Virginia's first few days

To say we are in love with Miss Virginia is an understatement.  Our lives have certainly changed forever by this tiny miracle.

Virginia's birth and first day
After being in the hospital for 2.5 weeks and in Labor and Delivery for an additional 4 days they finally sent us back up to the maternity floor.  They thought Virginia was going to arrive Tuesday night or Wednesday but we surprised them and they could no longer justify keeping us on Labor and Delivery.  Those days were very difficult mentally and physically so we were elated to go back up to Maternity.  By  Saturday morning it became apparent that things were progressing.  We were thankful to go back down to Labor and Delivery under fairly calm circumstances, as we had been told to prepare for a very traumatic and rushed delivery where Alyssa would have been put out and Heath would be left waiting outside of the OR.  Alyssa was thankfully able to be awake for the C Section and Heath was able to be with her in the room.  We did not know the sex of the baby, so it was very special to find out that we had a little girl together in the OR.  Little Virginia came out weighing 1lb 7oz and 12.5" long with a great heartbeat and good stats.  They were able to successfully intubate her and get some lines in for her medications and nutrition.    Heath and I were both able to see her within 2 hours of her birth and she remained stable all day.  Our parents were also able to meet her in the NICU that afternoon.

Days 2 & 3
Virginia remained stable throughout days 2 & 3 with only minor issues with her low blood pressure, some jaundice, and some other fluctuations in her labs.  They did do a lumbar puncture to ensure that she does not have an infection and she received 2 blood transfusions to help her blood levels stabilize.  The good news that we have gotten over the past few days have certainly outweighed the bad news.  She has had clear chest xrays for the past few days and has no fluid in her lungs.  Additionally her first head ultrasound was clear and showed no signs of brain bleeds.  We are celebrating this good news.  We know her stay will continue to be a long roller coaster, but we are very happy with the care she is receiving and how well she has been doing so far.

Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers.  They have been working and Miss Virginia is very lucky to have so many people thinking about her and praying for her.

Some specific prayers that we could use in the next few days:
That her lumbar puncture cultures continue to come back negative.
That her doctors are able to further lower her ventilator settings.
That the doctors are able to successfully put a central line in so that Virginia has a more stable access point for her medications.
That her second head scan and next chest xray come back clear.

Much Love,
Heath, Alyssa & Virginia