June 17th, 2011
Day 1
Our day started very early in the morning. Addi was going to school while we headed to the hospital and Liz offered to take her to school with her girls after a donut date (nore pics to come)!
Here's our last picture of as the Hofmann Three!
We checked into the hospital around 6:30 am and started getting ready for my c-section.
Ready or not...
I was sad to find out that the hospital didn't video in the operating room like they did when Addi was born. Instead, they allowed a camera in the room, but it was too hectic for Scott to take many pictures. Once Halle was born, he was busy working!
Getting started!
SHE'S HERE!!!
7:54 am
6 pounds, 15 ounces
Meanwhile, our families were waiting...
and then Scott brought her into the nursery for them to see!
Dr. Stacy checked her out and gave her the thumbs up!
I was in recovery so I had no clue what was going on. Typically while the mama is in recovery, the family gets to meet the baby while they're cleaned up and then the mommy gets to have some bonding time with the new little one.
After Dr. Stacy looked her over a nurse started cleaning Halle up. Scott said slowly, nurses started gathering around her bed and then they rushed her to the back of the nursery and the doctors came over. Halle's breaths per minute were through the roof and she was really laboring with every little breath. They immediately started oxygen and took chest x-rays. She was quickly diagnised with Transient Tachypnea (known as TTN) and the decision to take her to the NICU was made. TTN basically means Halle wasn't strong enough to breathe without the assistance of oxygen. Her breaths per minute were averaging in the upper 90's and before she could eat without a feeding tube and then be realeased from the NICU, she need to be consistantly in the 50's or 60's.
I'm still oblivious back in the recovery room. I just can't wait to get my hands on my sweet Halle!
Here she is with the oxygen "hood" over her head.
And here they are running tests and explaining everything to Scott.
I can see the worry in his eyes.
They loaded Halle up in this "NICU ambulance" to take her downstairs to the NICU.
The minute Dr. Stacy came into my room, I knew something was wrong. My head was foggy and I was really trying to focus on her words and every detail she was telling me. They allowed Halle to come into my room for about 30 seconds before taking her downstairs. She really needed to get her on oxygen so she couldn't stay long. I was able to touch her sweet cheek and my heart literally broke into a million pieces to see her struggling so hard to take such shallow breaths. I just wanted to hold her close to me, but I couldn't. It was maybe one of my hardest mommy moments to date. Ugh. It was terrible!
Once Scott got her squared away in the NICU, he went to pick Addi up at school. This is the fun sign they posted on the front door!
I was so excited for Addi to come up to the hospital. I just wanted to hug and love on her more than anything! She looked darling in her Big Sister shirt and was so proud. She expected to come to Baby Halle's birthday party, which had been put on hold. At that point, we hoped Halle's NICU stay was going to be very brief.
I had to wait about 6 hours before I could even get out of bed to go visit the NICU. Longest 6 hours ever. EVER.
Finally, Scott took Addi and I down to meet our sweet thing!
Really, Halle couldn't handle any stimulation, so we weren't allowed to hold her (except for a brief period every few hours), touch her or take pictures (with a flash). SO...lots of cell phone pictures were taken in her first days. It just makes me sick that I don't have the sweet little cuddly newborn pictures from the hospital that I'd hoped for but, again, nothing went as planned!
My first time to hold my sweet Halle!
Addi meeting Halle for the first time!
Back down in my room, we had LOTS of visitors! The Roberts came to see us and Addi was super excited to see Olivia!
We SO appreciated all of the dear friends who came to see us in the hospital, even though they couldn't meet Halle quite yet. To get into the NICU was quite a process: only 2 people at a time; you had to scrub in for 3 minutes like you were going into surgery and Addi could only be there between 5 and 6 pm.
It was a very difficult eight days, but it made us strong. I thought I'd never forget every detal of every minute we were there, but it's already a blur!
Day 1 was long. Day 1 was eventful. I'm so thankful Day 1 will never happen again.
