Welcome Harper Josephine

To say this week has been a whirlwind is an understatement. It all started on Monday after our weekly doctor's appointment. I had started contracting earlier that day and found out we had moved from 1cm to 3cm. I think we were both very excited things were starting to move in the right direction. I spent the rest of my evening up all night with contractions, and didn't get much for sleep. It got to the point Tuesday morning where my contractions were roughly 5-6 minutes apart - so we headed to the hospital to get checked out. I had progressed to 4cm but they felt I should continue to labor at home until my contractions were more intense and closer to 5 minutes apart. I continued to labor at home both Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday night, my contractions started getting very intense but I didn't want to go back until I knew we were ready. I woke Mitch up around 1:30am Thursday morning and told him I thought it was time to go! We headed back to North Memorial, Maple Grove where we admitted and knew our baby girl would be with us soon!

We finally got to our labor room around 3am, where I immediately got an epidural so I could get a little rest before all the hard work started. I must say, getting the epidural was the best decision ever. It allowed both Mitch and I to get 5 additional hours of rest which we found out was going to be much needed. They came in early that morning and broke my water to get the ball rolling. There were signs of meconium in my water, so they let us know she would probably need to be suctioned right after delivery to make sure she didn't swallow any of the water. Everything was progressing nicely, and we decided to start pushing around 11am. Again, everything was going great right away and things were moving forward quickly. Unfortunately we got to the point after three hours of pushing with little or no advancements. At that point, everyone was very exhausted... Mitch, myself and Baby Harper. The doctor came into our room and broke the news that the best decision to move forward would be to have a c-section. From there, time flew by! Mitch was given his "Daddy scrubs" and the nurses prepped me for surgery. We were wheeled back into the operating room, and immediately started the surgery. Mitch was right there by my side, holding my hand through the entire process. Harper finally joined us at 3:20pm Thursday afternoon, weighing in at 8lbs 12oz, measuring 19.7 inches. Mitch was able to go see her right away and cut the umbilical cord. As we were warned before, they took her over to suction her nose and throat due to the meconium. They noticed irregular breathing and her cry was more like a grunting noise so they immediately took her to the special care nursery to get everything checked out. I was able to see my little girl for a few seconds before they took her to get evaluated. 

We finally got to our postpartum room around 4:45pm. Mitch quickly changed out of his scrubs so he could go see what was going on with Harper. He surprised me with a small box, and said "this is for all your hard work, it's your push present." I opened the sweetest Pandora bracelet - that was completely Harper themed.

My Push Present

I tried to get a little rest while Mitch was down at the special care nursery with Harper and shared the good news with our friends and family in the waiting room. He came back with an update for me. After doing a few x-rays and other tests they found out there had been a tear in the sac that encapsulates her lung. This happens often to babies when they are under stress, whether it's during labor or taking her first gasp of air. They let us know it should be a quick fix, and they'd just have to go in there and remove the excess air near her lung. Unfortunately it wasn't that easy. They removed the air, but it filled up again and they x-rays weren't showing signs of improvement. They continued to run more tests and Harper had several more x-rays throughout the afternoon into the night. Again, Mitch would go down and check on her to see if there was any new news for us. He kept coming back with the same update, "they said she looks great, and is doing wonderful... but the x-ray is still showing no sign of improvement." These updates continued all night, which equaled more tears for me. It had been an extremely emotional day, and at this point my eyes were so swollen from crying I could barely keep them open. It had already been a long enough day, but now we can't even see our hold our baby? Things were not going as expected to say the least. Mitch headed back down to the special care nursery to see how the 10:30pm x-ray turned out. He came back to the room around 11pm with not so great news. They let him know Harper would need to get a chest tube and they couldn't do that at Maple Grove Hospital. That meant, both her and I would need to be transferred to North Memorial Robbinsdale so she could be treated by their NICU. They immediately started prepping her for her first ambulance ride (mine too) so we get over to Robbinsdale to have this taken care of. As you can imagine, at this point I'm an emotional wreck. I was running on zero hours of sleep, my hormones were all jacked up, I had just given birth to my beautiful baby girl who I had yet to see or hold. Mitch quickly packed up our belongings and we waited for our ambulances to arrive. My ambulance arrived first, and they came to our room and strapped me in the gurney and we headed down to the special care nursery so I could see her for the first time. I will never forget how I felt seeing her for the first time and getting to hold her in my arms. We got to Robbinsdale around 3am, somehow still awake. Mitch and I were sent to our new room and Harper immediately went to the NICU. We were able to go say "goodnight" to her around 4am - and we headed back to our room to try to get some sleep. Right before bed Mitch asked "24 hours ago did you think we'd be sitting at North Memorial Robbinsdale?" That pretty much summed up our day... nothing really went as expected. We have learned she is a fighter and we are so thankful to have each other during this time!

We woke up this morning pretty exhausted but anxious to get down to the NICU to see our baby girl. She was peacefully sleeping when we got down there - and they had an update for us. The chest tube is doing it's job and she is reacting great to it. Her x-rays look better but are still a little hazy. She has another one scheduled for tomorrow morning, so we're praying for more positive updates.

We spent most of our day at the NICU with Harper and visitors. We had a mini photo-shoot with her this morning so we could share pictures with everyone. Mitch finally got to hold his daughter for the first time, which bought tears to my eyes while snapping the photo. They looked absolutely precious together. We also had a "family photo" taken, I'm also in love with that one.

Harper Josephine Helleen 

The Helleens - Tristan, Harper and Mitch

Me and my baby girl!

Daddy's Little Girl

Our chubby Harper :)

My parents and Austin came by this morning to visit and meet Miss Thang. Bob, Deb, Matt and Nick also stopped by this morning so they got to see our baby girl we've been waiting to show off! I know I'm probably a little bias, but I think she is pretty cute. Later this afternoon Amanda, Jennie and Jen stopped by to see their niece! It was so nice to be able to have our family here throughout the day to see her. Everyone, from hospital staff (at both hospitals) our family and friends have been so supportive throughout the last 48 hours. We appreciate all the kind words any prayers everyone has given us. I have to especially thank my wonderful husband Mitch for helping me through one of the toughest days of my life. He was a superstar and helped me through so many hurdles - he truly is the best. 

We feel so blessed that Harper is finally here with us and doing well. Clearly things didn't go exactly as expected, but do they ever? We've gone in with an open mind and with help from each other, family and friends this experience has been unforgettable. We're hoping to have Harper home within the next few days, but at this point we'll take it day by day. She's one tough gal, so I have a feeling she'll at home in no time. 

Until next time...

The Helleen's