The Websters: Change of Plans

As most of you probably know by now, my last post was clearly incorrectly titled. It should have said "One More Day". It's been a very crazy couple of weeks. And it has not gone even a little bit as I imagined it would. But I guess that's parenthood for you so I should get used to it. I won't go into too much detail, but here's how it happened:

On Wednesday the 29th I was at work, just like a normal day and Ryan called to see how my morning was going. In the course of our conversation I mentioned that I needed to get his boss' number because Ryan usually left his phone in his work truck during the day, so that way I would be able to get ahold of him when the time came. He said he would give it to me that night when we got home. Right as we hung up I felt sometihng, looked down, and there was a nice wet spot on my chair. I immediately called Ryan back and told him I thought my water broke. Because we had just been talking about it he was sure I was joking. It took a good minute and a half to convince him I was serious, I think he finally heard the slight panic in my voice. He told me to call the doctor. By then I was positive my water had broken and my doctor told me to head to the hospital, we were having a baby. So I told my boss I needed to leave, hopped in my car and headed up to LDS Hospital. Looking back now I see that driving myself maybe wasn't the smartest decision I've ever made. But I made it there, and Ryan got there about the same time. So we checked in and it all went very quickly after that.

The labor and delivery went much more smoothly than I had hoped. Not that I would want to do it every day, but it wasn't as bad as I had prepared myself for. What I had not prepared myself for was what came after she was delivered.

Little Oaklee came out, took one big breath, and then promptly decided breathing wasn't for her and stopped. Those next five minutes were the most terrifying of my life as I watched them take my baby away and preform CPR on her tiny little body. As more and more nurses came into the room I tried to stay calm, but I knew it was bad when no one would make eye contact with me. They eventually had to intibate and before I knew it they were taking her away to the NICU. Ryan went with Oaklee and soon it was just me and my sisters in the room.

The next two hours are a bit of a blur. I know I pissed off more than one nurse demanding they let me go see the baby, but they refused to let me go until the epidural wore off. Once I was finally there, this is the perfect little baby I saw:

The next few days were a battle to get her breathing like she should. She handled it like a champ though and was soon right on track. Since that first week though she's struggled with eating. So, here we are, 16 days later and still in the NICU. She has good days and bad days, and I'll admit it as been a lot harder on me than I would have imagined. But she's a fighter and she tries so hard. One of these days eating will click for her and then we will finally get to have our little baby home with us. She already has such a funny little personality. She makes me laugh all the time. She loves having her hands up in her face, and as a result she pulls out her feeding tube ALL the time. The nurses try to get mad at her for doing it but she just stares at you like, "What? I'm just a baby, you should have put it in better." She has a beautiful little smile that I can't get enough of. She falls asleep with her mouth wide open all the time and it makes her look so much like her daddy that I can't help but laugh. She loves hearing her daddy's voice, she always reacts to it. She's also the best little cuddle buddy ever. I sit for hours just holding her and read a book. I can't wait until we can cuddle at our own house.

I came down with a cold yesterday (Ryan tells me it's y own fault for not getting any rest). So today I'm banned from the NICU and I'm missing my little girl like crazy. I want to say thanks to everyone who kept us in their prayers, and if you have a few more to get her eating I would appreciate it!

Here are her official stats:

Oaklee Webster, born Wednesday, June 29th. 5 lbs 9 oz, 18 inches long. Here's a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure. :)

Ryan and I as the fun was all beginning.