NICU

As many of you know, or have read, there were concerns about Annie's heart during my pregnancy. In addition to that, I had Group B strep (which is very common and natural, and not harmful to me in any way), which can be harmful to a baby. Thankfully, I received two rounds of antibiotics while I was in labor to prevent risk to the baby. Plus, she was 4 weeks premature. The combination of these factors caused the drs to have her transported to Erlanger, where she stayed in the NICU for four days. Most of this was precautionary, but they felt it was important because her heart rate and breathing were not ideal. They wanted to perform further tests on her heart now that she was out and also wanted to make sure she hadn't contracted anything due to the group B strep. They described her as "floppy" and not as responsive as they wanted her to be. Some of this could have been attributed to her being a preemie, but they wanted to make sure.

During her stay at the NICU, they did several tests on her heart, all of which turned out beautifully. It appears she does have a small murmur, but that's all! What a blessing. She was jaundiced and her temperature was a little low (which apparently is a sign she could be getting sick), so much of her time there was for observation. They were able to remove her oxygen and warming lights on day 2 there, so the remainder of the time was mostly observation. While it was stressful being there and seeing her hooked up to so many machines, it was a blessing that she was so well cared for. Also, seeing some of the other babies in her pod made us realize just how blessed we were. For example, the baby next to her weighed one pound, ten ounces. When Annie had her hospital pictures taken before she was discharged, the lady asked me when she was born. My response was "the fifth" and the lady asked me of which month. Some of the babies are there for months. So, though we would have loved to take her home right after she was born, we are thankful that she was only there for a few days!