Norah Rose was born at 9:11pm, weighing 3 pounds, 14 ounces, and 17 inches long.
With the two other kids and *life* I didn't always notice Tiny moving around, but always when the older two napped and I could slow down, I would feel her wiggle. Saturday morning Josh and I took the kids to the park in the next subdivision for a change, and we spent a good hour playing. When we got back and put the kids down for nap, I laid down too. But didn't notice Tiny wiggling. So I drank a glass of orange juice (yuck!) and laid on my left side and still didn't feel anything. In a panic, I called the on-call OB and she said to go ahead and head to the hospital, just for monitoring to make sure everything is fine. We dropped the kids off with a friend and sped over. On the way I felt one good movement, so I felt more at ease, but decided to head in just in case.
When we got there they hooked me up to do a non-stress test. Basically, they monitor heart rate and movement, making sure that baby moves at least once in the 20 minutes, and that when she moves the heart rate changes for a couple seconds. Though her heart beat was strong the whole time, it never changed, so she failed the test. So they ordered a BPP (biophysical profile) where they do an ultrasound and measure a dozen or so different things like fluid level, movement, and size. She failed that one too. And because the docs couldn't figure out why she failed, they decided she needed to be born. Immediately. They told me I needed an emergency c-section at 8:55, I was wheeled into OR at 9:01, and 10 minutes later we met our beautiful daughter. She was so tiny and had the cord wrapped around her neck twice.
She went directly to the NICU where she received a blood transfusion due to her levels being very low. The neonatologist theorized that she had a fetal-maternal hemmorage, where for some unknown reason, her blood traveled backward and into me, leaving her lacking. After the transfusion she pinked right up and was stable.
After I regained feeling, the nurses wheeled me into her room so I could see her for a little bit, and then I was settled into my room for the night.
Over the course of her 11 day NICU stay, she had ultrasounds on her head and belly to make sure her organs weren't affected by the lack of blood, and they discovered she had extra fluid in her belly. The nephrologist isn't concerned and will just check it again at about 6 months. She had trouble regulating her blood sugar, so they eventually moved the iv from her arm to her belly so they could push more fluid in at once. She started on oxygen but was weaned off that quickly. They then moved her to the isolette to provide her a consistent ambient temperature. She initially took feeds through an ng tube in her nose, and that was the last thing to get dc'd. Having adjusted to room air and temperature, stabilized her blood sugar levels, all internal tests came back fine, and learned to eat entirely by mouth, she was ready for discharge!
We eventually learned that the reason she was so small was because she had IUGR (intra-uterine growth restriction). There's no for-sure cause for it, but for whatever reason babies with this just stop growing in utero, and need to be born early in order to grow. I read somewhere this happens in about 5% of pregnancies. The fetal-maternal hemorrhage, if it's not caused by a trauma to mom (like being in a car accident) has no known cause. There's not a lot of information about it, but I read it happens in 0.3% of pregnancies. The only indicator is a lack of movement, and a few hours can be the difference between life and death. The fact that both of those happened to her, and she she's doing so well is truly a miracle.
We will be forever grateful to the wonderful staff who helped us care for our tiny baby the first 2 weeks of her life. We are so excited to take her home!
