Eleni's Birth
Friends,
As many of you have likely guessed, miss Eleni did make her appearance this weekend. However, things did not go at all as planned. Due to the excellent care of my midwife and my own intuition, we went in for a non-stress test on Friday night to check on Eleni. The results were not reassuring, so I was induced in the hospital and gave birth at 9:25 am on Saturday morning. The delivery took everyone by surprise as I was just about to be prepped for a medically necessary cesarean due to concerns with baby's heart rate.
Eleni was born 5 lbs, 11 oz, slightly on the small side for my babies and her 39 week + gestation. From birth she needed assistance with breathing. Although the cord blood was well oxygenated, she was suffering from oxygen deprivation, cause unknown. I was able to touch her for the first time many hours after her birth, just before she was transferred to another hospital with a wonderful NICU. Fortunately that hospital is nearby, so we are visiting her daily. Eleni has remained neurologically unresponsive since birth, though she is breathing with minimal assistance now and her other organs are doing mostly well. Obviously the situation is very grave. We have not been able to do much testing due to a treatment currently in progress. The coming days and weeks will hold... I don't know what. It is emotionally overwhelming, physically taxing and beyond comprehension. One small bright spot is that I am healing well physically from her birth.
In the coming weeks I will be sharing an interview series I prepared in advance for my postnatal recovery. I hope you will enjoy it! Some great quilt blogging friends invested their time and thoughts to share with us. The questions are a bit different for each guest. I may also pop in with a post if and when the moment is right. Sometimes doing normal things actually helps one cope with tragedy.
I thank you in advance for all your love, prayers and support. I know you all well enough to know that you would give me a hug or help out in some way if you could. Know that I do appreciate your comments here, but I will not be responding to them individually. I also don't know when I'll be comfortable giving an update on Eleni's condition. Though if we had some really good news, I'm sure I'd jump to share.
in hope,
Rachel
As many of you have likely guessed, miss Eleni did make her appearance this weekend. However, things did not go at all as planned. Due to the excellent care of my midwife and my own intuition, we went in for a non-stress test on Friday night to check on Eleni. The results were not reassuring, so I was induced in the hospital and gave birth at 9:25 am on Saturday morning. The delivery took everyone by surprise as I was just about to be prepped for a medically necessary cesarean due to concerns with baby's heart rate.
Eleni was born 5 lbs, 11 oz, slightly on the small side for my babies and her 39 week + gestation. From birth she needed assistance with breathing. Although the cord blood was well oxygenated, she was suffering from oxygen deprivation, cause unknown. I was able to touch her for the first time many hours after her birth, just before she was transferred to another hospital with a wonderful NICU. Fortunately that hospital is nearby, so we are visiting her daily. Eleni has remained neurologically unresponsive since birth, though she is breathing with minimal assistance now and her other organs are doing mostly well. Obviously the situation is very grave. We have not been able to do much testing due to a treatment currently in progress. The coming days and weeks will hold... I don't know what. It is emotionally overwhelming, physically taxing and beyond comprehension. One small bright spot is that I am healing well physically from her birth.
In the coming weeks I will be sharing an interview series I prepared in advance for my postnatal recovery. I hope you will enjoy it! Some great quilt blogging friends invested their time and thoughts to share with us. The questions are a bit different for each guest. I may also pop in with a post if and when the moment is right. Sometimes doing normal things actually helps one cope with tragedy.
I thank you in advance for all your love, prayers and support. I know you all well enough to know that you would give me a hug or help out in some way if you could. Know that I do appreciate your comments here, but I will not be responding to them individually. I also don't know when I'll be comfortable giving an update on Eleni's condition. Though if we had some really good news, I'm sure I'd jump to share.
in hope,
Rachel