Where to begin...

WARNING: EXTREMELY LONG POST..for me anyway

Well I guess the best place to begin is with the most exciting thing that has happened to us over these past few months... I am no longer pregnant and we have welcomed our sweet little girl unto our family...

Allie Elizabeth McGuire

June 10, 2010 1:09 am

7 lbs 8 oz 20.5 in long

The delivery story was actually a short one. And its funny how similar it was to Eli's. I went to the doctor earlier that week and they decided to set an induction date for early Thursday morning. We decided to go ahead and bring Eli to my parent's house the night before so we wouldn't have to wake him up so early. That whole day I was having contractions, not regular though. It was my back to was driving me crazy. With Eli I knew it was time when I had bring me to my knees contractions so this time I thought nothing of the back pain. After realizing that we might as well just go ahead and go to the hospital since Eli was taken care and I was NOT going to get any sleep at home. We got there and the nurse didn't think it would be anytime soon until the baby came...until she checked me. I was a 5 and since the doctor on call was in the next room delivering a baby they decided to keep me. The doctor came in, I was about a 7, and decided to break my water. OUCH!! The contractions started instantly and by this time were about a minute apart. Thankfully I was able to get an epidural just in time. The doctor came in again and it was time to push. About 3 pushes later she arrived!! From the time Troy and I walked in the door to when she was born was about 2.5 hours. I know some of you out there are cursing my name...sorry don't blame me blame her she was just ready to come.

The funny thing was she was exactly 10 days early just like Eli.

As we where in the hospital things started off pretty routine. She was actually doing really well. Eating alot better than Eli ever did. Very alert. Perfect. Thursday afternoon she started having these "episodes" where her oxygen levels would drop and would sometimes stop breathing. They decided to keep her in the nursery to monitor her and just bring her in our room to feed her. These continued Thursday night and Friday morning mainly occurring before she would eat. They thought it might be related to reflux but weren't quite sure yet. Friday she had one were they nurses had to stimulate her to get her breathing again. After this they decided to admit her into the NI CU for closer observation, which also meant that only Troy and I and our parents could go in to see her. Talking about this after the fact is a lot easier than what it was like during all this. To say this was hard is indeed an understatement. To see my perfect little girl having these problems and hearing the doctors say they have no idea what is causing it to happen...I can't put into words the emotions Troy and I both felt. I felt so helpless, frustrated, and torn. Helpless because there was nothing I could do to make this problem go away. Frustrated because we had no idea how long she was going to be in the hospital. And torn because now having two kids every time I was with Allie I felt like I was neglecting Eli ( which I knew he was more than well taken care of,,,thanks SO MUCH for everyone that watched him) and when I would go and see Eli I felt horrible for leaving Allie in this situation. Those first few days that she was in the NICU were indeed some of the hardest moments of my life. But how lucky we are to have the gospel, the priesthood, and family. All the prayers we received were and are definitely felt. After Troy and I both received a blessing the sadness and despair were still there but there also was hope and comfort. Every time we would here the phone ring telling us it was time to feed her we both would get so giddy and once we walked into her room we knew without a doubt everything was going to work out. We still didn't know how long that would take but we knew it was going to be ok.

The doctors said they wanted her to go about 3 days without having an episode before we could take her home. During this time they performed test after test. each test came back negative which was a blessing but they still didn't know what was causing this. We then decided if she had one more episode we were going to transfer her to the children's hospital in the area. Each time we went into see her the nurse told us that she didn't have any episodes. This was amazing news but we didn't want to get our hopes up too much. Thursday came, her 1 week birthday, after the doctor examined her and seeing how much progress she was making decided if she did well through the night we could go home with her on a monitor tomorrow!! Once again words can't express the way we felt only this time in a positive way.

Finally after a long and trying 8 days we finally were able to take our little girl home. They diagnosed her with sleep apnea and mild reflux. She probably will be on a monitor for at least two months. but other than that she is perfect in every way and so excited to now be a family of four.

Last pregnancy pic before heading to the hospital


Being held by her mamma and daddy for the first time


Pics from where we spent the most of our time, the NICU. Since I was breastfeeding her and they weren't too busy we got to stay in a room there as a courtesy. She was the only full-term baby in there and looked so big compared to the premies.

On our way home!!!

Eli LOVES Allie. Maybe a little too much. He always wants to give her hugs and kisses. Any advice on how to teach an almost 2 year how to be gentle and soft???

Of course I have a ton more pictures and video so hopefully I will be a lot better with posting now but as always no promises.