And then there were FIVE

On June 9 John and I welcomed our third child into our family!  Little Margaret Victoria, (we will call her Maggie) entered the world roughly six weeks early, weighing in at 4lb. 15 oz., and 17.25 in. 

The Saturday that she was born I went to my baby shower not feeling the greatest and not having felt much movement.  I was pretty much in a panic, but after drinking some cold orange juice I felt a small kick and was reassured that she was still okay.  After getting home from the shower I dropped all the gifts off at the door and bee-lined it for the couch.  Thirty or so minutes later I downloaded a nifty contraction app for my phone.  Two hours later I announced that we should probably go to the hospital.  To make a quick story even quicker, Maggie wasn't tolerating labor at all, so my doctor said a c-section was necessary.  I was hoping for another vbac, but was more concerned for the baby's health.  All in all, we arrived at the hospital at 6pm, and by 7:45 Maggie had been born.  I was completely relieved to hear her cry!  She was rushed to the newly opened NICU (we found out later that Maggie was their very first premie!) and I to recovery.   

I was a bit panicked, since we really hadn't settled on a name yet (we knew it was going to be Maggie, but we weren't sure if we were going with Margaret or simply Maggie, and we didn't have a middle name at all).  As I was wheeled out of recovery two hours later John met me in the hall.  He had texted me (yes, texted me while in recovery!) with the middle name of Victoria, and I loved it.

Maggie stayed 18 long days in the NICU.  Since the NICU had just opened the Monday prior to her birth things were a bit "off"...nurses from all sorts of hospitals were taking shifts, doctors from various hospitals were also around.  Since Maggie was their only baby, every time an alarm went off on one of her monitors three nurses, two doctors, a respiratory therapist, and a janitor would rush in to declare her still alive. 

On the 18th day of her captivity, just as I was about to drive down to the hospital (a 50 minute drive, I might add) and go bizerk and demand her release, the nurse called me to announce that the doctor had discharged her.  For her to be discharged she had to have been eating all her feeds by nipple for 24 hours.  That morning had been 24 hours.  John and I dropped off the older two at a friend's house and several hours later we were back home. 

Here she is, for the first time without her gavage tube in!  Such a pretty face!

The last week since we've been home with her has been a huge blur.  I'd write more, but lack of sleep and energy (and weird shoulder pain thanks to surgery) have me pretty sapped.