Baby Allie is here

Here is the newest addition to the Moore family:

Baby Allie. Her arrival was not at all the way we expected.
Last week, on Wednesday and Thursday I was feeling really crummy. My stomach hurt and I was nauseated, and just felt lousy. Our boys were in Colorado with Jared's mom and dad, and we were going to pick them up on Friday. On Friday morning I woke up feeling crappy still, and decided that all these symptoms were probably big red flags, telling me there was something wrong. I had flashbacks to 9 years ago, laying on my bed one saturday morning, crying as I called Jared at work, telling him I just didn't feel good. On that day we went to the emergency room, and later that day I gave birth to Joey, because I had Toxemia.
I asked Jared to take my blood pressure (handy, having a nursing student around) knowing that if it was high, we were headed down that road again. It was high. I was really upset. We went to the hospital, and after waiting all day, a doctor told me it was toxemia, and if it got any worse they would induce and I would have the baby immediately. If we could hold off for 48 hours it would be ideal, though, because I could get steroid shots to strengthen the baby's lungs. My doctor was in Hawaii on vacation. When he got back (Sunday) he said he thought it might actually be my gallbladder, not toxemia. So we did ultrasounds, and more tests. Turns out it was toxemia after all, so on Monday afternoon I got the Pitocin going, and Magnesium Sulfate, which stops me from having seizures, which I was at high risk for, and could kill me. I know, very scary stuff. My body didn't want to give up this baby. Magnesium sulfate is something they use to stop premature labor. You see the problem here? I might also mention it makes you feel really crappy. I have never been so miserable in all my life. I was so weak and drugged I couldn't lift my arm. I was terrified about having my baby six weeks early. It was the worst 5 days of our lives. But on Tuesday morning, after 17 hours of weird labor, Allie was born. She was so tiny! In my drugged state of mind I asked the doctor if I tore, and did I need stitches? He looked at me like I was crazy, and said that my birth canal never knew there was a baby in it. She was the ugliest and the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. She was slimy and purple, and squashed. But she was my baby, and I loved her instantly. They whisked her out to the NICU, and Jared went with her, and she was having a hard time breathing. It was really scary for him, watching his daughter fighting for life, and didn't help that he understood all the medical jargon they were using.

She was 3 pounds, 12 ounces. Even for a 34 week old baby she is tiny. But she only needed help breathing for an hour, then she was fine. She has been doing great every day. She is fed through a tube that goes through her nose into her stomache. They increase the amount every 12 hours, as long as she tolerates is, and she is almost up to the full amount she needs. Today she got her IVs out, and probably tomorrow she won't need the bilirubin lights anymore. She just has to be able to eat on her own, then she can come home. That will probably take some time though, maybe a few weeks. It is difficult for babies born so early to figure out how to suck and swallow, and it takes a lot of their energy. So we try a little bit at a time, and slowly she will figure things out.

At first it was okay that she was in the hospital, I was so weak and my body had been through quite the ordeal, It was nice I didn't have a baby to take care of. Now it makes me sad to put her in her "E.T. bed" as Jared calls it, and leave her there. I want her home with me. It also makes me sad that my boys can't go see her. They can only go on weekends. They've seen her once. Tyler really liked her. He touched her feet and looked at her, and was very interested in his new baby sister, "Owie." That's how he says Allie. LOVE it. Jason just looked at her, didn't want to touch her. He thinks we should keep her, though. Joey could not get enough of her. he asked if he could go see her again the next day, and I told him yes, (not knowing that he couldn't) and he just lit up. He was upset when he found out he couldn't go. he said it's like they have an age line around the NICU, like in Harry Potter, how there's an age line around the goblet of fire, and oly 17 year olds can get through. If only he could get his hands on an aging potion.

So she is here, safe and sound. After the delivery the doctor showed me the umbilical cord; there was a tight knot in it, and my placenta was beginning to calcify. He said there is no doubt in his mind that she would not have made it to full term. She would not have survived with a knot like that. I'm so grateful that God is in charge, and that he took such good care of me and Allie. We don't always know why things happen, but in this case we do. Everything turned out perfectly.