Raising the most beautiful girls in the world…
Archive for February, 2009
Ava and Mia.
Feb 21st
Mia is doing great! We have been able to hold her more and she is maintaing her temperature and eating a little bit more. Ava was excited to see her today, and even though she couldn’t hold her she had fun holding her hand and just watching her. Olivia is still too little to come back into ICU, plus her runny nose would not be welcome. 
She’ll have plenty of time to harass her baby sister soon.
Mia Emmeline.
Feb 20th
Meet our baby girl, Mia Emmeline. Born on Thursday, she weighed in at 6 lbs 3 oz, 18 inches long. We had a scheduled C-section due to a velamentous cord insertion and related complications. It turned out to be the right choice for several reasons. Mia remained in the full breech position, I was having contractions the day we went to the hospital, and the velamentous insertion was worse than we thought based on the ultrasound. The vessels along the umbilical cord were split and inserted into the amniotic sac far away from the placenta. The vessels were huge and travelled along the sac to reach the placenta. If my water had ruptured during labor, these vessels would have quickly bled out and we probably would have lost Mia. Thank goodness for modern medicine and ultrasound technology! I have some cool pictures of the placenta, but decided it was probably a little graphic for this post.
We are doing well a day later. Mia had to be transferred to the NICU based on some difficulty breathing. She is now off oxygen, breathing room air, is maintaing her temperature and has even started eating. I got to hold her for the first time today! It is a different feeling sitting in the hospital room with your newborn baby down the hall in the NICU. We were hoping that she would be able to go home with us. It doesn’t look like that will happen, but she won’t be too far behind us. We are hoping that if she continues on this path of continuos improvement, she will be home by the end of next week.
I know that many of you have kept us in your thoughts and prayers and sent us well wishes. It is so appreciated and I feel a heavy weight lifted off my chest knowing that Mia, although in the NICU, is doing well and moving in the right direction. Thanks for lifting us up! We will continue to keep you posted.
This week…
Feb 15th
The time has come…this week will mark the arrival of our latest addition. Baby girl Sasser #3!!! I can hardly believe that she will be here by the end of the week. This pregnancy has flown by in so many ways. Being a surprise, we didn’t find out until further into the pregnancy. And, having two other little ones to chase also made the time pass faster. In addition, this pregnancy has come with its own set of complications that have increased our worries and made blogging difficult to navigate. The best news is that we have escaped the majority of the concerns. Baby girl has grown on target and after careful monitoring, I will be having a C-section this week to help bring her into the world safe and sound. I’m a little nervous about the surgery, but I keep reminding myself that many women undergo this procedure everyday… and at this point I am just ready to hold her and see that she is A-OK and all is well. Not to mention, I am TIRED of being pregnant. I am excited to being able to sleep fully horizontal, see my feet in the shower, tie my shoes with ease, and hold my girls without rationing my lap space. We’ll be updating with pictures as soon as we can! Stay tuned…
Winter gardening coming to a close.
Feb 15th
Our winter garden is coming to a close. We’ve managed to eat Swiss Chard a few times, but honestly that is about it. We still have some broccoli, carrots, lettuce, and brussel sprouts in the pipeline, but I don’t know that we will beat the heat that is coming soon. I have started to look at the gardening supply catalogs to plan for our spring/summer garden, but given the arrival of our newest family member, I don’t know when we will plant…maybe we’ll make it???
Valentine's Day Cookies.
Feb 15th
Grandma Mary came down to help us get ready for Valentine’s Day. Cookies anyone?