Rachel Knows... This Has Been a Rough Road, but Worth Every Step!

My daughter is the light of my life. If you've followed me for a while then you know all about my pregnancy, but even after Lucy got here it continued to be difficult. Of course having a baby is difficult. Your world is turned upside down. Lucy came five weeks early. She was scheduled to be induced at 39 weeks because of my steroid induced diabetes, but I guess she was getting as impatient as I was for us to meet. My doctor warned me that because of her preemie status and because of my diabetes that her lungs would be very underdeveloped and that she would probably spend a while in the NICU. She is the strongest and toughest little girl I've ever met because she didn't spend one moment in the NICU. She did develop Jaundice and had to stay one extra night in the nursery to get her light treatment. After that she was free and clear to come home and start her life with us. On her 5th day home, however, she was sitting with my mother and she stopped breathing. She had a thick, frothy substance that was coming out of her mouth. I was terrified, but I remembered the bulb syringe that we'd brought home from the hospital. I immediately held her face down on my arm to let whatever it was that was coming up and blocking her airway to come out while I sucked as much of the stuff out as I could. I immediately called 911. I live in a very small town and the one ambulance that my town has was out on another call. They were going to have to send one from the next town over 40 minutes away. I stupidly waited around, while still sucking the stuff from Lucy's mouth for about 5 minutes. The only reason I waited at all was because she would get a small breath in every once in a while and quite frankly I didn’t know what the F@$k to do. After staying on the phone and waiting I finally said this is ridiculous I'm taking her myself. My husband, mother and I jumped in the car (without putting Lucy in her car seat) and raced to the hospital. I kept her face down the whole ride there. I wasn't going to dare sit her up and let that stuff build up in her mouth. When we got there she had stabilized, but because she was only 8 days old and 5 weeks premature the doctor in the E.R. wanted to admit her and watch her condition. They also wanted to run tests to found out why she stopped breathing. They drew blood, took x-rays, did a spinal tap and a few other tests that night. They were doing the heart tests the next morning. While the cardiologist was doing Lucy’s heart test she noticed an abnormality on the EKG. It was indicative of Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome. She needed to stay that night in the PICU to be monitored and then was transferred to a better children's hospital where they had a special unit for cardiac patients. They put her under anesthesia and ran a catheter behind her heart to make it race to determine the severity of her condition. Thankfully as of now, she doesn't need any medication or treatment. We have a follow up appointment on the 18th, so things could change. I've been worried about it because I feel her heart racing all the time when she is just sitting still with me and she sweats all the time while she isn't doing anything at all. I hope I'm just being paranoid and that she is perfectly fine and will outgrow it. I'm still recovering from my pregnancy. It really wrecked my body. I have had horrible pain all over my body from about two weeks post-partum. My insulin levels are still out of whack and my thyroid antibodies are high so my body has started attacking my thyroid again, which I can really feel. I need to get healthy again, but it is so hard with a newborn. Lucy is so smart and strong. She laughs and smiles all of the time. Every time she smiles I feel like I just won a million bucks. It literally makes me feel that good inside. The best smiles and laughs are the ones when she first sees me after I’ve been gone for a short while. Those are the absolute best! I taught her to stick her tongue out a few weeks ago and she just cracks up when I stick my tongue out at her and when she gets her tongue to cooperate to stick it back out at me. She loves her daddy and just smiles like crazy every time he comes home from work. She hears his voice and she lights up. She rolled over a few days ago! At 3 months old she rolled over! She has been holding her head up since she came out of me. That is no exaggeration either. Ask anyone. I think if I put her in a Bumbo she'd be able to sit in it already because she has so much neck strength. She loves to play on her activity mat and she can already army crawl around it and scoot herself around. This kid amazes me. I mean this stuff is advanced for a regular baby, but remember, she was 5 weeks premature. I just love her and think she is the coolest, smartest, most beautiful little girl in the world and I thank God for her every day. I may not be able to keep up with my blog like I like to, but I have a wonderful, wonderful excuse! This feels super rambley and all over the place, but it is 4:40 in the morning and I am exhausted, but really felt like blogging, so I hope this all makes sense. See ya later! :-D