Our little miracle- baby Estie Grace

4:30 PM Dressy_Daisy 0 Comments

Hello to all of you readers. Over the last few months I have been soaking in every precious moment with my beautiful baby daughter. God has blessed us with a true miracle- a healthy, sweet, adorable baby girl. At my last post I think I was about 32 weeks pregnant. Estie came to us early at 35 weeks. It was a scary but very exciting experience. My water broke early morning at 6:45 and we went to the hospital to confirm that I was in labor. I was already 3cm dilated and having contractions 3-4 minutes apart that I did not feel. I got some Pitocin and got admitted. Over the hours the contractions got stronger and more painful and closer. I took a bath around 3 and then got some fentanyl once the bath wasn't helping anymore at around 4-by then I was 6cm dilated. The fentanyl only helped for about 15 minutes and then I asked for the epidural. I got the epidural at 4:30 when I was 8cm, and it kicked in fully around 5pm and by then I was 10cm and ready to push. Just remembering all of this brings back such an interesting yet special memory! When I started pushing the only people in the room were my husband, my doula, and my nurse. After only a couple of sets up pushing her head started to show. Yan and me were like, shouldn't we wait for a doctor?? But Estie was coming so fast that they called them in at 5:15 and at 5:20 I started pushing again. Estie came out at 5:39 and started crying right away. I was in such a dream that I still get emotional thinking about it. She was so small and sweet and holding her was the best feeling ever. She was 5 pounds 1 ounce, 18 inches long and a whole lot of perfection. The NICU nurses took her away and she needed help with her breathing until the next day. It was hard to see her with so many wires but I was so thankful to God for modern day help from doctors. She started having some apnea and after a couple of days they decided to give her some caffeine. She would stop breathing and that would make her heart rate fall and so they said the caffeine would help her and it did. The checked her brain with an ultrasound and did some tests for infections to rule out if those were the cause of the apnea but all the results were good so they said it's from the prematurity. Estie was in the Nicu for 11 days and while she was there she did blue light therapy twice for her jaundice levels. Her weight dropped down to 4 pounds 9 ounces and then went back to 5 2 ounces when she went home. When she was able to go home it was the happiest moment. We were so excited, I got so tired living there because I stayed with her every day and night. I could not leave her and when I did I felt so bad even though she was practically always sleeping. My recovery was very good. The 2nd day was the hardest because it felt like I was hit by a train but then everything was easier. The swelling and water weight went away within days. I had colostrum instantly, my milk came in on the 3rd day and I had so much milk that I was freezing.
All of the nurses and doctors loved Estie saying that she was beautiful, feisty and a perfect preemie. She ate so well and everything about her was just the way it needs to be. Shes still the most amazing baby and such a sweetheart! Shes a little behind for her age but that's okay! Before we know it she will be crawling, walking, talking- we are just enjoying these amazing moments. We are so in love with her. Thank you everyone for your prayers. God promised- and he came through. Like he always does.