Transporting to Primary Children's Hospital

Around 9:00 am the Life Flight team brought Gracelyn over to see us before taking her to Primary's. They put her in a little incubator on top of a regular gurney. The two men that took her down were wonderful. They explained everything to us and then gave us the chance to touch her. They also let us follow her over to Primary's. They said she was doing great.

6 pounds 11 ounces and 19.5 inches long

At 4:10 this morning our little Gracelyn decided to come to our family. She is BEAUTIFUL! She was6 pounds 11 ounces and 19.5 inches long. She has a lot of dark brown hair. We had an amazing delivery.

Everything went as planned, we had one little bump in the road where the contractions were too strong

and close together and the had to administer some drugs to slow them down because her heart rate was

dropping. They gave it two hours and everything was ready to go. I feel very blessed. I was told that

many women would wish they could have such an easy delivery. Jeff was right there as she came out

and was able to cut the umbilical cord. They took her from us very quickly and it took about and hour

and a half to get her stable, but she is doing GREAT! She has several IV lines, some going through her

umbilical cord and some in her arms. She has been breathing room air since she was born. She is stable

enough that she didn't need to be intubated nor is she using oxygen. I am feeling GREAT and was able to

go and see her in the NICU 2 hours after she was born. Right now we are waiting for them to get clearance

to take her over to Primary's. They told us we would be able to walk over with her when she goes. We

appreciate all the love and prayers and ask that the prayers continue on her behalf as they study her heart

to see what needs to be done. We love you all!

Gracelyn is on her way...

We finally made it. We have been down at the University Hospital since 3:00. They admitted us pretty quick after we got here. I made it to the "magical number" of being dilated to a four which meant we were here to stay. I have been so impressed with the staff here. They all have been wonderful. The doctor that I wanted to deliver happens to be the doctor that is working until morning. My dad and husband just gave me a beautiful priesthood blessing. I feel so comforted all will be fine. The nurses just left and gave us only an hour or two until we get to meet her. We hope to post pictures soon.

Lots of contractions and Saturday night scare...

As I mentioned in the previous post, things started to progress after being checked last Wednesday. Thursday was ok, but Friday was really bad. I was having bad contractions and often. I got up early and got ready to head down to the hospital. I was a little hesitant since I really needed to spend the day getting ready for our church Christmas party, which I was over and had 300 coming to Saturday morning. Finally, they slowed down enough that I thought I was ok. I made it through the day and even the night. In fact, I had the best night sleep in a long time. I am used to getting up 4 or 5 times and instead didn't wake up at all. I figured I was exhausted from running around all day. I got up and headed to the church and began to realize that I didn't have any contractions during the night nor had she moved any to keep me awake. She continued that way for hours. During the party I tried to drink orange juice and then sit for a bit to see if I couldn't get her to move. No luck. I head home a few hours later and tried to slow down and see if she wouldn't begin moving. We took a couple hour nap and when we woke up still nothing, no movement, no contractions. I spent the next hour eating junk and pushing her around and finally began to panic. Jeff and I took Mr. C to my parents and headed to the hospital just to be safe. Before we got out of the car Jeff said a prayer that she would continue to be OK and grow strong if it be Heavenly Father's will. Before he ended the prayer I had a little foot kick me in my side. I felt some what relieved. When we got into labor and delivery I was changing and Jeff watched my original mid-wife, Machel, who helped deliver Mr. C and saw me up until they discovered the heart problem, walk into another room. As I was getting situated Jeff told me she was there. I couldn't have been happier! She is the only person I would have wanted there to help figure things out. I asked him to find her. While he was out of the room looking for her the nurse began to put the monitors on my belly. She put it on searching for a heart beat. She searched and searched and searched. The baby has been in the same position for weeks. Since I have the weekly non-stress test done I showed her where she had been and still nothing. The nurse got an awful look on her face and I began to cry. About 30 seconds into searching she looked down...IT WASN'T PLUGGED IN! Seriously...did that really happen? Why would you even unplug those things? I felt so bad for her that I began to laugh so that she would feel better. She found a good strong heart beat, she began moving like crazy and the contractions were back. Machel came in and decided to check me. She looked at me and smiled and said that I was dilated to a 3, effaced to 85% and should have a baby real soon. They sent me home and told us to head to Salt Lake once the contractions became consistent. It is Sunday evening and we are still at home waiting. According to Mr. C, who has been right about everything else, told us 3 days ago that it will be in 4 days. We'll see! My mom helped me put things into perspective when I got to her house and she hugged me and said that we will deal with her sick heart, just as long as we still have her. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father that all is okay.

