Well this summer was an amazing, chaotic, scary, blissful blur. I know I owe much more than will be included here, but rest assured I am not actually 50 wks pregnant, and all is well.
As warned, I was hospitalized at the beginning of week 34 (on a Tues) to do steroid injections to prep Grace's lungs since I was found to officially have pre-eclampsia. I will post more about this some day, but to summarize, by Fri I was incredibly swollen (think very full tick) and began to have pulmonary edema. Fri afternoon I was induced, but within about 2 hrs of that, my breathing was getting worse and worse so I was prepped for a c-section, and at 10:36 or 10:37 p.m. (there is some debate on which) Grace was born.
Grace Audry Dimond was 6 lbs, 4 oz and about 19 1/2 inches long at that time on May 6, 2011.
There is much to tell - I am keeping a calendar of firsts and will post hopefully soon - but to summarize (again), we are the luckiest parents I think! This little girl is the most sweet, mellow, beautiful baby we could have ever dreamed of. Between her complexion and ears (clearly Blake's) and nose (mine) there is no question she is uniquely and magnificently ours.
She will be 16 wks old tomorrow. I am embarrassed in a way that it took me so long to officially document our wonder baby's arrival here, but I truly have struggled with accepting the early end of the pregnancy, how sick I was, and that I had a preemie/NICU baby so just had to process some things for a while. I will say, though, this whole experience strengthened my knowledge that Heavenly Father knows us, loves us, will only give us challenges we can handle with His help, and will place people in our lives at seemingly insignificant times that will help us at the exact, precise moment we desperately need them. I'll expand on that later, too.
I am amazed and thankful for our little Skooch/Peanut/Grace/Gracie Lou. It may be a cliche, but how true to say I never quite expected or knew just how much I would love my own baby, and how amazing it would be.
I have to say it, in the words of Ren and Stimpy, "happy, happy, joy, joy!!!"
More (including pics, video, etc.) to come. :)
Grace is here!
Our adventures begin with the amazing baby Grace! :)
