June 30, 2010

Mia Angelina arrived two days ago - 4 days past her due date, at about 1:21 pm. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 19 and 1/4 inches long. As anticipated, she was born with a complete bilateral cleft lip and palate, but couldn't be more precious! Her much anticipated debut finally arrived and mommy and daddy are so thrilled to have her be part of our little family!

Brand new baby Mia. Mom and dad barely got to see her before she was rushed off to be checked out thoroughly to make sure everything was okay. It kind of freaked Zeus and I out, and we would have LOVED to see her longer, but we definitely wanted to make sure she was okay first!

The handsome papa, getting ready to meet his baby girl for the first time.

Brave mama, prepped and ready for c-section. Zeus and I went in on Monday, June 29th to be induced and things were moving along, but then didn't progress with dilation as fast as they'd like, especially after my water broke, so we ended up going c-section. I ended up having to have 2 epidurals prior to that because something happened and the first one stopped working or wore off. They were worried that Mia might be too big to deliver or that my internal bone structure might be too small to deliver her that way, so we ended up having a c-section. Bummer to experience both labor AND a c-section, but she is SO worth it. For the c-section, I didn't even have my arms strapped down, which I thought was something they always did - guess not! Was SO glad to have Zeus there with me!

Sharing a special moment with our new baby. Mama and papa love each other, sweet girl, and we sure do love you too!!! You are SO very precious to us already!

A quick smile for the camera during snuggle time.

Tired, and soon to be feeling very sore mama along with very proud, very brave and supportive papa.

Bright-eyed Mia. Such a skinny little girl, all long and slender. She's got the cutest head of hair, and the softest, smoothest skin mommy has ever felt. Papa is sure you have dark blue eyes, but we'll see if they stay or change to brown like mom and dad's. :)

Mia's hands look so tiny in papa's big strong fingers!

Mommy cried when she FINALLY got to hold and snuggle Mia the next day! It was so hard to wait for recovery to visit you in the NICU. What a silky, soft, beautiful little girl she is, and so very precious!

Mommy trying to figure out the tricky bottle for Mia. I think Mia's going to have an easier time at it and is a faster learner than mommy is. Maybe daddy will pick it up a little easier than mommy since he got to watch people feeding her that first night while mom was recovering. Whenever I couldn't find Zeus, I knew he'd be in the nursery with our daughter, talking to her, taking pictures of her and/or holding her. Such a good daddy he is already and you are the joy in his heart Mia!

Wires hooked up to Mia for her PCG (pneumocardiogram) today until 4pm tomorrow in the NICU. They are trying to figure out for sure why her oxygen levels sometimes fall too low. They are thinking that when she's really deep asleep, her tongue relaxes and falls back, cutting off her airways. Because of this, she may have to be put down on her tummy instead of her back is all that we know right now. She's got little sockies on her hands because she keeps scratching her little face and we haven't had time to trim her fingernails yet.

Proud papa and his baby girl. I hadn't realized it until he mentioned it tonight, but he was always WITH Mia while I was recovering and then took pictures of US when I could finally see and hold her, but there was no one to take pictures of HIM and Mia so I snapped a quick one before we had to leave the NICU. Can you just tell she's already got him wrapped around her little finger? :)

How could you not love this precious little face? Mia, it killed mommy and daddy to walk away from you in the NICU while you got your PCG test done tonight and without holding you or kissing you. We will miss you like crazy and even though we can't hold or snuggle you for 24 hours while the test is going on, never doubt that we are peeking in on you constantly and loving you like crazy while we wait through some of the longest hours of our lives until we can snuggle you again. We love you baby girl!