Hailey Hermien Astrid Frieling: The First Week's Saga

Those of you who comment here regularly will already know this story, but for the rest of you...and for the record...here's what has happened in the first week of this wee girl's life!

The birth info is in my last post with the short form being she was born at 11 p.m. Wednesday, 12 September.  Here's the photo I showed there...

...taken 80 minutes after she was born, early last Thursday morning.

Later that morning, all the g'parents and uncle (Hermien, Alex, Jaap & David) came to see and hold her.

Everyone, that is, except Astrid and me!
Astrid was at the doctor to get cleared of being contagious with her cold.
We waited to go see Hailey after lunch that early afternoon.

In the meantime, Hermien had sent us this photo.  Notice her hand!

When Astrid and I got there at 1 p.m., they were doing a spinal tap to get fluid
for meningitis and a blood test for bacteria.

Jeroen came out to talk to us and all Astrid and I could do was look through the window at our new g'daughter.

And at that point...as they say...the rest is history about the roller-coaster ride we then all took.

We did go back the next day, Friday, to see her up close-n-personal with our own eyes.

She was now in and out of an incubator, hooked up to an antibiotic tube (right hand, bandaged)

and an oxygen tube, regulating her oxygen intake (right foot).

When I asked, Jeroen moved her cap to show us how much hair she has!

Breathing, heart rate, oxygen, antibiotics...all monitored.

The results of the meningitis test would take 24-48 hours, so it was now a waiting game.

That Friday afternoon, after seeing how rested she looked, Astrid decided to go ahead
with the Dutch tradition of Beschuit met Muisjes at our senior-center's Happy Hour where we live.

This was new for me:  buttered biscuits dipped in sugar-coated anise seeds.

Pink and white for girls; blue and white for boys.

Our neighbors loved it!

Then we waited over the weekend to get the meningitis report,

while it became imperative that mama and papa stopped allowing visitors in order to get their own rest!

The only report we got was that the spinal fluid was clear, which was positive news against meningitis,

and that with the injection of the antibiotics (2 different kinds), "normality" was coming

to everything being monitored.

Hermien stopped by on Monday and took this touching photo of papa and daughter.

OMG.  I cry every time I look at it.

While Hermien was there, they took the needle out of Hailey's right hand...

...and later switched it to her head, which is apparently the first choice of position.

All this was happening to a baby not even one week old!

You can imagine how this was ripping us all up, in spite of how peaceful she was looking.

Jeroen and Eva continued to keep visitors away...with our encouragement, I might add.

I kept telling them the best gift they could give Hailey was taking care of themselves.

Luckily, Jeroen was allowed to sleep and eat in the room with them as a stow-away (not usual procedure).

They needed their sleep and staff knew Jeroen needed the bonding, as Eva breastfed.
The long-haul for the antibiotic was that they'd stay at the hospital till Thursday (today).

In the meantime, Astrid and I had made the decision to NOT expect any further hospital visits,

so you can imagine our surprise and delight when they invited us on Tuesday to come at 4 p.m.

She was nursing when we arrived and promptly fell asleep moments later.

In the one hour we were there, our hearts were lightened and we knew we were all out of the woods.

Yesterday afternoon, a week after birth, Hailey received her last antibiotic dose,

after which the needle was removed.

It was their first time to carry Hailey around freely without tubes attached!
(image by Hermien)

Today, 8 days later, mama, papa and baby are home where they belong.

To all who knew and prayed, we have no words for expressing our gratitude...except THANK YOU.

And one of these days soon, Astrid and I will finally get to hold her in our own arms.

And when we do, you can be sure you will see the photos!