She's here! Welcome home Hannah!

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm typing while both girls are sleeping! The past week has been busy and I've been anxious to post an update and pictures. At long last, here it is!

Hannah Kay Bridges was born via Caesarean section on Tuesday, March 4 at 11:03 am. As soon as we arrived at the Johnson Memorial maternity center the action began. The nurses were all wonderful and I was the only patient in the ward, so we received lots of attention! We were very fortunate to have the same anesthesiologist and one operating room nurse that we had when Abigail was born. When I told them how that day went they all remembered it very clearly! Also in the operating room was the head nurse, who is the wife of one of Andy's foremen at work. We've only been around her socially until now, but what a great nurse. She is a very sweet and comforting lady and it was reassuring to have her with us. During the surgery, Andy and Dr. Cline discussed classic rock trivia and sang along to the music! I think Andy's medical questions were very entertaining to the all female team in the OR! Lots of pictures were taken and the surgery was complete in about an hour. Two huge joys for us were that Hannah was strong and vibrant from the very beginning, complete with a big cry and that she has two straight feet!

On Thursday we were released to come home, with caution to watch my incision closely for bleeding. All week Andy, Abby and I battled a terrible cough and eventually Andy and Abby had to make a trip to the Immediate Care Center on Thursday night. Abby had an ear infection, Andy had an upper respiratory infection and I was coughing like crazy. By this time, Mom had started coughing, too. What a mess! We were all sick, except for the newborn!

Sure enough, overnight on Thursday, my coughing was too much for the incision and the bleeding began. Andy, Hannah and I packed up Friday morning to head back to the doctor's office. There we were given instructions for care, an antibiotic to clear the infection in my incision, plus a recommendation to take Mucinex for the cough. To top things off, my blood pressure was elevated. Now, on Sunday, it has been a rough couple of days but everyone is feeling much better. Dad came up on Friday and was eager to help. Mom and I are still coughing some, Andy is a little congested and Abby's nose is still running but things are looking up. Tomorrow morning I will go back to the doctor for another check on the incision.

On to Hannah! She is such a joy! She eats well and sleeps well and has some fun awake times, too. Abigail is very eager to hold her and kiss her. Hannah weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces and was 21 inches long. You'll see in the pictures, she has very dark hair and her skin is still really red! Hannah loves to be swaddled tightly and she hates to be cold. I'll try to post pictures regularly because I'm sure she'll be changing fast. Abigail has had some tough moments of transition this week including walking into the hospital on Thursday to say "Hurry up, Mommy and Hannah come home!" Now that the cold and ear infection are clearing up she is much more like herself. Today she's been cheery and agreeable, I'm relieved!

Andy is going back to work tomorrow and Mom is leaving on Tuesday afternoon. So, this week could be interesting. Sorry this was such a long post, just wanted to let everyone know what all has been going on this week! Sounds like Hannah is waking up to eat. Now, here are the pictures!