - I'll try to document the progress/status updates we've had over the past days - though they all kind of blur together since my sleep has been very limited, walking back and forth down the hall to go feed her every 3 hours.  It has been an absolute joy to spend that time with her while she nurses and she is definitely a good little eater for how little she is!  It's usually 40 minutes to an hour each time I go up to see her - by the time she eats, gets her diaper changed and I tear myself away from just holding her and staring at her :)  That has been a huge blessing in keeping my mind off of everything else though - being able to spend time with her, even if it's limited, is a wonderful thing and I'm SO thankful for the healthcare we have here and the facilities at this Hospital!
It has been nice having her on a pretty rigid schedule as well - she eats at 2am, 5am, 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, 11pm - and, repeat. 

Thursday - Jan 13
  My blood pressure levels - though still high, dropped down to a more 'reasonable level' and maintained, so the Dr. took me off of my Magnesium IV - felt like a completely different person!  I was able to get up out of bed and get wheeled down to see my little girl and actually interact without feeling like my eyes were going to close!  Spent most of the rest of the day sleeping and trying to get back in it while Dan took over conducting all of the bottle feedings!  He's a natural :)

Friday - Jan 14
  I woke up feeling SO much better - was able to shower and eagerly go visit our little girl!  Friday was also a day filled with visitors - even though we can't share Adi with the world yet, we were so thankful for the support of our friends and family stopping by to shower us with congrats, gifts and love! 
On top of that - we received a report from the Pediatrician here at the Hospital, letting us know that Adi had passed all of the tests they ran - ruling out any viruses, diseases or long term effects of being early and so tiny.  He said she was looking great and would expect her to continue on doing well, and get her home as soon as possible.  He let us know that there wasn't a 'magic number' to hit for the "right" weight to go home - just had to make sure she was ready.  I'm so thankful for his let's take this 'one day at a time' mentality when talking with us - helps keep things in perspective. 

Saturday - Jan 15
  My challenge for Saturday was to get rid of the wheelchair.  I was able to walk behind it on the way down to the Nursery to feed Adi and eventually went down and back without it altogether that evening!  I can't believe how much better I felt after getting off of the Magnesium and having some time to let my body recover from the surgery in general. Little Adi definitely serves as more than enough motivation for me to get up and at 'em to go see her every 3 hours! 
We were blessed by more visitors on Saturday - it was great having some interaction with the outside world, having gotten SO familiar with our hospital room!
The report from the Pediatrician was positive again today - letting us know that she was still doing great - eating, holding her own body temperature without an incubator and generally acting like a 37 & 1/2 week old baby!  We were told some less positive news during our morning feeding though.  Over night, Adi had a drop in her breathing for a short period of time - causing the monitor alarms to go off and nurse's attention to wake her up from her sleep.  The Nurse told us that this is completely normal for preemies, and that she was surprised it hadn't happened yet.  She did say that typically, doctors like to see babies go 5 days without those incidences though - which broke my heart a little bit. We had kind of been thinking she would be able to come home around Tuesday -and now it was looking like at least Friday at the earliest.  Just another reminder that God is in control and we are thankful that the breathing incident happened here, while she was being monitored and cared for - not at home, where we may not have known.  **One day at a time...**

Sunday - Jan 16
 We knew it was coming, discharge day.  Dan and I started packing everything up to move out of our 'corner suite' in preparation for my discharge as a patient here at the Hospital.  We packed up and went to visit Adi for her 11am feeding.  Just prior to that, the Nurse came in to go over my discharge papers and help us load up our cart.  We had assumed this meant I was released to go - so we decided to run home right after the feeding so I could get more clothes, etc. for the rest of my stay here. 
When we returned to the Hospital for the 2pm feeding, we were told that my Nurse from upstairs was looking for me and they thought I was MIA.  Apparently, I wasn't "officially" discharged yet - as they were still concerned with my blood pressure levels being high.   So, they had us return to our original room to sit and relax in hopes of my BP levels going down.  We were able to kick back and relax a bit and watch some football while waiting a couple of hours to get checked again.  During my 5pm nursing time, the Nurse came in to tell me I had been officially discharged - and will just need a follow up appointment to get checked out in a week.
It was an emotional day for me - feeling like my time as a patient at the Hospital should equal Adilyn's time being done too - but that wasn't the case.  My heart just aches to get that little girl home! 

Monday - Jan 17
  They say you don't get much sleep as a new parent....I always thought I kind of knew what that meant, but it's really true - I've been able to get about 4 hours consecutively thanks to the Nurses here, but other than that, feel like I walk around kind of half awake.  Until I get to see my little girl, and I suddenly forget that I'm sleep deprived and healing from the surgery. 
Adilyn is starting to figure out what how great it is to eat - I got a call from the nursery at 10:20pm last night asking me to come up early since Adi was wide awake and 'asking' for food! I also participated in the first 2am feeding for our little girl this morning - it was amazing to be with her, as always and she ate a lot - just over an ounce on her own!
During the 8am feeding this morning, the Pediatrician gave me another very positive update!  He said that she's still doing wonderfully, and he wasn't as concerned with her breathing incident from Sunday night - as he doesn't see any implications of it occurring again - as sometimes happens with preemies.  He let me know that he she is doing a great job eating, so I can continue to let her eat until she's satisfied and we don't have to weigh her in and out before and after feedings.  Just one less step in the process - feels good - little victories!  He also told me I should schedule an appointment with her pediatrician for early next week - as she needs to be seen right away.  He gave us a glimmer of hope, throwing in - we may need to move it up to Friday if she goes home within the next 48 hours! :)  I'm trying to keep with the one day at a time mentality - but am very thankful for the good news!