Hadassah Marie is Here!

O. My. Goodness. What a day! Kate and I woke up expectant parents...but we didnt expect the little one would come today!

We woke up at Uncle Tim's and had a good breakfast. Kate's parents were here and we enjoyed an evening with them last night. Kate was feeling some pains in her hips and lower belly. I just figured it was due to yesterdays movements and coming back to New Jersey. But the pains kept coming...and started to have a bit of a pattern. They just werent normal contractions. But we gave CHOP a call anyways and they told us to come in and get checked out.

We came in and Kate was definitely in more pain. They put the contraction machine on her but at first it didnt register any contractions. Kate would have one though and the baby's heart rate would drop from 150 to 80 all of a sudden...so we knew it was something. Dr. Kambin came in and said that what we were having sounded like contractions but just not the normal kind. She measure and Kate was 1cm dilated. She told us that she was pretty sure that Kate was in the early stages of labor which wasn't good and she would check again in an hour. It's not good for a number of reasons. 1. Kate has fetal surgery and contractions on her healing body was not a good thing at all. 2. Frogger is only 27 weeks and has had some major issues in the past 2 weeks. She came back in a bit later and measured again...2cm. It was go time. They got Kate ready and told me to stand by. They sent in the baby doctor and she asked us the hard questions about saving the baby if things didnt work out. She seemed very convinced that the baby wouldnt be able to breathe on her own. We told them our wishes. They gave me the gown and hot and told me they would come and get me. They took Kate out and I waited for what seemed to be an eternity. Eventually they took me in and had me sit by Kate and hold her hand. We were both very scared. Haddie wasn't supposed to be coming yet. Not for another 5 weeks. But she was coming whether we wanted her to or not. So we just prayed.
After about 15 minutes they said "get ready dad, okay...now". I stood up and saw this very little girl being taken out of the delivery room. Beautiful...little slimy...but beautiful.

We didnt know how she was doing. They came and told us she was trying to breathe on her own! And then they came back and said she was breathing on her own! God is good! Then they came and got me and took me back. She was so tiny. Yet so wonderful. I took this video. She has a tube in her nose just to help her out some and an eye covering to keep the light out of her eyes which she is too young to open yet. I said her name...and she reached up to grab my finger. My heart stopped....check it out.

This is a pic of how tiny she is.

She was born at 4:11pm and weighed 2lbs 7oz. They took her to a room but not before Kate got to look up at her little hand.

She is currently doing good. And so is Kate. She has a long road to go. But she's here. She's alive. She's breathing. And that's more than anyone expected. God is so amazing. Please keep asking Him to help her grow, stay stable, and that Kate can recover. Thanks!