Hi
Friends and Family! On April 18th we welcomed our second
daughter, Cora Grace Shipley. At only 28 weeks she changed
our world fast and furious, ready or not, she was here. We are finally
getting our act together to share more details and pictures of our new family
of four! Here are some photos of Cora from her first month and we will
continue to update and add to this as she grows...we can't wait to bring her
home!
First a quick and
HUGE thank you! The love, support, prayers, words of encouragement,
visits, cards, emails, messages, meals, care packages, flowers and all the little
things have been absolutely overwhelming and humbling. We are truly touched and
beyond grateful. Words cannot express our gratitude and we are incredibly
blessed for the people we have in our lives. All the little things have helped
keep us going through each day and we simply can't thank you enough.
Here's is Cora's journey
so far...and while things started off a little scary and unknown, she has made
such great progress and it's amazing to see Cora's strength and endurance
through it all. She finally has some momentum in her weight gain and is
currently at 3lbs and 14oz and recently had her 2nd head scan which showed the
small cyst she previously had has reduced by half! This is something the
doctors are not concerned with but will monitor. She also had her first
eye exam which all looked good! We pray thing will continue to go well
and hope to bring her home sometime in June!
Introducing
CORA
GRACE SHIPLEY
2
lbs, 14 oz
15.25
inches
Cora's birthday...
Day 5: First time I got to hold her was on the day I was discharged...and she had quite a hold on her daddy too.
Day 8: First Family Photo...Joslin loves her little sister and is so curious and constantly talks about her.
Day 9: There is nothing quite like holding a little life so close...such a miracle.
Finally, less breathing tubes and more cuteness to see!
Day 10
Day 13: Two weeks and already looking so much healthier and alert!
Day 15: Officially no more breathing assistant devices! (the remaining tube is for feeding only)
Time for some funny faces :)
Day 22: Mother's Day and more family fun
Day 24: Long and lean but a growing machine...making big strides daily in gaining weight finally.
Day 29: Someone is getting more active and graduated to swaddling!
Cora's story...
March 24th: I had
gone to a doctor's appointment in the morning for a regular check up. I
had recently been having weekly cervical checks but all was looking good and my
doctor even said all was great and lifted my physical activity restriction
(that was just a previous precaution). I returned to work and carried on
as usual until I felt some fluid. Only being 24 weeks along, I wasn't
thinking it would be my water breaking, it was still way too soon. So I
called my doctor and they advised to go to the hospital to be examined as to
what it might be. Within 30 minutes of being there, I tested positive for
amniotic fluid. My water broke (precise medical term...ruptured).
As the news sank in and I was told I wouldn't be leaving, the tears
started flowing and all I could think about in that moment was Joslin and not
being at home with her and Joe. The two of them came to the hospital that
night and as they left I just felt a growing saddness. Bedtime was one of
my favorites with my little family...reading books, saying prayers and rocking
and singing with my girl. Needless to say that was a hard night on all of
us.
As the night went on, I
had increased activity and some contractions. Around 4am, it was unsure
if the baby was going to come or not. The doctor said I should call my
husband and have him come. So I made the phone call to have my sis come
to the house to be with Joslin and Joe came back to the hospital right as they
started me on magnesium. This is not a fun medicine and is mainly used for
neural protection of the baby if delivery might be imminent but it also a
strong muscle relaxer and can sometimes help quiet the uterus and potentially
stop contraction activity. I just felt like I got hit by a truck.
Those few hours weren't fun but withing 3-4 hours, things had seemed to
calm down a bit. Later that morning, a series of doctors would come talk
to us including the neonatologist. He gave us an introduction on
premature babies, what it means for us, and some of the important gestational milestones
to try and meet. From that point on, I was determined it wasn't yet time
for this baby to come. I didn't want to face having a 24 or 25 week baby.
The thought was terrifying so we tried not to dwell on it and move
forward.
