The Happy Harvill Household is Complete!

Apologies for the delay in updating. Needless to say, juggling two children and visiting family members has taken up more time (and energy) than I anticipated!

Sloane Laura Harvill made her appearance on February 8, 2010 at 1:40pm. Our "little" girl weighed in at 8lbs and 7oz and was 20 inches long.

Joel and I went in to this labor and delivery experience anticipating all the things that could possibly go wrong on my end. The c-section would come with complications for me, I would be in more pain the second time around, I would have a reaction to the anesthesia. In all of our discussions, we had never entertained the idea that something would go wrong with our baby. Let me back up and give you the birth story:

We got to the hospital around 11am on February 8 and got set up in the very same room where we waited for the c-section with Brice. The nurses took some blood, hooked me up to several bags of IV fluids and put monitors on my belly to monitor little H2. We were quickly able to see that I was having contractions about every 5 minutes. I knew that I was having contractions, but in the nervous excitement of the morning activity, I wasn't timing or paying attention. By 1pm, Dr. Pendyala came in and told us that we were ready to go. Joel once again donned his fancy outfit (still form fitting and see through) and I walked down the hall to the operating room. Joel waited outside as the anesthesiologist put in the spinal block and within 10 minutes the doctors were in and we got started. I will say that this time around I was more relaxed and chatty. We even started a pool amongst the doctors and nurses as to how big we thought H2 was going to be. The average size was about 8lbs even.

At 1:40pm, Dr. Pendyala told Joel to get ready. All I could hear was the doctors and nurses exclaiming how long her legs were and how big her feet were. I couldn't believe it when they brought her around the curtain. Sloane was so big and beautiful... my heart melted all over again. The nurses took her to clean her off and Joel went to take some pictures and check in on our lovely little girl. This is where the unexpected became reality.

Her first cry sounded more like a gurgle. The doctors let me know that she was a "juicy" baby in that, because she had not entered the birth canal, she has a lot of amniotic fluid in her lungs that had not been squeezed out. They suctioned her nose and her throat several times, but the finally had to administer oxygen to get her pinked up. After several minutes, they took the oxygen away, but Sloane turned blue a second and third time. The nurse finally made a decision to take her to the NICU so Joel went along as they brought her down the hall. I was keenly aware that something wasn't right... the experience differed greatly from Brice's birth where they brought him over to snuggle with me and Joel while they finished the section. I knew that Joel would go and get the information so I was awaiting his return.

Dr. Pendyala closed me up and I was transferred to the recovery room to wait and be monitored. Joel came in and gave me the update. Sloane was having problems breathing on her own. They put her in an incubator and she was on 80% oxygen. The goal was to get her down to room oxygen levels at 21%. I told him to go back to the NICU and stay with her so he did. Despite the chaos, Joel remained calm and matter of fact, something that helped me refrain from completely freaking out.

The hour seemed to drag on but finally I was sent to my room to wait. The doctors were still working on her and they instructed me to wait to go and see her until that evening. Throughout the day her situation improved and by 7pm, Joel went home to put Brice to bed, eat something and wait. At 10pm he came back and the nurses got me in a wheelchair so that I could go down to the NICU to see my little girl. It was so hard seeing her hooked up to the IVs and oxygen but she seemed to be strong and healthy and by that point, she was already down to 30% oxygen. I wanted to hold her and snuggle her, but she had to stay in the incubator.

Needless to say, I hardly slept that night. I was told that the doctors did their rounds at 7:30am and that someone would be in to give me an update on her progress. Joel had gone home and suffered through a rough night with Brice as well, so he slept in a bit while I waited. 7:30 came and went. 8:30 passed. Finally at 9:00 I wandered out to the nurses station to ask for the NICU phone number. I called down and Josette, the wonderful nurse that attended to Sloane during her stay, told me that she was off the oxygen and was eating bottles on her own. She told me that I could come down to feed her. While I was still in substantial pain from the surgery, I walked down the hall on my own. It was so wonderful to see her off the oxygen and IV and ready to eat. The first couple of feedings were difficult. Sloane was still having problems breathing and eating simultaneously so it would take her about thirty minutes to eat an ounce of formula.

While I was feeding her, the doctor on duty came to talk to me. She reported that while Sloane was doing well off the oxygen, there was concern over a skin tab on her eyelid and two bald spots on the top of her head. The doctor wanted to send info to the geneticists at Yale University to determine if there was reason for concern as both "rarities" were located on the head and there was the thought that it might present some sort of neurological defect. Of course, I immediately panicked. I called Joel and questioned why nobody had provided us with this information previously. We were then set to wait again. Our pediatrician came to check on Sloane in the interim. He calmed our nerves slightly but suggested that while the team at Yale might not come up with anything, he had doctors for us to call on our own.

By the end of the day, the doctor on duty let us know that the team at Yale came back with nothing. While there were myriad syndromes that presented these rarities, Sloane was not presenting other symptoms. By evening, Joel and I had resigned ourselves to the fact that Sloane just had a skin tab and some bald patches and in the grand scheme, she was perfect and we loved her and she was strong and beautiful and most importantly, she was ours.

I managed to convince the doctors to release her to the well baby nursery by Wednesday and by that afternoon, Joel was able to bring Brice to the hospital to meet his baby sister for the first time. The nurses gave him a "big brother" pin and teddy bear, which made him smile. Brice took one look at Sloane, lowered his head to hers and gave her a sweet kiss. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. My children together. Our family together. Our household complete.

Thursday morning we were all given a clean bill of health and were released from the hospital. Its been a wonderful, difficult, eye-opening first couple of days at home. Joel has remained a rock, juggling daddy, nurse and in-law duties. I am so proud of him and I find myself falling more and more in love with him every day. Brice is already a sensitive and caring big brother. He is interested and loving and I am in awe of how grown up he is. The Happy Harvills have truly become happier.