March 2009 - Noisy!!

We have been home for a little bit and little Elora still doesn't cry, but she grunts! It is the cutest thing, she actually sounds like a little billy goat when she is waking up to feed, it's like my little warning to get the bottle ready!

Feb 5, 2009 - Coming Home

Finally after 9 days in the NICU Elora was coming home. The night before her discharge they ran a bunch of tests, one of which was to keep her hooked up to the monitors and have her stay in her car seat for 6 hours. Here is a picture of her coming home at 4lbs!

It was so nerve wrecking taking her home, you get used to the monitors telling you that everything is all right and then you get her home... Needless to say I was a bit of a wreck! Not to mention that we had to wake her up every 3 hours to eat and a bottle typically took her 45 minutes to complete! She didn't learn how to suck/swallow/breathe in the womb so she has some maturing to do.

Also, weird thing is, she didn't cry. I guess it is a preemie thing, but she is the quietest baby :)

In the Hospital

Once Elora was in the NICU she had to be on the oxygen for a few hours. I think this was because she came out screaming and she used up too much air:)

I guess standard procedure for a small baby in the NICU is tons of tests. Unfortunately they wouldn't let us touch her for 24 hours. Ric would go to the NICU every 3 hours for her feedings and take a video on my camera. We would then load the video onto Ric's laptop. I survived thru these videos until I could be wheeled in to see her 24+ hours later!

By this time we were allowed to touch her thru the incubator. She was soo tiny but soo sweet. She soon became a favorite with all of the nurses.

Every 3 hours either Ric and me or just Ric would go to the NICU for her feedings as these were the only time you could hold her. Eventually little by little we were taught to take her temperature, change her diaper (while attached to ALL 7 monitors) and be with her.

I stayed in the hospital for 5 days and was discharged without her. It killed me to leave her behind, but she had to gain back the ounces she lost after birth so she could come home.

The first day home without her was so hard. It was great in the hospital, she was a few halls away. Now Ric and I would jump in the car, drive to Huntington, feed her, drive home and would only have an hour before we had to get back in the car. Needless to say this was not to healthy for me having just gone thru major surgery. I finally had to realize my limitations and Ric or I went to every other feeding.

The Delivery Jan 27, 2009

We'll needless to say she didn't make it to week 38! I am telling this story from 4 month ago so the details might be a little sketchy!

We went in for our usual appt on Jan 26 and she had only grown 2 days out of 7 and was still showing her weight at 4lbs. Dr Jick felt the risk outweighed the benefits and schedule a c-section for the following day. We came home kind of dazed... Ric and I went to have our last night out and had dinner at the Arroyo Chop House.

We arrived at Huntington Hospital at 5:30am. They didn't wheel me in until 7am to get my spinal. They finally got the spinal in at 8am. Both Ric and Heather were present when Elora Grace Hutchins Mejia came out screaming at 8:12am. She was exactly 4 lbs! They wheeled her to the NICU because of her size and Ric left with Elora while Heather stayed with me.

I am then in my room and am completely miserable, turns out I had a bad reaction to the spinal and have vertigo, not to mention that the painkillers aren't working on me. Luckily the vertigo only lasted about 24hrs.