We celebrated Nora’s First Birthday on Saturday.  It’s hard to believe that she is a year old already.  It truly is unreal how quickly the time passes.  Nora has filled our lives with so much joy.  She is such a character and watching her grow and change every day is just awesome.  Looking back at some of her very first pictures as a newborn, I am amazed at all of the changes she has gone through.

Right after she was born, Nora gave us quite a scare in the hospital.  Scott and I were just about to (attempt to) settle down for the night when he looked in her little glass crib and noticed that she was very red.  She seemed to be struggling to breathe and eventually coughed up quite a bit of mucous.  We paged the nurses and within seconds a group of them came rushing in to see what was the matter.  They ended up taking Nora to the nursery to check her out a bit deeper.  She appeared to be fine and the chalked the mucous up to her being birthed so fast (5 minutes, 3 pushes) and not having a chance to get a good squeeze on her way through.  Well, within a few minutes she had another repeat episode.  This time it landed her a spot in the NICU.  Luckily for us, I gave birth in a hospital fully equipped with a NICU and Nora didn’t have to be transferred to another hospital.

To make a really long, emotional roller coaster of a story, short, Nora spent 9 nights in the NICU as a result of having an immature breathing pattern and being unable to keep her oxygen saturation stable.  Of course we were nervous, scared, heartbroken, you name it, about having to have her there, but we realized how much worse it could have been.  It was so hard seeing some of the other babies that were in the NICU and knowing that Nora would be fine but just needed a little more time to mature.

The most difficult parts of having Nora in the NICU were traveling to and from the hospital on a daily basis, maintaining exclusive breast milk feeding, and trying to take care of two children that were in two different places.  Somehow I succeeded at doing it but not without the help of an extremely amazing husband and truly supportive family members and friends.  You see, our house was 45 minutes away from the hospital (without traffic).  Once I was discharge and went home, I would wake up every morning, spend a few hours with Brinley and then drive in to be with Nora.  While I was in the hospital with her, I would nurse her, hold her, take pictures of her, watch her sleep, and cry.  I kept my sanity by going on walks around the city while she napped and by being blessed with some of the most amazing nurses ever!  I’d spend from 11am until 11pm daily at the hospital.  I’d nurse her while I was there and then when I went home, I set an alarm clock for every 2 hours so that I could pump and bring the milk to the nurses who would use it to feed her when I wasn’t there.  I am extremely proud of the fact that during her 10 day stay in the NICU she was fed breast milk exclusively!

It’s so crazy how fast the past year has gone.  Nora has been such a joy.  Her smile can light up a room and her hugs just make me melt.  She’s walking and “talking” and trying really hard to keep up with all of the things that her big sister is doing.  I can’t imagine my life without her and I am truly blessed to have TWO such wonderful, beautiful, amazing daughters in my life!

Happy Birthday, Nora Jade!

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