Vanna's Arrival

We had our baby girl! She was born April 17, 2008 - exactly one month early. Weighing in at 5 lbs. 8 oz. and 19 in. long, she was good sized for being 4 1/2 weeks early. After much deliberation, we finally decided to name her Vanna Marie Bazil. It seemed to fit her better than the list of other names we took to the hospital.

For wanting to show her pretty little face so early on in my pregnancy, Vanna sure took her sweet time coming when it was time. We went to the hospital on Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. and she was born the following morning on Thursday at 11:13 a.m. We could tell right away she was tiny. We just loved holding our little sweet bundle.

Vanna appeared to be healthy and strong when she was first born and was therefore treated as a "well-baby". So we had our fun and took lots of pictures in our room with her.

But that night she had a few dusky spells where she would have trouble breathing and turn purple. Because of this and the fact that she didn't have an appetite and wasn't eating, she was admitted to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). To leave the NICU she had to prove to the nurses and to her doctor that she could eat what she needed to sustain her for 24 hours. So while Vanna was at the hospital I was fortunate enough to have good family and friends watch Cash so that I could go there every three hours to try to nurse her.

While she was in the NICU we were able to give Vanna her very first bath. She actually really enjoyed it. The nurses couldn't believe I had already put her in the water because they hadn't heard any crying.

During this time we all got sick - I'm sure from the stress and lack of sleep etc. (we were buying a house and getting ready to move at the same time). So we had to wear these lovely masks to prevent Vanna from getting sick.

Vanna finally was able to come home 11 days after she was born - on Monday, April 28th. We were thrilled - now our family could be together!!!