The Moody Family: 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013

Baby Lydia...

As of today Lydia has been in the NICU for 11 days. The nurses love her and we love the nurses. They have taken such good care of her. She was not on oxygen for very long after she was born. She has had quite a few IVs but currently doesn't have one because she has finished what she was being given through the IVs. One night they had to switch her IV to her head...I was not excited about this but understood that it was actually a good place for her to have it. She had been poked 10 times so they had to put it in her head! She's a tough little girl. Her biggest struggle has been eating but even that has gone exceptionally well. The nurses told us she doesn't know that she was born at 33 weeks because she acts like she's older than that! She is starting to really pick up on nursing. Most visits now she will nurse for awhile and then be given a bottle to "top her off." She had a feeding tube in her nose but they've taken that out because of her eating so well without it. She has been on a 3 hour feeding schedule so most days we go to her 11:30, 2:30, and 8:30 feedings. Most of the time Darran takes me (I'm almost to my 2 weeks of not driving) or I have lots of other volunteers who will take me! We've tried to be home to have dinner with the girls and I rarely can get myself awake before 8:00am so those feedings have become our daily routine. Meanwhile I pump every 3-4 hours so she has a supply of breast milk at the hospital to take during the night. She has graduated from her isolette and is in an open bed. She has to practice keeping her temperature at an appropriate level on her own. Because of this she gets to have clothes on now (not just a diaper) and they make her look even smaller than she is! Here are a bunch of pictures in no particular order...

Aunt Audrey feeding her a bottle.

Usual sleeping position...mouth wide open!

Daddy LOVES this job!

Very first bottle she took was from Grandma!

We don't get to see these beautiful eyes enough...she LOVES to sleep.

Picture with her IV on the right side of her head...this was the second one. The first was on the other side of her head.

Just chillin' in her isolette.

Daddy's turn to kangaroo...we get to snuggle with her skin to skin. So we throw on a robe, get comfy, and take a little snooze with her in the hospital.

Hanging out with Grandpa.

Meeting Uncle Dallin!

First time she had clothes on!

Sunglasses...she had to wear these while in her isolette with the bilirubin light on. We also called it her tanning bed!

Merry Christmas Eve!

We are so anxious to get this little girl home. They have indicated to us that this could be the week! She just has a few more things she has to "pass" and then we can bring her home to her sisters! This has been a wild ride but we have seen blessing after blessing. And there's no way we could have survived this without so much help from our family. Having her right around the holidays ended up being pretty good timing. Darran has been able to make many of the hospital visits with me and our family has been in town to help a ton with the girls. We'll be a family all under one roof soon! Yeah!!!!!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Week 33 = baby's arrival!

Introducing Lydia Lori Moody. Born December 19th at 3:13 pm. 4 pounds 11 ounces 17 inches long. We didn't quite make it to our ultimate goal of 34 weeks but this little girl is doing amazing and making it clear that she was ready to come at 33 weeks exactly! On day 36 of our hospital day she decided to have a birthday!

Wednesday night (which was exactly 5 weeks in the hospital) I started having contractions. While they had me hooked up to the monitors the contractions started to increase. This was definitely something new and different since everything has been so steady since we arrived at the hospital. I was on the monitor longer than normal so they could continue to watch the contractions. And then things started to get serious. More contractions and so they decided to put in an iv. It's possible the contractions could have started from dehydration so the fluids began to flow through the iv. And then I started to show some signs of infection...chills, rising temperature, etc. When the contractions continued and the on call doctor came in to have a look it was decided that I needed to start getting ready to deliver. Kimberly and Brittany had been visiting with me. Kimberly stayed a while longer and Darran and Mom came to the hospital. Dad stayed with the girls since it was around midnight that things really started to change.

However, signs of infection started to decrease and so the doctor suggested I try to get some rest. Mom and Kimberly left around 2am and Darran decided to sleep in the hospital with me that night just in case. I got a little rest but not much. The contractions really started to diminish so they took off the monitors and let me sleep a little bit more. So it would seem it was a false alarm...or maybe not. The next morning when my doctor came in he said to monitor some more and have an ultrasound. My contractions were not as often as the night before but they were a bit more intense. The ultrasound looked great so my nurse called my doctor and told him the results. He said I could eat unless I'm having contractions. Which the nurse told him I was. So we held off until he came back in.

After a long discussion with him we decided the best thing to do was to deliver that afternoon. Literally 45 minutes after we decided we were making our way down to the operating room. I was surprisingly calm - though extremely nervous. Darran got all dressed up in his scrubs and they wheeled me down to the room. Got me all ready and then let Darran come in. Not too much longer Lydia was born. The c-section went well and I could look over to the side and see them working on her. After awhile she finally let out a cry...that's what I had been waiting for. After the nurses got her cleaned up and checked they brought her over to my face so I could see her. She blew bubbles all over my cheek. Then they took her away to the NICU. Darran got to follow them and so did mom. They finished up with me and then took me to a room to recover.

This was the first picture I saw of her. When I got to meet her again in person she didn't have oxygen or the tube down her throat. She was already making it known she could do things by herself!

Cleaning her up.

My bubble kiss.

The beginning of her NICU stay.

Darran in his scrubs!

The girls got to come meet her the next morning. The timing couldn't have been better. The very next day the NICU closed to anyone under 16...including siblings because of RSV season.

Talia loved giving her kisses.

And Eliza loved that she has dark hair!

Happy Daddy...

...and happy Grandma!

She already loves hearing Papa sing!

Lydia is doing amazingly well. They're hoping to start trying to feed this afternoon. Her stay in the NICU might only be 2 or 3 weeks! We're so excited and feel like everything happened the way it was supposed. But more importantly everything has felt like blessing after blessing. This girl is a fighter but we know she's had a lot of help from her Heavenly Father. In the next couple of hours I get to go home! And then the second chapter of this adventure will begin!