going home

After 5 days in the hospital, we were more than ready to go home.  The doctors and nurses helped get all the discharge stuff done early in the morning so we could be out earlier in the day than later.  For that we were glad.  Matt was able to break away after their morning of working out and before his meetings started and take us home.  It was perfect.  (This, by the way, is one of my favorite pictures from the hospital.  Matt is so carefully buckling Elsie into her chair.)

Elsie looked so tiny in her giant seat!

When we got home the boys (and my mom and Hannah) had made signs for us!  It was so precious.  

The boys were so cute with Elsie.  They wanted to help her while she was in her chair and hold her.  Mason is adamant that Elsie always have her binkie.  She hates it, but since Mason is a binkie boy, he wants Elsie to love them as well.

72+12 hours

Little Elsie got herself into a little bit of trouble Saturday morning, the 12th.  Matt had left the hospital at about 7:30 to go home and meet the guy who was installing our plantation shutters.  He was then going to return with the boys and Hannah later in the morning.  At about 9:00, I set Elsie down to change her bum.  I had just fed her, and as she was laying down, she spit up.  Now, all of our babies are spitters.  Some more than others, but this morning Elsie also had some yucky mucus she was trying to work out of her system.  (Mason had the same thing when he was born.)  When Elsie spit, though, the mucus got stuck in her throat and nose.  She couldn't breathe.  I quickly grabbed her, and when sitting her upright didn't help, I grabbed the bulb syringe and started sucking.  I was sucking as quickly as I could and it wasn't helping.  About 15 seconds into her choking, I called the nurse.  As I kept sucking out her nose and mouth, she was turning blue, then purple.  It was so scary.  I'll never forget the look she was giving me as she was turning colors.  She was so clam, and just blinking as she stared at the ceiling.  Four nurses came rushing into the room, and by then I'd gotten enough out of Elsie's throat that she'd given out a little scream.  The nurses took her, sucked out her mouth and nose and gave her oxygen.  The whole thing didn't last 30 seconds, but it seemed to move in slow motion.  Once Elsie was in the warmer and had gotten oxygen for a minute, she needed to go the nursery to be monitored.  

In the nursery, they had her all hooked up to monitors and an IV, and she had to be there for 72 hours after her incident, and maintain good O2 sats.  If her O2 dropped, her 72 hours would start over.  We have friends and family members who have had to leave their babies in the NICU for longer and our hearts go out to them.  Elsie was just in the nursery for a few days and it was torture.  

The boys came later Saturday afternoon and met Elsie for the first time.  They were so cute.  They had picked out some little toys for her and were so excited to give them to her.  They were also very concerned with all the wires and tubes.  Graham was sure Elsie's arm was broken and it really bothered him.  At home he kept talking about how Elsie was sick.  Poor kid.  

For the most part, Elsie did pretty well.  Her O2 sats dropped once, on Sunday morning, for 45 seconds.  She had to start her 72 hours again.  We were disappointed that he had to stay longer, but mostly concerned that she would be okay and wouldn't have any more episodes.  

We were super fortunate to have both my Mom and Hannah in town the whole week after Elsie was born.  They took such good care of the boys.  I was more than grateful, because I knew I didn't have to worry about them at all while I sat at the hospital.  They were well taken care of.

It was also really nice to be at the Pendleton Naval hospital because they let me stay in the hospital as long as Elsie was there.  I stayed all but one night in the Women and Infants unit, and then one night in the Med/Surg unit when my other room was needed.  The hospital is brand new, and there are lots of empty rooms that can be used as overflow for the time being.

Elsie had lots of gifts from her brothers.  These are her little toys and some drawings wishing her well.

But for 72+12 hours, this was my view.  I spent very little time in my room, and stared at this scene all day and night.  I'd keep my eye on that O2 line praying that it wouldn't drop down.  It was annoying, though, because the alarms would go off every time we'd pick up Elsie because the cords were super touchy.

My friend, Jessica, gave me this book at Elsie's baby shower.  I read it in the hospital and it is so good.  It's a feel-good book about motherhood, reminding me that I'm not really a horrible mother.  : )  But it contains a lot of touching stories about motherhood.  It was just what I needed to pass the time as I sat with Elsie in the hospital.

Welcome, Baby Elsie!

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On July 11, we welcomed little baby Elsie Jennette Serafine!  We can't get over how cute she is and we love having a little girl around here with all these boys.

Elsie was born on 7/11.  Matt was really hoping for her to born that day so he could take her to 7/11 each year and get a free slurpie.  How exciting.  : ) 

But at 39 weeks and 5 days, she was my longest pregnancy yet.  Here's the story of her birth, if anyone is interested in reading it...it's mostly just for my own memory.  Feel free to stop reading if you wish.

In the month of July, Matt had two whole weeks off, and Hannah was at our house for the first two or three weeks as well.  We really hoped Elsie would make her appearance at the beginning of the time both Matt and Hannah were home.  Well, those two weeks came and went.  The last day of Matt's time off, Friday the 11th, I had a doctors appointment in the morning.  We were hoping we could talk them into inducing me that weekend, since Matt was starting his new job Monday and there was a chance he would be out in the boonies with the Marines, with no way to get a hold of him.  My appointment that day was with the nurse practitioner, and she wasn't too keen on me being induced.  She did call the L&D deck, and they put me on the schedule for Saturday night.  Friday night, however, I started having contractions at about 7:00 pm.  I don't know what I was thinking, but I timed them for two hours and they were always 10 minutes apart.  For some reason, I kept thinking that they would get closer together like any other normal person.  At about 9:30, I couldn't take it anymore, and my contractions were suddenly 2 minutes apart.  As we were getting into the car, I told Matt, "I sure hope we didn't wait too long."  Matt, being the calm and collected person he is, got us to the hospital in record time.  Once we got there, we made our way in, having to stop several times for contractions, leaning against the walls and Matt.  As soon as we got to the labor and delivery floor, I felt like it was time to push.  The girls at the desk got me a wheelchair, but I wasn't too keen on moving while I was having contractions.  The corpsman said to me, "If you're going to deliver, I want you to deliver in a bed and not in the wheelchair."  They pushed me a few feet into one of the delivery rooms, and got me into the bed.  When the nurse checked me, I was at an 8, and she told me not to push.  A few very short minutes later I was telling her that there was no way I wasn't going to push and I couldn't not push.  There was just enough time for them to get an IV in my arm, and tell me that the anesthesiologist was not in the hall and before any drugs could be administered I had to have a blood test to make sure I wasn't going to clot when I got an epidural.  When the resident said that they were going to order the lab, I knew it was a joke.  There were going to be no drugs for this girl.  

After telling the resident and intern that I wasn't going to wait anymore, they agreed to let me push.  They didn't check me again, that I know of, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't an at 8 anymore.  But three pushes later and Elsie was born!  She was small and pink and cute.  We were so happy to see her, and very glad her delivery was smooth, albeit quite fast.  I didn't even have a hospital gown on when she was born, I was still halfway dressed in my regular clothes.  I figured we were just trying to keep the hospital staff on their toes, having a laboring lady come in 20 minutes before the baby is born.  So far we've done that twice.  It makes for an interesting story.  : )  

We kind of think she looks a little more like Graham than Mason, and a little like her daddy.  Welcome to the world, Elsie!  We sure love you!