Home Sweet Home

We got to come home today!  Praise Jesus!  At about 1:00 Annabel's neonatologist informed us that he would be discharging us in just a couple hours.  I wanted to do cartwheels or hug him or scream with excitement.  Instead I just cried.

This is what we know:
Annabel has a heart condition known as Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW).  It is an electrical problem of the heart.  The structures of the heart are perfectly formed.  It is an abnormal electrical communication from the atria to the ventricles.  It occurs in .1-.3% of the population.  It is also genetic.  The neonatologist feels that it is what I and all the women on my mom's side of the family have as well.  I've spoken with a few doctor friends and they tell me that it's the least scary heart condition a person can have.  In one of their words, "If you're going to have a heart condition, this is the one you want."  It is almost always controlled by medication, but there is a procedure that can be done to fix the electrical pathway.  Nobody has even mentioned this procedure to me in regards to Annabel.  We meet with the specialist in Little Rock on October 13th.
Specific Prayer Requests:
1) Pray for good news at the appointment. (ie, she has a very mild case & will live a normal life)
2) Pray that she can be treated with medication only & that she only has to take it for a short time.
In the meantime, Annabel is on a very low dose of medication to keep her heart from jumping into SVT.  She takes this every 8 hours.  The neonatologist wants us to take Adeline with us to this appointment as well.  He feels that she probably has the same condition.

The high respiration rate and low oxygen saturation was due to Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn.  It is completely unrelated to WPW.  A lot of newborns have it, especially those born via c-section.  The doctor hinted to the fact several times that he would not have even admitted Annabel to the NICU for this if it hadn't been for the episode of SVT caused by the WPW.  This condition is now fully resolved in Annabel.  It occurs when the fluid that is in a baby's lungs in the womb doesn't clear quickly enough after birth.

Now, let's get to the good stuff!  We are home, we are home, we are home!  The doctor told us repeatedly today that we should not worry.  We are going home with a healthy baby.  Annabel is healthy!

It was so fun dressing her in her going home outfit today, but we didn't get nearly as long of a photo shoot as we did with Adeline and I didn't have a pretty little blanket with me as a backdrop.  

 I think she's peeing in this picture.  :)

While Adeline and my parents waited for us to get home, they took a walk and played with sidewalk chalk.  

These are the things Adeline wanted Pappy to write/draw.  See Ace?

We came home to this in our yard.  I love it!

Adeline has surprised me with Annabel.  She is so sweet and is not acting jealous at all.  She likes to be right next to her and she talks to her in the sweetest voice.  She wants to pet her and always says "nice, soft" when she does.  It just makes my heart melt.

She even shared Ace!

Uncle Shane came to visit for a bit and he got to see his new niece for the first time.

We gave Annabel her first bath at home while Adeline watched.  When Annabel started crying, Adeline was so concerned.  She kept saying, "Oh, don't cry baby!"

Adeline took a bath while I nursed Annabel then I rocked them both.  It was a cup runneth over moment to have both my girls in my arms all clean in their warm pjs rocking them to sleep.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord!