No More Jaundice!

We took Izzy in on Monday to have her blood tested to see where we were at with the jaundice. Her levels were low enough that she no longer has to be on her little bili bed! We're so happy about that because it was starting to get really hard not being able to hold her when we wanted. Now we get to dress her up in little outfits too which has been really fun. Art has started reading the Wizard of Oz to her, it's the cutest thing. She looks at him while he's reading and really appears to be paying attention. Well until she falls asleep :) We took her for her first outting yesterday. She did pretty well. She fussed just a few times and, of course, pooped while we were in Target. Luckily this time we brought a diaper bag. When we went for a visit the day before we forgot the diaper bag and had to cut the visit short. I'm still recovering nicely too. I go to the doctor today so that they can check my incision. It still hurts quite a bit at times, but everyone that has come to see us has commented on how amazed they are that I'm getting around as well as I am. A few people wanted to see some closer up pictures of Izzy, so here are a few more!

More Pictures of Izzy

Our little family right after she was born in the operating room. Art had some really stylish scrubs he had to wear. We both were sporting the cute shower cap things. Art was able to see the whole operation over that blue curtain.

The proud papa. I love this picture. Izzy is so content and Art is so happy. The two of them together just melt my heart. Art is such a good husband and, now, father.

Finally...a shower. I had to wait til the second day and the shower at the hospital had no water pressure, but it felt good all the same. I think Izzy liked that I was all cleaned up too!

Here is Izzy's little bili bed at home. It's hard to see in this picture because of her blanket, but it has this little shirt thing you slip her into with arm holes. Then there is velcro that holds it closed. It sits right in her pack and play crib. You don't really get the essence of how much of a little glow bug she is, but it's this glowing blue light to help with the jaundice! We're so happy to have her home. There will be lots more pictures to come down the road!

Isabella has arrived!

Our little Isabella Rose was born on Monday, April 13th at 11:40 am. She weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and measured 20 inches long. She is beautiful. We were scheduled to be induced on the 14th, but didn't need to go to that appointment! My water broke between 4 and 5 in the morning on Monday and I started having contractions. When we timed them, they were about 9 minutes apart. Around 8:00 Art wanted to go to the hospital. All the books and our classes say that you should labor at home as long as you can, until the contractions are about 5 minutes apart. So I fought him the entire way. I was scared, plus I didn't think it was real, and I just didn't want to go. But we went. We got there and they examined me and found that yes my water did in fact break and that I was 4-5 cm dilated. That was incredible to us because last Thursday at the doctor, I was only 1 cm. So the doctor came in and did an exam and he kept saying that her head was really high up (this was not our normal doctor, it was the one on call). So he did an ultrasound and as luck would have it, she was breech. They're thinking that she had been breech for quite a few weeks, but that we had been misinformed about her position. Nice huh? So anyways, they gave us the options, and on the top of the list was a c-section. That scared me. Well, what scared me more was that she was breech. So we decided on doing the c-section because the other options were too dangerous and not a sure thing. From the time we decided it was a go til the time they got us in the operating room was amazingly fast. Once in the room, she was out within minutes. I barely got to see her, but I could hear her crying and everything. Art got to go to the nursery with her while the stitched me all up. I lost a bit of blood during the surgery, so it took a little bit longer. Then we went to a recovery room. I was pretty out of it there. After all that they took us to our regular room. She got to be in the room with us the whole time. She's so precious. Because of it being a c-section, we had to spend 4 days, 3 nights in the hospital. That seemed like forever. At one point they thought it would be longer because they discovered she was slightly jaundice. So they started doing light therapy with a bili bed on Wednesday. Then yesterday they checked her jaundice levels and they had gone down, so they ordered us a bili bed to take home. She has to stay on it as much as possible until Sunday. It's really hard because we want to hold and cuddle her and we can't. We have to leave her on the bed. She's doing great though. Breast feeding is going very well. I'm doing good too, starting to get up and walk around more without it hurting so badly. Art is doing fantastic, he loves being a dad so much! Here are a few pictures, I'll post more once we have them on the computer.

She's Coming!

Sorry I don't have any cute pictures to go along with this entry. I'm not feeling very photogenic these days! We had our 38 week doctor appointment today. The doctor wants me to stop working immediately. So I guess today was officially my last day. My blood pressure was a little high and I've been swelling really bad in my hands and feet. I'm not on bed rest, but I have to stay off my feet as much as possible. Hard to do when you're chasing after a classroom full of 1st graders :) So tomorrow I'm just going to go in and get the last minute things ready for my sub. That really was great news to hear because I've really been struggling at school. Each day was getting harder and harder. And then for the even better news...as you all know, because of the stroke that I had, the doctor wasn't going to let me go past my due date. So we asked about that today and how that will work. We were just expecting to hear that we'd play it by ear and wait and see sort of thing. Nope. We're scheduled to be induced on April 14th! So unless she makes her debut early, Isabella will be here on the 14th. That is still sinking in for me. I cannot fathom that in a week and a half she'll be here. It's not that much earlier than our original due date of the 17th, but something about knowing for sure made it seem more real. We'll be going in at 7 am that morning to start the process. The doctor didn't seem to think that she'll come early because I haven't really had any contractions and I haven't started dilating. Who knows though. Stranger things have happened! I think that both Art and I were on cloud nine when we left the doctor's office. It really took us by surprise, in a good way! 11 days to go. AHHHHHH!