And then we were FOUR!

She's here! Baby girl Jackson #2 is here! It's been a roller coaster of events since her birth so pardon our delay in telling you about her.

Scott spent part of the day before baby's birth at our storage unit to get all our baby gear.
Why did we put it in storage?!

Not so bright but definitely early on the morning of Tuesday, October 23, Kiersten began preparations for her second C-section. Scott arrived at the hospital around 7am by which point Kiersten had received a new IV and was getting briefed about the events to come. At 8am Kiersten was taken into the operating room and got numbed up and laid on the table. Let's just say everything else that happened was a pretty uncomfortable experience. Scott came in covered from head to foot in protective gear and by 8:35 we heard the beautiful cry of baby girl. The many nurses in the room continued to tell Kiersten how beautiful her new baby was but she had yet to see her. Scott was documenting her first moments of life with the 3 NICU doctors/nurses which were there because baby had come at 36 weeks. Finally they brought her over so Kiersten could look at and kiss her. Indeed she was a beautiful baby.

Her thoughts upon seeing baby, "She looks like Mackenzie. Her cheeks are so chubby."

Scott had become very warm and needed to step out of the OR and baby girl was having a bit of trouble breathing so the NICU team took her upstairs to what would become her room for the next 8 days. Scott joined them while Kiersten was being stitched up and taken to her OR recovery room. She waited in this room for about 3 hours during which time Scott came back and gave a full report on baby; she had some fluid in her lungs and was receiving oxygen and eventually placed on a SiPAP machine which helped blow air into her lungs and keep them open and air flowing. When K was cleared to leave the OR area she returned to her room on the High Risk Perinatal floor. The next several hours are a blur with various nurses coming in to check on Kiersten and Scott dividing his time between her and the NICU. Finally by 9pm that evening Kiersten was cleared to ride in a wheelchair to the NICU to be reunited with her baby. Twelve and a half hours after her birth, mom finally got to hold her. 

Clearly we were both very tired.

Scott spent the night in the hospital in case there were any updates on baby girl and because Kiersten wanted his company. In the morning Kiersten had the energy and strength and low pain level to get out of bed on her own and shuffle around the room. She was cleared to walk around and visit the baby any time she wanted. She could already tell that this recovery was going to be smoother and faster than the recovery from her previous C-section. 

Hooked up to all sorts of monitors and her bubble machine (SiPAP).

Baby girl didn't receive her name until about 36 hours after birth. It was difficult to decide which name fit her best with half her face covered by medical equipment. Kiersten was beginning to become disheartened until they removed her nose breathing helper for a few minutes and baby opened her eyes to us for the first time. Her name finally manifested itself: Finley Adela Jackson.

Welcome to the world Miss Finley! Finley is Scottish for 'fair-haired warrior'.
She was a warrior in the womb and NICU for sure.

The rest of that week Scott split his time between the hospital, taking care of Mackenzie, and sleeping at his brother's house in nearby Springfield. After 3 days on SiPAP, Finley's lungs had become strong enough she didn't need to be hooked up to the machine. The next step toward her discharge was getting her to eat enough food without her feeding tube. This took another 3 days and then on Monday, October 29 her bilirubin levels which indicate jaundice, had jumped so she was placed on lights to help knock the levels back down. Kiersten had been discharged on Saturday but the hour and a half drive each day to the hospital was too much for her emotionally so on Monday they checked into a hotel a mile from the hospital.

She looks so tiny yet comfortable in Daddy's strong arms.

The next two days Kiersten went to the hospital and Scott took Mackenzie to the library for story times, parks, lunch and back to the hotel to nap. On Halloween morning the doctors surprised us by announcing Finley was strong enough and eating enough and her bilirubin levels had dropped enough for her to come home that day! Happy Halloween treat! After Mackenzie's Halloween story time and nap, Scott picked up Kiersten from the hospital for a late family lunch before returning to retrieve the fourth member of our family. 

Halloween story time!

A now rare Mommy and Mackenzie moment.

The discharge process took much longer than anticipated and when Kiersten finally came out with Finley in the car seat accompanied by two nurses carrying other various items (one bag which contained nothing but ice and pumped breast milk) Scott and Mackenzie were not to be found. We got in the elevator down to the first floor and they weren't there so we returned to the NICU. Who should be standing by the elevators when the door opened but Scott and Mackenzie. 

Mackenzie looked with some confusion at the nurses and the car seat. Once she realized Mommy was holding the car seat she reasoned the little person inside of it must be baby sister. 
"Baby sister?" she asked somewhat breathlessly. 
"Yes, this is baby sister."
"Baby sister! Hold it?" referring to the car seat.
"When we get in the car you can hold her hand."
That seemed to satisfy the new big sister and she proudly announced to anyone she saw, "Baby sister! Baby sister!" This little girl had patiently waited one week before meeting her baby sister and she could not have been more thrilled. Neither could the parents to witness this first interaction between siblings.

