I'm Finally Home
And beside me, in a tiny bassinette, is a little girl sleeping. She's wearing a pink newborn gown, which swallows her whole. Rachel Danielle Matthews was born on March 14, 2008 at 4:22 in the afternoon. The night before I started having weird pains in my stomach, and the next morning (on my mother's birthday) we had another daily ultrasound. The doctor listened to my complaint and then did a quick ultrasound, which revealed that the placenta had torn partially away from the uterus, causing internal bleeding. So eight hours later (a long eight hours with no food and lots of freaking out) I went into surgery. I lost a lot of blood from what the doctors tell me, and suddenly I heard a tiny cry. My daughter entered this world weighing 6 pounds and 4 ounces and 17 1/2 inches long. That night the doctors noticed her breathing was not normal and rushed her to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which revealed fluid in her lungs. She had inhaled some of the blood from the placenta, which was finally suctioned out. She has some jaundice now, which should be resolved with sunlight and lots of poo-ing (yes, I now say poo). She is amazing. I can't decide if her hair will be blonde or red or light brown....her eyebrows are blonde, her lashes brown, and her hair brown with red glints. Her eyes are of course blue, though they're dark, and I suspect that they will be the color of mine before too long. She lost some weight during the NICU, and she now weighs 5 pounds 12 ounces. She gets the hiccups somewhat often. Since she was born a month early, at 35 weeks, she is considered a preemie infant, which is why her newborn gown is so big on her....we'll be going to the March of Dimes this year. It was an exhausting experience, and my stomach is ravaged now....there is a huge incision on my stomach, and it's exploded in a barrage of irritation and redness. Yet, as I looked around me in the NICU, where next to us an infant's parents were filling out end of life plans and got to hold their daughter that day for the first time after ten weeks, I had to thank God for the blessings that I have had....No, the experience was not easy, and I would not wish it on anyone, but for the grace of God, it could have been much worse. My daughter is home, trying to wake herself up to eat again....my life is blessed.