Alixandra the Great

Alixandra Grace Bill

A beautiful name for a beautiful little girl. We enjoyed our first full day with her and are trying to savor every minute.

Currently Alixandra is in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) so that they can monitor her growth and development. Since she was born at just over 35 weeks, they want to make sure everything is going well before they send her home. She is quite jaundiced and has some respiratory distress and low blood sugar. At this point, she is doing very well and hopefully will be able to go home sometime next week.

Susan is recovering well from her C-Section, and is working through the pain and discomfort from her incision. They will likely send us home on Tuesday, but we'll probalby still spend most of our time at the NICU with Alixandra.

We also got to introduce Alixandra to one set of grandparents today. Susan's parents (Terry and Sharon) got to hold her and they were in heaven!! We also were visited by several friends and even got to spend some "alone" time with Alixandra.

Please continue to pray for Alixandra's health and development. We are so thankful for all of you and your words of encouragement.

Love,

Jeremy, Susan, and Alixandra Bill

Pretty in Pink

Friday, 3:30 p.m.

It was all a whirlwind adventure this morning and we're still recovering, but we're the proud parents a new baby girl!!

Born: 7:59 a.m.
Weight: 6 pounds 7 oz.
Length: 19 inches

We'll share the entire experience when we have more time, but for now enjoy the pictures.





We are so thankful for God's newest blessing on our lives.

Won't be long now

Friday, 7:30 a.m.

Water Broke. Another Placental Abruption. Emergeny C-Section coming soon.

Not long now. Very exciting!!

--Jeremy

Goodbye to Pain

Friday, 6:00 a.m.

Epidural is in. Life is Good.

--Jeremy (for Susan!)

Dealing with Pain

Friday, 4:00 a.m.

Susan continues to progress through her labor over the last several hours. She's been trying to find ways to deal with the pain, so we have tried walking and sitting, and other various strategies.

Fortunately, she found quite a bit of relief by sitting in the whirlpool, so she's been "soaking" for the last 2 hours or so. That's allowed Jeremy to get a little rest, although not a lot.

Currently, Susan is receiving 4 different treatments through her IV: Insulin (to control her blood sugar), an Anti-biotic (to protect against infection), Pittossen (to help produce conctractions) and fluids (to keep her hydrated).



Depending on the pain, Susan will likely get an epidural at some point in the next few hours. When that happens, she'll be confined to bed until after the baby is born.

We'll update you when anything changes.

A Labor of Love

Thursday, 8:55 p.m.

We're continuing to progress about as expected. The first pill helped to thin the Cervix and start the contractions. At around 8:30 p.m. the doctor gave another pill to help continue the process. Since they don't want Susan to eat much (and they need to control her blood sugar), they are going to start some fluids and insulin through an IV.

In around 4 hours they will start to administer some Pitossen through the IV. This should make the contractions more intense, which will increase the pain level.

The doctor is staying at the hospital tonight and will check in every few hours. It looks like Susan's labor will continue to progress throughout the night and we will reach the delivery stage sometime in the morning. Of course, that could change as the night goes on.

We appreciate your continued prayers and thoughts.

Hurry up and wait

Thursday, 6:15 p.m.

We finally got everything moved out of our "old" room and we've settled in to our new room.

At about 4:30 p.m., they gave Susan the pill to help thin her Cervix. After 4 hours they will determine if the pill is working and then will evaluate the next steps.

If the pill does work, then they will give her Pitossen, which helps start the contractions. If not, then they will give her another pill and wait for 4 more hours. Overall, it could be 12 hours before they see any results.

If at any point the baby is in distress, they will do a C-Section.

We'll keep you posted.

The Green Light

Thursday, 3:47 p.m.

And we're off . . . .

We just got the results back from the second test and the baby's lungs are developed enough that we're going to proceed.

We're in the process of packing up our stuff and moving rooms to the "Labor and Delivery" section (just down the hall). It's amazing how much stuff we've packed away in the last 21 days here! We'll only stay in the Labor & Delivery room until the baby is born, then we will move to "The Birth Place."

We're very excited to move on to the next stage, but it will likely be another day or so until the baby is born. Jeremy just hopes that it arrives before the Husker game kicks off :o) Just kidding.

Inconclusive

Thursday, 11:45 a.m.

The initial tests results just came back and they were "borderline." Thus, we'll need to wait for a few more hours before we know whether we will proceed today.

Thanks for your continued prayers!

Thanksgiving - Morning

Thursday, 10:00 a.m.

Surprisingly, we both had a pretty good night's sleep considering the anticipation for today (Thursday). That may be the last full night's sleep we'll have for a while!

The doctor just completed the amnio and is sending the sample to the lab. It will probably be one to two hours before the initial results are back. If the initial results are inconclusive, it will be another 3-4 hours before we will have the "final" results. If the baby's lungs are developed, they will then start the process of inducing Susan.

The first step in the process will be to give Susan a pill that will help to soften the cervix. The pill takes 12-24 hours before it takes effect, so we will likely have some waiting to do. Eventually, they will give her medication that will start contractions and (hopefully) move her to delivery. If they find that Susan is not progressing, they will stop the process and do a C-Section.

We'll keep you posted as we get additional information.