Sweet Miracles

I am so excited to be writing this post! Partially because I am feeling so much better today than yesterday, and also because we have enjoyed a great first 2 1/2 days of Meghan's life. We had a great delivery experience here at the Cleveland Clinic. Welcoming Meghan into the world was every bit as amazing as it was with Addison. The rush of seeing your child for the first time and hearing them cry is an unexplainable and completely life altering moment. Joe and I are both completely thrilled to be parents again, especially now that we have made it to this point.

Now for the technical stuff...Meghan has seen more doctors in the first hours of her life than I can begin to count! Neurologists, neurosurgeons, neonatologists, and medical genetics. She's had an ultrasound of her brain and an MRI which showed that the hydrocephalus is being caused by something called aqueductal stenosis. This does mean that she will need a shunt, which we anticipate happening early next week. She also had an ultrasound of her kidney's which showed that both are present, but the left is not in the correct location and we are not sure if it's functioning or not. Finally she had an echocardiogram of her heart, which showed that there are 2 defects- either of which may or may not correct themselves. They did her echo on her first day of life so there is a chance it could have just been early enough that these holes which naturally occur in the womb have not closed yet. They plan to repeat the echo within a couple of weeks. The geneticists are running some tests to see if they can isolate a chromosomal abnormality since she has a conglomeration of anomalies.

The amazing part is that she is doing so well. We never could have anticipated that in spite of all the things we knew were wrong that she came out screaming, with perfect APGAR scores. She has been perfectly stable in the NICU, with great vital signs, and my personal favorite- a champion breastfeeder:) We are so grateful to God that we have gotten to enjoy these couple days with her before her surgery as normally as possible. Relief has given way to great joy as we celebrate the disappearance of the first of many unknowns ahead. She's here, she's "healthy", and in our eyes, she is perfect. This is an answer to thousands of prayers that were said for this sweet miracle.

Other great things....As hard as it is not to be with her 24-7 I am happy that I have been able to be within a 5 minute wheelchair ride to the NICU. Joe and the Grandmas have been taking turns staying the night so that I can get to the NICU to feed her on schedule since I am still doing the "C-Section shuffle". As of this morning, I am now free of all lines and tubes (hooray!) and will be discharged Monday morning. There is also a Starbucks on the first floor here...an added bonus:) Oh, and she smells like baby. Sweet, delicious, newborn heaven:)

Keep praying for her and her upcoming surgery if you would. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the last couple days of shunt-free Meghan. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the prayers that were said for us this last few days. I assure you, in more than one way they were answered.