Hannah's Trip Back To The Hospital

Last Tuesday we headed back to Kaiser for Hannah's 3 day appointment. Before heading to the appointment we knew they were going to tell us she had Jaundice because of the yellowish tint of her skin. Overall her appointment was great, however her blood draw showed that she had a bilirubin level of 21 (it was 3 at birth). 21 put her into a high risk zone and they informed us we'd need to check back in to the hospital where Hannah would receive treatments of photo therapy. We were able to stay in the same room with her where she was under a strict schedule of 3 hrs. of photo therapy, then out for 30 min to breastfeed and then back under the lights to receive a bottle of formula and lay for another 3 hrs. The quickest way to flush the bilirubin from her system, along with being under the lights, is for her to eat and poop/pee as much as possible. Hannah did wonderfully! She loved laying in her little tanning bed, as we called it, and did a great job of eating. They had us stay in the hospital for two nights so that we could flush the bilirubin from her system and get her numbers down. By the end of day 2 she was down to a 12, which the pediatrician was happy with. We were so happy to bring her home again! Since being home she's done so well. We are constantly amazed by our little girl. She is eating wonderfully, sleeping in 3-4 hr. blocks (I often have to wake her up to feed her), has been smiling since day 4, allows mommy to get much needed sleep, only fusses when she's hungry or needs to be changed. We can't believe how lucky we are. I know it's only been a little over a week and there will be things that will change, but we couldn't be more fortunate. She sleeps well in her bassinet and of course in our arms. :) Her cry is so dang cute! She makes a sound as though she's swallowed a squeaky toy at the end of each cry. We can't help but laugh. :) Even though she came 3 weeks early and I had so many things on my "to do" list before her arrival, I wouldn't change her coming early for anything. We are so happy she's here and can't imagine life without her.

With her friend Kenzie (Kenzie is 5 days older) before heading to her 3 day appointment. You can really see how yellow she looked when next to Kenzie.

She loved photo therapy. The little tanning goggles were too funny! Josh called her his bubble baby

Being fed a bottle by dad

Kisses from dad on her 30 min. break from the lights

You can see her reverse tan here. Having the goggles on, made the area around her eyes stay yellow when she was out from the lights A visit from Renee
Being held by proud uncle Scott
Ready to head home
Andrea and Devin came to visit after arriving home So happy to be home!

Hannah's Here!

Well little miss Hannah was impatient and decided to make her appearance into the world 3 weeks early. Friday was my last day of work, she didn't give me one day off! :) My water broke Friday evening and we headed to the hospital around 3:00am. By 7:00 am I was dilated to 4 and then just one hour later I was dilated to 9.5! We thought we were going to have her here before lunch time, however when they had me start pushing her heart rate dropped from 140 to 90. It got a little crazy in the delivery room as more hospital staff rushed in, put me on oxygen and told us she was going to have to be delivered by an emergency C section. They also repositioned me in bed and in doing so her heart rate slowly began to climb. The doctor then decided that since her heart rate was steady, they'd give me meds to slow down my contractions and give both Hannah and I a rest. After another couple hours they gave me petosin to speed up the contractions and decided to have me try pushing once more, however this time they were prepped for an emergency C section if her heart rate happened to drop again. Fortunately it did not and I proceeded to push for 2 hrs. She was making progress, yet not as quickly as they wanted her too. She was so close yet something was holding her up. At the end of the 2 hrs. they decided both Hannah and I were too exhausted and decided to make one last attempt to get her out using the vacuum before resorting to the C section. Fortunately with the help of the vacuum and after 2 sets of pushes Hannah made her way out into the world. Apparently she had her hand right up next to her face, which prevented her from making it out with just me pushing. Hannah was born at 1:13 pm and we were so excited to finally have her in our arms. She is more beautiful than we could have imagined and we are so in love with her. Josh and I look at her and still can't believe she's here and she's ours. Thank you to everyone for your thoughtful calls, texts, visits, flowers, meals and love. Hannah is lucky to have such a wonderful family and group of friends.

Meet Hannah Nicole Heald :)

6 lbs 5 oz 19 in
Meeting mom for the first time

Meeting DadMy family

Time to get all cleaned up

She enjoyed her bath

All clean
Auntie Nicole is so proud

With Grandma Deanna

Being held by Grandpa JoeWith Auntie Nicole and Uncle SeanWith dad ready for our night in the hospitalReady to head homeShe looks so tiny in her car seat

Arriving Home

With Grandma Jan With Grandpa Paul

With cousin Mazzy Hanging out with mom and auntie in her room
Before grandma and grandpa Musone left
Ready to head to our 3 day appointment

Night Away Before Hannah's Arrival

Josh and I decided awhile back that we really wanted a night away, just the two of us, before Hannah's arrival. The past 3 weekends have been filled with events, as are the next two weekends, so we took the opportunity during Josh's spring break last week to get away for a night. We decided to head down to Tiburon and stay the night at The Lodge at Tiburon, a place we've seen and always wanted to stay at. (http://www.thelodgeattiburon.com/) As you can see below, our room was beautiful and relaxing. We were right down the street from the shops, restaurants and bay. We had a delicious Italian dinner, followed by a walk on the docks as the sun set. It was so nice getting away from R.P. just the two of us. The next morning after getting up and having breakfast, we headed to The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. (http://www.calacademy.org/) We had been wanting to visit it since it's reopening. We had a great time except for the fact that my feet, hands and ankles got really swollen toward the end while we were in the Rain forest. Last summer Josh and I visited the Smithsonians in Wash D.C. and I would say Academy of Sciences was like a miniature version of all the Smithsonians wrapped into one. Definitely worth the visit if you have never experienced something like the Smithsonians. After getting away for the night we both felt refreshed and relaxed. It's crazy to think that our next trip away will include our daughter!

Our roomWalking along the docksChecking out "The Living Roof"I couldn't get enough of the penguins

Inside the 4 story Rain forest

A tiny Poison Dart Frog

One busy weekend after another!

These past few weekends have been a constant on the go! I meant to put up a post about last weekend all last week, however by the time I got home every night I was so exhausted that I just want to put my swollen feet up and rest. Last weekend was busy from start to finish and filled with so many great memories. My parents, sister and Sean came up Friday night and we went Barrel Tasting in the Healdsburg/Dry Creek area all day on Sat. It was so nice spending time with my family and visiting some of our favorite wineries. At our second winery (Unti) my sister was surprised with a proposal from her boyfriend Sean. (Josh caught it on camera) It was so romantic! I am so excited to have Sean as my brother-in-law, he's been a part of our family for over 10 years and now it's official! We went to one of our favorite Italian restaurants Nicolino's, to celebrate Sat. night. On Sunday, Josh and I went with his brother, wife and our niece Mazzy to Fairfield and met up with his dad, Donna, sister, brother-in-law and niece Camryn for lunch. We had a really nice visit together. Camryn and Mazzy are such happy babies, I can't wait for them to meet their cousin Hannah soon here! This weekend was yet another busy weekend filled with family and friends, a baby shower for Hannah put on by Karina and a bridal shower that I threw for Andrea. I'm hoping to get those pics up soon here. :)

Barrel tasting 2009 ~ At Armida Winery Unti Winery

The proposal

The newly engaged couple!
Couldn't be happier for my sis!

My sister in laws Cassie and Mel and mother-in-law Donna

Josh with his dad and brother Dustin

Cassie, Camryn and A.J.Camryn loved smelling the flowers
Mazzy with grandpa