Our Baby Girl, Harper

This is a story about a little girl named Harper...

Daddy cutting Harper's cord in the delivery room

Harper Livingston Wilson was born on Saturday, November 19 at 9:07 AM, weighing 7 lbs. 1 oz. and measuring 20 1/2 inches long.  She arrived via planned c-section about one month early, a decision that we reached after lengthy discussions with our doctors based on the tragic and unexplained loss of our son, Rex, just one day after he was due last year.  Given our sad history, Harper's gestation was a scary time for us, filled with fear and anxiety--but there was also cautious excitement and hope.  When she was born, and we heard those first cries, while all of those feelings were still there because of her premature birth, there was also joy.  She had arrived.

Harper's little splint kept her IV protected

 Born at 36 weeks and three days meant that Harper went immediately into the NICU at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.  For the first day of her life, her breathing was assisted by a c-pap machine, and she was hooked up to an IV.  However, soon the c-pap and the IV were removed, and she began learning to nurse and bottle feed.  However, the doctors were unable to discharge her because she was suffering from apnea spells called bradycardia, where she would momentarily "forget" to breathe, and her heart rate would drop.  While she was able to self-correct these spells without medical intervention, she had to go for a period of five days without having an episode before she would be considered ready for discharge.  Probably one of the hardest things we have ever had to do was to leave the hospital without her at the end of our designated 4-day stay following her delivery.  Adding insult to injury was that our discharge was on Thanksgiving, but we still had so very much to be thankful for.

Our little girl was born with so much hair!

Sleepy baby

Harper remained in the hospital for another couple of weeks after that, but there was a silver lining to our stay in the NICU--in addition to the fact that she was receiving amazing medical attention, of course.  Dallin and I also had the opportunity to learn so much about caring for Harper before it was time to take her home.  Activities like bath time were something that we got to experience with the helpful guidance of the NICU nurses.  So Dallin and I settled into a routine of driving into the hospital together each morning, where Dallin would get to visit with Harper for a little while before going to work.  Then I would stay at the hospital with Harper during the day, before returning home with Dallin at the end of his work day in the evening.  It wasn't ideal, but we did what we could to maximize our time with our baby girl.

One of my favorite photos from Harper's hospital stay

Harper's first bath
(We still use the pink hospital tub!)

Harper's "room" in the NICU at Beth Israel

After what felt like forever, we were told that we could take Harper home.  She wasn't entirely free of the apnea spells, but they were only happening during bottle feedings, and the duration of each spell was no longer concerning to the doctors; they felt like Harper could and would continue to make progress at home.  I have to admit that I felt a little nervous disconnecting her from the monitors, but we couldn't have been more excited to finally take Harper home with us.  With all the wires and monitors disconnected, we were able to dress Harper in her very first outfit; up until then, she only wore a diaper and a little tee shirt and stayed warm in a hospital-issued swaddling blanket.  The fashionista within was pretty excited to dress our sweet baby in her pink fleece sweatsuit, a gift from her Aunt Kelly.  We had to laugh that an outfit that had seemed so tiny when we first laid eyes on it was so big on our sweet baby!  Room to grow.

Harper in her homecoming outfit from her Aunt Kelly

All bundled up in her car seat and ready to go!

I think that Dallin and I both just wanted to get the heck out of dodge, but one of the NICU nurses convinced us to take a family photo before leaving--and I'm so glad that she did!  It was our very first picture as a family of three, and we couldn't have been happier than we were in that moment.  It was time to go home.

Going home!

Waiting for the elevator with a smiling baby

And so begins our story--and for our beloved family and friends who don't live close enough to visit with Harper, I will do my best to chronicle all the little moments we share this beautiful baby girl.