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.