6 Pounds 2 Ounces...

We had our weekly visit to the doctor on Wednesday. As with every other visit things changed some. We started with our non-stress test...perfect. Good contractions, good heart rate. Then we had our prenatal checkup. I was hoping I would be told I was dilated to a 5 and we needed to get down to the hospital, no such luck. In fact, not much happening on that side (well at least there wasn't until I was checked). Then we had an ultrasound on Gracelyn. She has grown to be 6 pounds 2 ounces. I couldn't be happier. Back in August I was nervous we would make it anywhere close to being that big. She only falls in the 22% for her size, but the doctor told me I just have small babies. Fine by me. Next to her heart, all of her other organs looked great. Everything measured consistent, only at 36 weeks and a couple days, but consistent. She then listened to her heart. It sounded perfect! She told us that you would never know that this baby was sick. Then she started looking at her heart. We haven't seen her heart in several weeks, so I wasn't sure what we were going to see since it changed every other time. I don't know if my eyes were poking out of my head, or if my jaw was on the ground, but as the sonographer stared at her heart she turned to me and said, "her pulmonary artery didn't look like that last time, did it?" No it didn't. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. I'm not a doctor, but I have studied enough and stared at her echos enough to know that her PA was large and full of blood (good thing). It had grown some last time we looked at her and this time it was even bigger. I was so happy! We were also able to see her pulmonary valve which was originally said to be missing, but now that we could see her artery was in good condition, it made it evident that the valve was what wasn't working at all. Leaving the right ventricle still without any blood. I was very grateful for her improvement, but as the day went on I began realizing that we had probably just ruled out the easiest procedure that we had as an option. It was a bittersweet day. My next appointment is Wednesday. I will update then, if not before with pictures of a new baby in our arms. Wishful thinking!

December 1, 2009: Perinatologist visit

I went to the doctor this week for my weekly non-stress test to check on the baby. Like the past few weeks she is doing great. Her heart was beating perfect and she wasn't stressing at all. I was having contractions while I was there, also great! We originally set a date of December 16 to deliver her, but have had a change of plans. I don't want to be induced, nor does my doctor want to induce me. So, while my wonderful doctor kept the December 16 date to keep me happy (just in case I have some major change of heart) we also scheduled a date of December 29 for a planned C-section. I anticipate that I will go into labor on my own long before then, but for any reason I don't we will deliver her by way of c-section on the 29th. I am feeling really happy with this plan! The doctor suspects that I will go into labor any time and that all will be well. Our next visit is on Wednesday the 9th, it is actually 3 appointments in one, my prenatal, non-stress test and Gracelyn's ultrasound. We are excited to see how she is doing, if there have been any changes to her heart and see just how big she has gotten. This should be our last chance to look at her little heart before we get to meet her. I will update on Wednesday!

4 pounds 9 ounces and growing...

I went in November 11 for our monthly appointment to our perinatologist. Our little Gracelyn has grown to be 4 pounds 9 ounces. YEAH! I am now 33 weeks along and feel confident that she will be okay should she come anytime. At our last visit to the cardiologist, I asked how we would be in regards to her heart if she were to come at this point. She told me after 32-34 weeks things should be okay. That was great news, however, let's keep her cooking for a little while longer. Right now I am scheduled for c-section on December 17 at 9:00am. The doctor is looking to change that date to the 16th, however, my plans (ha ha, no such thing) are to go into labor on my own before that date and avoid the c-section. While I was there they performed a non-stress test on her, which will now be done on a weekly bases. They found her heart was beating great and I was having contractions while there. Only about four weeks until we can kiss those big lips and chubby cheeks.