Newborn Baby Essentials
June 13, 2019|Posted in: Happy, Healthy, Smart Kids!, Uncategorized
Newborn Baby Essentials!
These are My Beautiful New Granddaughters, G7 and G8 (my little Es)!
They are so loved and cherished!! This is a little tale of how they came to be.
Infertility, Frustration, Hope and Patience
My oldest daughter Hillori struggled with infertility and had a hard time getting pregnant. She and her husband David worked so very hard to get them here, visiting specialists, having tests, and experiencing countless, worries, heartaches and tears. I had many conversations with my daughter about the heartache and hopelessness she felt and about how she wondered if she’d ever be able to conceive a baby. It broke my heart too, and there was nothing I could do to ease my own baby’s pain. My encouragement was all I could offer -“believe and have faith, – don’t let yourself become too stressed,- I know in my heart that it will happen one day.”
Finally after many long months of waiting and hoping, they showed up at my house wearing these shirts! Oblivious, I talked to them for several minutes without noticing, yet all the while wondering why they were acting so strangely. Finally they pointed to my daughter’s shirt so that I HAD to read it! – OH WHAT JOY!
A Troublesome Pregnancy
But it was short lived and the joy quickly turned to concern when she had her first ultrasound. Finally, she was pregnant with the little one she had so desperately hoped for, but the notes from the ultrasound technician were worrisome. They mentioned a “second non-viable sac or cyst.” Another ultrasound was scheduled for a week later and we would have to wait until her next appointment to to get the doctor’s interpretation of exactly what those notes meant for our little one. Did those words implicate complications? Would the pregnancy be at risk? We waited nervously until her appointment to finally get our questions answered, desperately hoping it would be good news.
After that second ultrasound Hillori told me the Doctor said everything was alright but strangely she didn’t have much more information than that. I found out why a couple of days later when my daughter and son-in-law joined me at a restaurant one October Sunday morning for my weekly breakfast with my sisters and their husbands. They were excited to pass out pregnancy announcements to her aunts and their husbands. They gave one to me too, of course, and this is what we saw when we opened the envelopes! It wasn’t a second nonviable sac or cyst after all, it was a SECOND BABY! – OH WHAT JOY!
Scary News
Again the joy was short lived. At the next ultrasound the happy parents were told that their precious babies shared a placenta which could cause complications. Not long after that, on a Friday afternoon at the end of my work day, came a call from a very troubled and worried Hillori. Sitting at my desk, I listened while she told me that the doctors said one baby wasn’t growing as fast as the other. It could be at risk and the situation could put the other baby at risk too. There was a specialist in California. They would fly out on Sunday. The specialist would see them on Monday. There was a surgery that could do that might help. This new fear, worry and stress on top of all the heartache and hopelessness she’d endured while trying to conceive was overwhelming.
Well, the specialist determined that the second baby’s situation wasn’t quite as dire as the doctors at home thought it might be. They didn’t meet the criteria for the surgery at that time. The baby’s condition may improve or stay the same or it may deteriorate. They sent her back home to wait and watch. She went to doctors appointments several times a week. They would measure and weigh the babies and the fluid in their amniotic sacs. Sometimes the news was good, sometimes the news was worrisome. They warned Hillori and David that they would have to take the babies early because the risk of complications would increase near the end of the pregnancy.
Baby Girls!
It would be awhile before the feelings of pure joy returned. All the family tried to enjoy the pregnancy and dream big dreams for the future of these little ones. Although we tried to ignore it, there was always a little dark cloud of worry hanging around. Meanwhile the hopeful and cautiously excited parents had maternity photos taken, decorated the nursery, made a haul of newborn baby essentials at a couple of baby showers and did a gender revel photo shoot. – BABY GIRLS!
Here They Come!
Late into the month of March, about seven weeks before the twins’ due date the doctor decided that G8’s growth rate wasn’t keeping up with her sister’s. They would give Hillori shots to help the babies’ lungs develop and schedule them for delivery in the next few days. While we were all very worried about the twins being born seven weeks prematurely, the doctors assured us that at that point the risks in-utero outweighed the risks of premature birth.
Both babies were breech so they delivered them by cecerian section on March 31st. G7 weighed 4 lbs 6 oz and little bitty G8 was only 3 lbs 4 oz. – OH WHAT JOY!
Doctors assured the happy parents that the girls were healthy premature babies. G8 would have dsat spells and required oxygen to help her immature lungs get the oxygen her little body needed, but other than that, the babies had relatively few and only minor complications.
Home at Last
After spending a couple of weeks in the NICU mom and dad went to spend the night at the hospital and bring the babies home the next morning. One more little hurdle – G7, the bigger twin, failed her carseat test. She had a dsat spell when they put her in the carseat to see how she would do on the ride home. One more night in the hospital! Sigh!!
The next day though, they got to bring the babies home – BOTH of them on oxygen and with monitors!
OH WHAT FUN! We have loved every minute of having these babies home with their mommy and daddy! G7 and G8 have met aunts and uncles and cousins and given sweet snuggles and delighted all the family with their precious sweetness!
Oh What Joy!
They are growing and thriving now – around 7 and 8 pounds! When you talk to them, they listen and they’re quiet and content when you sing them a lullaby. The babies sleep in a twin bassinet next to their parents’ bed. Hillori says, “My bassinet is ‘Halo Bassinest’ and I love it!” Good thing they’re close by, because G7 likes to keep her mommy up at night and mommy uses the Baby Rest Sound Machine to help sooth baby back to sleep. Both of the girls are off of the oxygen now and the medical supply company came to pick up G7’s monitor. G8 still has her monitor but it is only a matter of time until the insurance company says it’s time to send it back as well. A product that has eased mommy’s and daddy’s minds (and Gramma’s!) is the Owlet Smart Sock that monitors the baby’s heart rate and oxygen levels.
So Blessed
We are so blessed to live in a time when there are so many medical advances, modern conveniences, gadgets and devices that helped get these babies here safely and that make their care easier and keep them comfortable and safe! Hillori collaborated with me on this post. I asked her to send me info on the products she has used (and loved) in the care of her little darlings. We wanted to share them here with other new moms who are in need of the very best in newborn baby essentials. All you new mommies (and Grandmas), we hope you’ll find things here that you will love and that will make life with your little ones just a tiny bit sweeter!
GRAMMA IS IN LOVE!
Disclaimer: I received compensation for writing this post. However, the opinions expressed here are my honest and true personal opinions.
Hatch Baby Rest Sound Machine, Night Light and Time-to-Rise with Coverlets (Into The Woods)
eSmart Sock + Cam – Heart Rate, Oxygen, Video & Audio – The Comple alfter te Baby Monitor Solution
Graco Element Pack ‘N Play Playard – Harper
Graco Modes Duo Double Stroller, Balancing Act
HALO Bassinest Twin Sleeper Double Bassinet – Premiere Series, Sand Circle
Power Adapt Portable Swing – Braden
Fisher-Price Deluxe Kick ‘n Play Piano Gym
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Christie Hawkes
July 2, 2019
Congratulations Lori on your beautiful new granddaughters! Thanks for sharing their journey with #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty.
grammysgrid@gmail.com
July 4, 2019
Thanks for linking up and co-hosting at the #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty 39! If you haven’t already, I’d like to invite you to linkup this post and more at the UNLIMITED Monthly Link Party (open for 25 days) and the Wednesday AIM Link Party.