True to our word, Mackenzie got to hold baby sister's hand all the way to cousin Grace's house for trick or treating. During the ride Mackenzie happily narrated some features of the drive. "Trees, baby sister. Cars, baby sister. House, baby sister." It got us right in the feels. But the person Mackenzie was most excited to share the good news with was her cousin Grace. Once out of the car, she ran into the house, held Grace's face in her hands and said over and over, "Baby sister! Grace! My baby sister! Car! My baby sister!"

Baby Finley met her cousins and Aunt and Uncle then the bigger kids, even Dean, got in their Halloween costumes and hit the streets for candy. Kiersten accompanied Mackenzie for the first bit then switched off with Scott. "Trick or Treat! Tank oo. Happy Haoween!" We made it back to the hotel a little after 8, bathed a tired but very happy Mackenzie and she collapsed into bed.

The firefighter with her trusty Dalmatians!

Even Finley dressed up but we kept her inside.

Can you believe this hat is too small?!

Then the real fun began. And by fun we of course mean the beginning of sleepless nights and feedings. Finley is a good feeder but she is still working on breast feeding so she's on the bottle with breast milk. This means Kiersten is up twice as long to fed her a bottle and then pump. She is still developmentally young but hopefully with time and patience she'll switch to be fully breast fed but in the meantime we're gonna nap as much as we can! So the first night was long and at her 2am feed, Kiersten heard big sister awake making noise. Finley began to cry because she was hungry and Mackenzie clearly said in a sing-song voice, "Baby sister! *mimicking her cry* Waah, waah, waah!" Later that morning around 5, Mackenzie came into our room because she was awake. Both girls are adjusting to the new routine just as much as we are.

Finley had her newborn appointment at the doctor the following morning and then that afternoon we finally arrived back in Manassas at Kiersten's parents' house. We are going to hole up here for the next little while as we get used to being a family of four and get into some kind of rhythm.

Same car seat, same outfit, different babies. Who is who?
(Mackenzie is on the left, Finley on the right.)

The Mackenzie Update:

• As stated above, Mackenzie is taking her new role as big sister in stride. We are so pleased but are totally aware this excitement might not last.

  

  So excited!!
• So far she has been a great and loving helper. She helps with diaper changes by handing us a wipe and throwing away the used diaper or holding Finley's 'bear-bear' (pacifier) in her mouth when she fusses. She also wants to kiss her head and check on her when she sleeps.
• We finally took her to the doctor to discuss her poop withholding. They think she is trying not to poop because its one thing she can control in her life but it leads to pain and pooping at night when she's asleep and relaxed. It'll be a long road ahead but one that needs addressing now.
• She loves to sing! Her favorite songs are currently 'The Wheels on the Bus' and 'I am a Child of God'. We will hear her singing the latter when she's in her bed before nap or bed time and occasionally in the car when she's trying to calm down which is the song Kiersten has been singing to her since birth for the same purpose. We've also started singing it to her in Spanish and she's already picking up some of the words! What a little sponge.

  

  Singing to baby Finley during a rare moment awake.

• She really enjoyed trick or treating and lasted far longer than we anticipated. Her preferred candy are lollipops and other fruity treats. More chocolate for us!

  

  With Daddy at the Church Trunk or Treat.

  
  

  

  She loved this princess dress and the lollipop.

• Mackenzie discovered the joys of jumping in leaf piles with Daddy this week. The Autumn colors this year are truly spectacular.
  

And now introducing a new segment, The Finley Report!

• She sleeps a lot.
• We think she is going through her first growth spurt.

  

  She's small yet mighty.

• She has met Grandma and Grandpa Hammond and Uncle Darren and Aunt Carey and family.
• She seems to be a good baby so far, just like big sister but we know the real Finley will manifest herself in another few days or weeks so we are enjoying our sleepy Angel baby in the meantime.
  
• Just like Mackenzie, she loves to escape her swaddles with her arms flailing. But unlike Mackenzie, she can't sleep with her arms out very well so we have to wrangle them back in. Our swaddling skills are a bit rusty.

Like we said, a roller coaster of a week. We are so happy to finally be home all four of us and getting settled. Scott is only here for another 2 weeks so we're going to soak up as much Daddy time as we can before the real ride begins. Thank goodness for family! Thanks again to everyone for your love, support and prayers for our little family and new baby. We hope things will be smooth-ish sailing for the rest of the year.