Ivy is Here!

Ivy Mae was born at 12:57am on June 18. 7 pounds, 1.3 ounces; 21". We had a bit of a rough start, Ivy and me. The short version is that I hemorrhaged and had a retained placenta which needed to be surgically removed; and poor Ivy had a birth defect called an esophageal fistula, where her upper esophagus wasn't attached to the lower but the lower esophagus was attached by a fistula to the trachea. So she was aspirating her food and swallowing her air, which was causing breathing problems. She had surgery on the 19th to repair it, and so far it looks to be successful, though it will be around the 26th before we find out if it worked well and she's not leaking into her abdominal cavity. Cory was with her at the children's hospital where she was transferred, but I had to stay behind until yesterday evening because I needed five units of blood. I'm so glad to be here now with her - it was so hard to be at the hospital alone, surrounded by women and their babies. My milk is coming in and now it's just a waiting game to see how she does. She's a feisty one, the nurses say, so I think she's going to be all right. Photos soon!