The Birthday Girl

A year ago today, I went in for my regularly scheduled appointment at Maternal Fetal Medicine for one last ultrasound before Iz was scheduled to be born. It was Friday morning and I had just been released from L&D the night before where I had been admitted Wednesday morning for abnormal lab work. They had run a bunch of labs, monitored us overnight, treated me for fetal tachycardia that they never could explain, and then discharged me when everything came up normal again. MFM was surprised to see me because they figured having spent the past two days in the hospital being monitored, I would skip my appointment. We did my NST and headed for ultrasound and within moments we were being ushered out of the office and told to go straight for the hospital, to not even stop for a coffee (for the husband), and to please hurry. My amniotic fluid had gone down dangerously low and Iz needed to be born on the ninth instead of the twelfth. It wasn't a case of she must come out right now but it was a case of she must be monitored immediately while we wait in case it does become a case of RIGHT NOW.

So off we went and we waited. And waited. And waited. Originally, we were just waiting for an eight hour window since I had last eaten but we kept getting bumped for emergency c-sections. I was hungry and uncomfortable (those beds in pre-op? awful awful things.....) but I was glad to not be an emergency--meant my girl was doing ok in there, despite the problems (kinda prophetic, huh? We would spend months being glad that while things were bad, they weren't as bad as they could be....). Finally, at 7:52pm all 7lbs 8oz 19inches of her was born and we had many cuddles :) It would be nearly twelve hours before someone would say the words "heart murmur" to us and two days before the words "open heart surgery" were first heard. For those few hours that closed out the ninth, though, we were getting to know this perfect little being who was a champion nurser and cuddler with the pink skin and blue eyes and dark hair.

One year later and she has lived through and conquered more than some people do in a lifetime and I am in awe of her. Heart failure, failure to thrive, open heart surgery, recovery. For the moment, she is doing great and that is enough. Whatever problems may arise in the future, whatever complications or delays may or may not happen, they are something to worry about another day. Today was all about doing the things Iz likes most :)

First up, her favorite meal of the day--breakfast. We took her out and she enjoyed packing away more food than normal :p She usually sticks to eggs and toast or pancakes but today she was feeling adventurous and she snitched bacon off my plate and became a fan, she tried a couple kinds of sausage, she ate some quiche, she tried some yogurt again (last time she was so not a fan, this time she asked for more), and some ham (which she does like but for dinner or lunch).

Next up was the zoo :) She loves activities that involve being pushed around in her stroller LOL

Today was also the zoo's Day of Honor so we got to see firefighters, police, military dogs, the navy, the marines and I am sure there are more I am forgetting. Iz flirted with everyone and the boys enjoyed getting into every vehicle they could ;)

Iz's favorite part of the zoo has always been the elephants and our zoo has four of them so we spent a lot of time watching them :) Usually if we stop walking, she will squawk at us to get moving but if there are elephants, she will happily sit there and just watch.

She slept all the way home :) Being pushed around looking at animals is exhausting!

Next activity was to play in the yard. She loves to try to climb her brother's toddler slide and to crawl around and to try and pick my tomatoes :p

Next stop was Grandma and Grandpa's for some BBQ and then home for presents!

She had lots of help from her brothers ;)

And in the end only really cared about the ribbons.....

I think the whole cake thing may have scared her

But before we could even get her dress off, she had leaned forward and helped herself to a big handful of cake :p She was quite mad at us for cleaning her hands so we could get her dress off unstained :p A piece of cake calmed her right down, though