Bela Girl

Bela Grace Milne Born 2/29/08 (leap year) at 8:01 a.m. 5 lbs. 14 ounces 18 inches long She's soooo adorable. It's been an incredible two days. Bela is everything and more that I dreamed she would be. She is so precious. She has a very light complextion and quite a bit of blonde 'whispy' hair. She's been kept very busy and has already gone through so much. We have already been transferred over to the Caridiac ICU where we have our own private room. It is so nice to be right with her all the time. Here's whats happened since Thursday...I went to my dr. apointment on Thursday morning as usual. There were a couple things the doctor was starting to be a little concerned about so she just decided we should go ahead and get her delivered that day. Tanner and I met at home, packed real quick and came over. I didn't actually start the induction process until about 8 o'clock Thursday night. They gave me gel to soften my c...

Bela measured about 5 lbs. 7 ounces and around the 6th percentile at my dr. appointment yesterday.. darn. Back down below the 10th. Everything else is still looking normal, but because she's still so little they don't want me to go longer than a week and a half, so Bela has been scheduled to arrive the 5th of March. Unless I go into labor before or they decide to take me in before (which could still happen), that's the big day! And it is a big day...in my family at least. There are 4 birthdays on that day, my dad and the triplets. I may not have her until the 6th, and that just happens to be my mother in laws birthday! So either way, she'll be stealing away someone's thunder. I hope nobody minds...:) I've been obsessively following the story of little Annabelle who was born Jan. 29th with HLHS in South Carolina. She is still in the hospital in recovery. THey have a 3 yr old little boy, so it's been like looking at a glimpse of our near future. They...

I havn't posted pictures in so long.. Here are a couple from the last month or so. Bens got this helmet for Christmas to use with his bike, because all the big boys on our street wear them, but then he never wants to take it off. It was his favorite Christmas present. A couple shots from our zoo trip a few weeks ago.. Tan and I took a trip to Vegas last month to get in one last weekend getaway together before Bela comes.. We saw the blue man group and phantom, shopped, ate, and relaxed. We didn't take too many pictures, but here are a couple.. Here's a shot of my belly, finally. This was about 34 weeks along.

Bela is still a little peanut in size but she is growing. She's up again to the 15th percentile..we're very glad she's back above the 10th and hope she stays there. I sure feel like she's growing..I'm not sure I have any room left for her, but I'll certainly do my best to make some for her to grow and get stronger. She's given us a couple little scares when she was nonresponsive on a couple of her nonstress tests that we do twice a week. But they did some further testing and she's still doing just fine. She just likes to scare us and be nice and quiet for her tests. We're all breathing a little easier now that she made it to 36 weeks. Doctors say her chances get better and better each day now that she's past the 36 week mark. I'm starting to feel myself slow down alittle now and am feeling the achiness of a full term baby inside me. I'm feeling lots of contractions these days too...painless contractions, but they are coming on stro...

33 weeks...how am I already 33 weeks? Now I start the countdown to her coming rather than counting up to how far along I am. It's both exciting and scary. I have a motherly protection that makes me want to keep her in me where she's safe and whole. As soon as she is born that all ends. Some days are harder than others. I wish we had one issue to deal with. If there were no Turner Syndrome diagnosis, we'd be looking about about an 75% survival rate, a number that sounds great to me. We have no number to hang on or give us any idea what we're looking at. The closer I get, the harder it becomes for me. She is so alive inside me. Everytime I get an ultrasound the first thing the tech says is how active she is. "You've got a real active one here." It makes me both happy and sad. She is almost 4 pounds now, and I can see her face perfectly in the 3D ultrasound. She is perfect. She is measuring at about the 10th percentile mark, such a little perfect...

Finally a new post...you've all probably stopped checking for updates by now. I've never been one to update too frequently, but lately I know I've been extra terrible at it. It’s weird and a little scary to me that it’s already 2008. I’ve looked forward to 2008 a little apprehensively because it undoudtedly will be full of life changing experiences for us. I'm 31 weeks along now with a baby girl that has been diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, Atrial Septal Defect, and a chromosome abnormality called Turner Syndrome. We found all this out about 2 and a half months ago. It's sort of surreal to be told all that when you think everything is coming along just perfect. Surreal at first, then frightening. It's been a rollercoaster ride so far with lots more ride to come. I was first told I'd probably lose her soon after we found out (around 18 weeks) to being told now that she'll be born and have 3 open heart surgeries with a very unsure outc...

There's been lots of good things happening to us lately. First of all, apparently a lot of people didn't know that I was pregnant when I posted my last blogs. I had already told most people that I talk to regularly or that live by me, so I guess I just assumed most everyone knew. My last two posts weren't really intended to 'announce' that I was pregnant, but I guess they did for lot's of people. I realize it was kind of a funny way to tell people. I was writing it as if it was already common knowledge. So anyway, yes...I am pregnant with number 2! 17 weeks pregnant, and the first of the good things that have happened to us lately is that I am completley rid of all nausia and vomiting. Yeah! It's such a wonderful thing to wake up one day and feel like you again. I feel great. I don't really even feel all that 'chubby' as I said in my last post either. Something different must definately happen the second time around and your body immedia...