Nurse Jaime and Adelyn in her "plastic throne" as Dad likes to say.
Adelyn getting her antibiotics.
Nurse Sarah, taking Adelyn's temperature
Nurse Jill came to visit Adelyn the day after to make sure she was OK.
Dr. Piness, Emily's OBGYN, also came to visit Adelyn in the NICU
Our sweet Adelyn Elizabeth Luck was born on May 26th at 9:12pm. We have been wanting to post an update about her delivery, but it has been such a whirlwind of events over the past few days. Emily went to the hospital just past midnight on Tuesday morning for an induction where she was given oral medication to get things started. The actual induction of labor did not start until 9:30am when Emily's water broke and pitocin was started. Emily got an epidural at 1:00pm and by 6:00pm was fully dilated. At 6:30pm Emily started pushing and proceeded to push for 2hrs and 45mins before Adelyn was born. She had to push for so long because Adelyn was facing up for most of the time and there was a tight cord wrapped around her neck. Because Emily's nurse, Jill, noticed there was meconium (meaning Adelyn had passed her first stool in utero) there was a neonatologist, Dr. Yoon, and NICU nurse, Jaime, present for the delivery. The cord was wrapped so tightly around Adelyn's neck that Dr. Piness had to cut it right after her head was delivered, and she was given to Dr. Yoon immediately. Adelyn had a very hard time during the first few minutes of life and was not breathing because of the tight cord. She had to be given supplemental oxygen and was stimulated very vigorously. She eventually cried but continued to grunt, showing signs that she was not breathing well. Dr. Yoon decided it would be best to take her to the NICU to be watch more closely, which, although made us both sad because we could not have her with us, also provided us with comfort knowing she would be getting great care. While in the NICU, Adelyn was given and IV line in her left arm pit and two lines in her umbilical cord. She was given IV fluids and was started on antibiotics in order to prevent infection. She bounced back very quickly, and began breathing regularly within the first hour. She also pinked up well and her lab results, while abnormal at first, normalized over night. The doctors and nurses in the NICU were wonderful and allowed us to hold her that first night. Our hospital stay was very exhausting because in order to see our little one, we had to walk to the NICU. Emily had to walk down every 3 hours to feed her, and Steven had to go down with visitors in order to allow them into the NICU. We were very happy to show her off, though :). We would have loved to have our little one in the room with us, but were confident she was receiving fabulous care by the NICU team. They soothed her when she cried and we weren't there, and they talked to Emily in the early hours of the morning when she was feeding Adelyn. Emily and Adelyn's care in the hospital was fabulous. Adelyn and Emily were discharged around 8:00pm on Thursday thanks to the wonderful NICU team, and we all headed home around 8:30. We were very happy to be home, but were also very exhausted. That first night was great and Adelyn slept well. We, on the other hand, definitely slept like new parents, peering into her bassinet every once in awhile in order to make sure she was still breathing. Of course she was, and it was so exciting to wake up the next morning at home as a new family of three. Things have been quite busy since she has been home. She has had lots of visitors, and her grandparents and aunts and uncles were finally able to hold her over the weekend. She is still a little confused on her nights and days, and woke up several times last night crying because she wanted to play. Steven and I are overwhelmed, exhausted, and overjoyed and can't imagine loving something so small, so much!
