Sweet Lily

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It's hard to believe that our little family has expanded to an even family of 4. Now that we're home from the hospital and semi-adjusted back to life with a newborn, I wanted to write a quick post about our sweet baby girl.

We started off Lily's birthday with a Washington snow/ice storm. Christian was born during a blizzard, so it was only fitting that his baby sister would enter this world during some sort of weather "event". Both of my parents came into town to give us a hand, and we were so fortunate to have their help. Christian adores them, and it made leaving him for 4 nights a bit easier.

Our surgery was scheduled for 9:30am, but due to some staff delays from the weather, and being bumped due to an emergency C-Section (I bumped someone with Christian's emergency C-Section, so I guess it was my turn!), I didn't even head into the OR until 11am. I knew the delivery was going to be ok when I was wheeled in and Justin Timberlake was playing on the radio. By 11:44am, we met Liliana for the first time. I was shocked not only by how much hair she had, but also by how much she weighed. At 9 pounds, 1 oz, I still can't believe that I had yet another large baby!

We settled into the hospital for 3 nights in all, leaving a day early mostly because I missed Christian...and I honestly felt I could get more rest at home. The days in the hospital were a blur, yet full of emotion. We requested to have Lily's hearing screen done as soon as possible (it's usually done just before discharge at our hospital), and on the second day we learned that she passed in both ears. When the audiology tech wheeled her back into our room in her little bassinet, she didn't even have to tell us, as I saw the green pass sheet on her clipboard. After pouring over the ABR and OAE results, I felt cautiously optimistic about her hearing. We still immediately called our CI center and scheduled an ABR with our audiologist there for Lily, which will be performed in March. We also were able to do a blood draw during delivery that we sent to the genetics lab where a screen for Connexin 26 will be done. Both Chuck and I noticed her startle to loud noises, something that we never saw with Christian. We just still want to have all of our bases covered, and we're fortunate to already have our team in place.

Christian came up to the hospital the day after Liliana was born, and was fascinated by her. He likes to mimic her little tounge movements, and loves to say "Baby Sister Lily". Now that we're home with her, he's having a bit of a hard time adjusting to his Daddy holding someone other than him. He's been a bit "off", but all in all, he's been a wonderful big brother, and a fantastic helper to his Mommy.

So, here I am, back to the schedule of a nursing Mom, living my life in 4 hour chunks. I'm recovering really well from my C-Section, thanks to my husband and Mom's help. It's just so nice to finally have Lily here in our home.