Where to start?

I can't believe that i haven't posted anything since September. My computers keyboard seems so alien to my fingers. Hopefully by January we will have the Internet at our place (finally) and I'll be a good blogger from then on. I wanted to update with everyone with Eloise's birth story. Lets just say it has been a very long, and short, month.

This last pregnancy for me had gone very well. Everything was normal, and better than normal in some ways. At my 32 week appointment she was measuring at 35. I was a little shocked with how far ahead she was measuring, but I wasn't worried about her since I would be having a scheduled c section. You can imagine my surprise when at my routine 34 week appointment on Friday October 29th the Ob decided to send me to labor and delivery. I was very shaken but still not worried that there was going to be anything wrong. My wonderful mom came and watched Sadie while Scott took me to the hospital. I was on the monitors for about 6 hours and didn't have anything to eat for 8. It was miserable and scary. The monitor was picking her heart rate up at 230 bpm. After all that they said that there was nothing they could do then and they sent me home with some appointments for the following Monday. Needless to say it was a long Halloween weekend. I was glad that I was able to spend it dressing Sadie up and having fun. On Monday I went to my first appointment with the Perinatologist. They did an echo cardiogram and while talking to the doctor about my other appointments that day she informed me that I wouldn't be going to them. She told me that my little baby girl was in atrial fibrillation. The bottom valves of her heart were beating at 230 bpm and the top or atrial valves were beating between 400 and 500 bpm. By this time I am terrified because I had read up on different types of fetal irregular heart rates. I was sent to Mercy San Juan Hospital, funny enough the hospital I was born in. They have one of the top NICU's in the region and luckily it is only 20 min from where we live.

They were waiting for me when I got to the hospital. I met with the pediatric cardiologist within 15 min and a plan was made. While he was there he did another echo and I got to hear her little heart. It was the scariest moment of my life to hear that little heart beating 500 bpm. I spent the next week 4 days in the cardiac telemetry unit with a nurse sitting at my side 24/7, and an emergency c section kit at my feet. I had to be there instead of labor and delivery because they had to give me twice the dose of a strong heart medication so that some of it could get to her and slow her heart. Unfortunately and fortunately her heart is too strong. Thankfully it was too strong to quit working from the stress that week, but it was too strong for the medicine to have much success. And so the decision was made to take her out and fix her heart after.

I think I may have been numb to fear after so much time in the hospital. At 35 weeks exactly on Friday November 5th, at 10:29am Eloise Nichele Hancock was born.

She shocked the doctors by being 6 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long. The whole surgery was very miserable for me. The anesthesiologist had given me too much medication in my spinal and so with that I couldn't stop throwing up. I felt like I was dying. It was causing problems for the doctors with closing me up too. I couldn't sit up for hours after and I didn't get to really see my new little one until 5 the next morning. She had some respiratory distress and was on a little oxygen for 2 days but over all she was doing really well. They had to shock her poor heart twice to get it to beat normally but it has been fine since. She was in the NICU for 13 days. It was one of the hardest times of my life, but I am grateful for the perspective it has given me and that I have a healthy 1 month old at home. I was able to see and meet other families going through what I was and more.

We aren't able to take her out of the house very often, which can be hard, but it is giving us the chance to bond as a family. She is doing very well and starting to get chunky. For those that are wondering the condition that she had is very rare and random. They said that they only see it once every couple years. I was quite the celebrity in the hospital too, lol. Now we are busy getting ready for Christmas. Sadie is very excited and so am I. I am grateful for all my friends and family that have helped me and my family, even if it was just asking how I was doing. Like I said hopefully we'll have the internet soon and I can keep you updated along our journey.

Getting ready to go home from the hospital. Happy Day!

First night home.

First morning home, Sadie loves being a big sister. And yes she is sleeping on a blanket, that is how unprepared we were when she came home, we didn't have any sheets. I found out at 11 am that she could come home and we were picking her up at 6 pm on Thursday the 18th