Finley Grace Oliver Has Arrived!

On Wednesday morning I went back to the new perinatologist's office for another non-stress test and biophysical profile. Since Monday's news had been so reassuring, I told Andrew that he didn't need to come with me and that I'd call him afterwards to give him the full report. During the NST, I noticed a short period where Finley's heart rate decreased significantly (down to around 100) before returning to normal (around 145-160), and of course the doctor noticed it too. When he checked her diastolic blood flow, he noticed that it was starting to show signs of a reversal of flow. At this point, he kept talking but I didn't hear anything because I knew that I'd be having the baby as soon as possible. Sure enough - he told me to go straight to the hospital - I wasn't even allowed to stop by the house to grab my suitcase. I called Andrew to tell him the news and he thought I was joking with him at first. But he quickly switched into over-protective father mode and actually arrived at the hospital before I did!

Labor and Delivery was ready and waiting for us when we walked in and they got me into a room and started prepping me for surgery. Since I'd eaten breakfast before my doctor's appointment, they wanted to hold off surgery until 3pm so my food could digest but they wanted to have the option to move quickly if the baby took a sudden turn for the worse. Luckily Finley held on in there so we got to wait until 3pm for the c-section. The surgery itself was a breeze (gotta love the morphine they put in the spinal!) but it was definitely hard afterwards for me to have to wait several hours to recover before I was allowed to go to the NICU to see my daughter.

Finley was born on July 22, 2009, at 3:41 pm. She weighed 2 lbs 2 oz at birth and was 14 inches long - long and lean like her dad! Her 1 minute APGAR score was an 8 and her 5 minute APGAR score was a 9 - which are amazingly high scores considering her size and gestational age. (The highest APGAR score is a 10.) She came out squawking and it was the best sound I've ever heard! She doesn't have much hair but what she does have is blonde. The NICU doctors and nurses have labeled her as being 'feisty' because she's really active and lets you know if she doesn't like something!

Finley is breathing room air and doesn't need additional oxygen supplementation. She is using a CPAP machine to help her lungs expand when she breathes but she doesn't seem like she'll need that much longer. In fact, yesterday morning she pulled off her CPAP mask by herself (I told you she was feisty!) and still managed to maintain a 99% oxygen saturation! She's started taking breastmilk feedings yesterday and she usually manages to digest it all before it's time for the next feeding so the doctors may increase her feeding amounts tomorrow. Finley has a mild case of jaundice and she's under the lights to treat it right now - between her goggles for the jaundice and her mask for the CPAP, you can't see much of her face right now! Her nurses call Finley their golden child because she's doing so well and each time we talk to the doctors they have nothing but positive things to say about her progress. So please pray with us that she continues this amazing road and can come home sooner than expected!

Lastly, if you've stuck through and read this entire post, thank you! My brain is totally foggy from lack of sleep and the percocet so the ability to write coherent thoughts has been greatly decreased. Hopefully I'll make more sense on the next entry!