Veterans Day, Late Grandmother's Birthday and Charlee's Arrival!

So November 11th turned out to be quite a significant day for our family! Not only is it a national holiday - Veteran's Day - it was also the birthday of my late Grandma, Josephine. But this year, it turned into even more significant, as this is the day my little Charlee Lyn made her arrival!

I had been off of work since the Thursday before. Thursday I had the flu something horrible. I was supposed to have a dr. appt that morning but there was no way I could drive there with the flu going on...so I rescheduled to Friday. Friday I felt much better and went to my appt. My blood pressure has been up and down at other appointments, my ankles had swollen horribly and I had quite a weight increase at one of my appointments....all symptoms of preeclampsia...so the doctor had been monitoring me for that. Well, at the Friday appt, I had protein in my urine...yet another symptom. So, she had me go to the lab for bloodwork and I had to do a 24 hr urine collection Sunday morning to Monday morning and take it to the lab on Monday. I had another appt with the doc on Tuesday afternoon. Friday she told me I was not to return to work til I seen her on Tuesday. Friday afternoon she called to say the bloodwork was fine & we'd see what the urine collection showed. Tuesday when I seen her, my BP was up again. She had me do bloodwork yet again and my urine in the office was fine. Well, 4:45pm, after Joe had come home from work and the girls were home from school, she called & told me my liver enzymes were elevated and it was best if I go to the hospital to be induced. So, Joe got a shower, the girls got some things around to keep them occupied and all of us, including Joe's sister took off for the hospital. Jamie called their mom so she could head over too. About 9:30, after they had been giving me pitocin to start the contractions...not much was going on. The doc came in and said they were going to break my water & check me. Well, come to find out, the baby was breech! So, she recommended an emergency c-section. *sigh* So, of course, rather than risk the baby during a vaginal delivery, we agreed to the c-section. 9:57pm, Charlee Lyn was born weighing 6 lbs even and was 19 inches long. After she was back to our room, and so was I, we noticed she grunted a lot while breathing. So they took her to the Special Care Nursery to have her checked out. We found out she had underdeveloped lungs. So, they had to keep her in the SCN. She was given an IV, put on a monitor and a cpap machine. She was on this cpap machine for about 4 days I think it was. She then had a nasal canula. She had a feeding tube down her nose for 1 day after the cpap machine was taken away. Then they started her on a bottle. I was able to stay in the hospital for 4 days but then was discharged. It was horrible to have to leave my baby there and travel back & forth but we did it. Having a c-section has been one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with. The incision has healed well, but my tummy muscles are still very sore after 3 1/2 wks. Anyhow, after 7 nights and 8 days in SCN, Charlee was discharged and we brought her home. We had her first pediatrician appt 2 days after she came home and her weight was the same at 5 lbs 11 oz. We had another weight check appt the next Tuesday (11/25) and she had gained 7.5 oz! She was at 6 lbs 2.5 oz. We were so pleased! She goes again for another weight check this coming Tuesday (12/9). Here are a couple pics of her first Thanksgiving. Enjoy!