We made it through 48
hours, then 72 hours passed and I was finally transferred from Labor and
Delivery to Antepartum. As I got a little more settled in my new temporary
home, it was at this point I realized I was already a mother of two.
While motherhood sometimes doesn't feel like it starts until you hold
your child in your arms, I was reminded that it truly starts well before that
and at that moment. Now my unborn child took priority. Minutes, hours,
days have never meant so much. My daily objective was to stay in bed,
have a boring day and pray the baby stays put just a little longer.
Those first few days
were really scary and hard being away from the family but we slowly adjusted
and created a new routine and schedule. Joe was amazing at playing Mr. Mom in
my absence and the rest of my family was an incredible help. I was able
to see Joslin every day and she was resilient with the whole situation, it is
so remarkable to watch a child accept such a big change. I missed our
closeness but I knew it was only temporary. Every day I just listened to that
little heart beat inside me and got up only to shower and use the restroom.
The days turned into
weeks and I am so appreciative of everyone who text, called and visited to help
keep my days busy and distracted from the monotony of a hospital room.
And especially to my family who even made Easter weekend fun with a
special egg hunt for Joss.
Every day was a victory
and each week was a celebration for baby S had to have had more time to grow.
One of the doctors really early on had told me for every day baby stayed
inside me was three less days in the NICU. We knew we'd be facing a NICU
stay regardless of when baby would be born, but how long was up for grabs and
while I knew I ultimately didn't have control, I was determined to go as far as
I could. The doctors said no matter what I would deliver by 34 weeks
(assuming I could make it that far). That meant I prepared myself for a
10 week stay. And while we pushed forward towards that goal, we celebrated
week 25, 26 and 27 and in the early morning on the start of week 28, baby
decided it was time.
Joe had decided to stay
at the hospital that night so he was already there. Around midnight, the
contractions had grown a little strong so an on-call doctor did a quick
cervical check and started some fluids to see if it could help subside the
activity. After little change, they decided to transfer me back to Labor
and Delivery where they started me on magnesium again. After another
couple hours with no change and contractions 3-5 minutes apart, I spoke to the
doctor on the phone and they decided it was time to deliver before anything
else would happen and become a bigger emergency. Since baby was breech
there was no option other than a c-section...which also terrified me.
They got us prepped
and fortunately my doctor was on-call that Saturday so she made it
just in time to do the procedure. At 7:11 am (ironically my original
due date was 7/11) we found out it's a girl and she had 12 fingers, just like
her mama! She was handed off to the NICU team right away and Joe followed her
up to the unit while they initially worked on her. I didn't get to see
her for a couple hours until after recovery and only then it was for a brief
minute while on the way to my room. We weren't able to hold her as she
was pretty sick and eventually had to be intubated for breathing and also had
an infection of some kind. Those first days were a blur and Cora had been
poked and prodded quite a bit and her skin had taken a bad beating but by day
5, the day I was discharged, I was finally able to hold her for the first time.
I couldn't think of a better parting gift from my month long hospital
stay and something for my heart to hold on to as I leave her behind to head
home.
It was a mix of emotions
leaving our baby girl behind but it was a wonderful feeling being back home and
to be able to start healing. We started to adapt to our new normal and
would visit Cora in the morning and spend several hours there with her now since
we could hold her skin to skin. The nurses and doctors have all been so
great in helping to explain everything and reassure us along the way.
Cora has been such a good little fighter and it's amazing to watch her
progress every day. By two weeks, she was breathing without any
assistance and was back to her birth weight. She continues to do well but
needs to make bigger strides in her weight gain. Hopefully next week she
will be able to start taking fresh milk (instead of frozen) and then in another
2 weeks following that hopefully she can start feeding from a bottle and
possibly nursing. While we aren't sure yet of when Cora will be home, we
are so proud of her daily accomplishments. We look forward to the day when our
whole family will be together and know it will be here before we know it!
