Our feisty little firecracker is not a tiny, wobbly toddler anymore. She made her fierce debut into our lives 3 years ago today. It feels like so much longer when I picture that day. But I look at her, and it seems like just yesterday she was a precious newborn causing us grief and worry. :-)
5 lbs 7 oz. 8:47am
She was born without the lubricating stuff in her lungs, I forgot the name of it. So every breath she took was as difficult as the first...trying to get her lungs to expand. I was still in surgery. They couldn't get the bleeding to stop after she was delivered via C-section so worked on me 6 hours, with transfusions during the ordeal, before they finally had to perform a hysterectomy.
Earl said no one noticed anything off about Brinley until another nurse happened to walk by her and notice her color was off and had her checked for that. They determin
ed she had pulmonary hypertension. They didn't know the reasoning until she got to New Hanover. They had to transport her there, in Wilmington, to the NICU for care.
They brought her to the ICU so I could see her and touch her before transport.
I had to stay in the ICU overnight. Then they sent me to the mother/baby unit the next day, in hopes of getting me released early so I could go be with Brinley in Wilmington. So I had to be alone in my room, listening to all the newborns on the hall. Depressing. Tanner and Joey were so upset they didn't get to see Brinley after she was born. The boys visited me there. Boy did they light up the room.
The doctors were able to get me released 2 days after she was born, I believe. One night in ICU, one night in mother/baby unit.
Earl was updating me from NICU, of course. Sending me messages like "This girl is on fire!" She was already known in her unit for her amazingly loud lungs. She didn't like anybody messing with her. Earl got to do kangaroo care with her. She was happy in his arms.
She spent 8 days there, but the whole time was just waiting. Waiting to see her if her lungs improved. They really had no idea how long it would take. The doctors could just say she needed time. There were a set of twins a few doors down that had been there like 100 days or something. We didn't know what to expect. They were gradually trying to wean her off the oxygen. Turning it down a little at a time, but then her alarms would go off and they'd have to turn it back up again. Once she was at a certain level of oxygen, she had to remain there for a certain amount of time before she would be released. It was so stressful. Me and Earl would take turns staying with her and going home to stay with the boys. We lived an hour from the NICU. The boys had my mom taking care of them, but we wanted to try to bring a little normalcy to them. My friend and neighbor Jehn transported me back and forth since I was on painkillers and just had all that abdominal surgery. I don't know what we would have done without my mom and Jehn there. We also had people from all over praying for us (friends and family in NC and GA and everywhere else thanks to Facebook.)
Brinley was on a feeding tube along with her oxygen tubes. I was pumping breast milk from Lejeune and sending it to her for her feeding tube. And when I arrived at the NICU, they gave me everything I needed to keep pumping and keep her on breast milk. She tried to nurse, but with the tubes in her nose and on her upper lip, she just couldn't. After a few days, they removed her feeding tube and we got to feed her from bottles. She was a great eater!
Mom got to visit finally and see her first (and only) granddaughter on the 25th (3 days after Brinley was born).
Her brothers, too:
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I finally got my turn to do kangaroo care with her!
The staff hung this picture of Earl and Brinley up on the wall in Brinley's NICU room.
We got to bring her home the day before Easter. Earl got her dressed in her going home outfit.
She was so tiny. She had lost weight there, but gained it back well once she got to start bottle feeding.
At home, her brothers were very loving and attentive.
We dedicated her at church soon after.
And the rest is history.
She filled out quite nicely.
By 7 months, she was wearing size 18 month clothes.
2nd birthday^
We are so blessed to have her in our lives. She is crazy and loud and funny and feisty, so feisty, and supportive. She adores her big brothers, she calls them "my boys." She loves her princesses and pretending to be a princess and painting her nails and wearing tutus, and playing super heroes and digging in the dirt and climbing rocks and examining worms. She is tough and dramatic and nurturing. Sometimes when I pick her up at her church class after service, she says, "Mommy! I was so worried about you." This morning, she got a boo boo playing Legos with Joey and Tanner. After I put her band aid on, she ran downstairs yelling, "Oh booooooys, I'm baaaaack." She is amazed by all things Little Mermaid and Doc McStuffins and Playdough. She already has her opinions on her clothes and hair. She talks. So. Much. She has a great vocabulary. She's outgoing and likes to introduce her whole family to everyone she meets, "This is my boys and this is my mom and this is my dad and my Thor Z is at home..." She loves carrots and broccoli and steak. And she spends way too much time on YouTube watching toy review videos.
