Welcome Mary Elora!

12 days ago, Mike and I became parents for the fifth and final time.  Mary Elora Hatton was born at 8:09 AM CST on Feb 16, 2016.  Here she is.  For those wondering about her name, we got Elora from the movie Willow, a decoy name that I quickly fell in love with.  Mary is due to the 15 decades of the rosary Mike said before she came out of the OR.

After she came out of the OR, and was wisked away to the NICU, I remained for another 3 hours.  I honestly don't remember much of that day but we'll get to me later.

Wednesday evening, mother and daughter finally meet.  I was so happy to see her looking so chubby and pink.

Now some cute pictures from the NICU.

God bless all the nurses in the NICU who feed, cared for, and loved my little girl when I couldn't.  And bless Michael for getting up early everyday to spend some time with her before work, at lunchtime, and whatever time could be spared in the evenings.

Big Yawn!

Thursday, the other kids finally could come and meet their newest sister.  Everyone was instantly in love.

One of the Sisters of Third Order of Saint Francis came to visit me several times while I was in the hospital.  I think this was her first time meeting Mary.

Not having to go to school, Lia got the be the first to hold Mary while sitting in Grandma's lap.  We spent most of that day (Tuesday Feb 23) in the NICU waiting to learn when she could go home.  I had be discharged the day before.

Because she came so early (35 weeks 5 days), Mary had some normal premie concerns.  She came home with a machine that keeps track of her heartbeat and breathing.  The silly thing goes off all the time, not because Mary's having problem but because the leads have fallen off.

Now I'm going to honestly tell you what has happened in this pregnancy.  If you don't want to know, stop reading now.  I knew when I figured out I was pregnant for the fifth time, this was not going to be easy.  After four c-sections, the risk for complications goes way up.  And I managed to hit almost all of those risk.  I had a condidtion called placenta accreta (the placenta grows into the c-section scar and uterus) and placenta percerta (the placenta goes beyond the uterus and invades the bladder/other things).  Nobody was really sure if I truly had either until the operation took place but the doctors were pretty sure.  I ended up having a cesarean-hysterectomy and bladder surgery to fix what the placenta had done to it.  Dr. Lococo, an OB and oncological surgeon, did the surgery and from what I understand, he did an excellent job.

When I woke up, I was in the ICU with Mike showing me a picture of Mary.  I had a tube down my throat and another up my nose.  I wasn't too excited about that, let me tell you.  Mike had trouble understanding my terrible sign language so we found some paper and I attempted to write down what I wanted to say.  I looked at this after we came home and I'm amazed he was able to understand that either.  I said I didn't want the kids to see me like that and asked how the baby (no name at this point) was doing.  I didn't get to meet her until Wednesday evening, but the nurses were nice enough to bring her to me in the ICU.

Thursday, early afternoon, there was a room on the maternity ward for me, antepartum.  I wasn't there long before I was taken down the NICU to hang out with Mary for awhile.  When I came back, they had found me a bed in the postpartum wing, where I stay for the duration of my hospital stay.

Every time a nurse came into my room, they told me how good I was looking, especially if they had seen me earlier.  I felt like everyone of them was truly concerned for me and were praying for my family.  I can't tell you how wonderful this made me feel.  I finally got up the courage to ask what happened in the surgery.  I was given 14 units of blood and 5 units of plasma.  The average human holds about 10 units of blood and I don't know how much plasma.  No wonder everyone had a comment!

I was discharged 6 days after Mary's birth with a vertical incision that goes above my belly button with staples in it and a catheter and Foley bag on my right leg, both of which are supposed to be removed tomorrow.  Mary finally got to come home after 8 days in the NICU with the monitor I mentioned before.  I have taken more pain meds this time than all the other kids combine but all in all I'm doing well.  Mary seems to be adjusting to world outside the hospital and has got a better handle on the nursing thing than when we first got home.

We all feel very blessed to be home healthy and safe and together.  We still haven't found the new normal (and I think it will be awhile before that happens) but it seems to be coming closer all the time. Thank you to all the doctors, nurses and staff at OSF who took such wonderful care of us.  And thank you to all of you who have been praying for us.