What on earth is wrong here?

I spent the first 3 to 4 months of my kiddo's life freaking out.  Straight up!  We had a rocky start, as she was in the NICU for some very minor problems.  She had very low sugar levels, as well as low blood platelet counts and a dislocatable hip.  However, there was one issue that ended up not being an issue at all, but that didn't stop it from sucking all of the fun and quite a bit of the joy out of having Arabella with us.  The pediatrician at the hospital I delivered at was very suspicious about her bowel movements.  More so, she was concerned about their having to give her medicine to get one from her.  Then her stomach was beginning to puff and other little symptoms of a disstented bowel were beginning to rear their ugly little heads.  So, 24 hours after I gave birth, my hospital's NICU pediatrician came to tell me that my child had to be sent to a level 3 NICU because there was a strong possibility that she would need surgery......um EXCUSE ME! 

She said we could give it until the morning to see if her stomach would deflate and if she would have a bowel movement, but, if she didn't, the hospital would definitley transfer her in the morning.  It was odd how displaced I was from the situation. I think I was so upset that I just shut down. Once everyone left the room, I finally cried. My nurse gave me one look and asked if I'd like sleeping pills. She knew just from looking at me that I needed to escape, at least mentally, and there was no way I was going to get sleep on my own.  She was right.  After the pills wore off, I spent most of the rest of the night in the NICU watching my little girl.  Well, nothing changed over night and off we drove, with me in the ambulance and my husband following, to a larger hospital in downtown. 

By the time we arrived at the hospital, I was fairly calm and in good spirits.  I mean what was I gonna do.  If surgery had to happen, then that's the way it would be.  I couldn't allow myself to become catatonic.  Once we arrived to her new room for the next few days, the nurses and doctors gave her a one over.  In the middle of all of that chaos, apparently something clicked in Arabella's body.  Steve came over to me, I was sitting in a chair because of very swollen feet, and told me that she had made a mess.  I guess the ambulance ride shook things up, because on the warm in the NICU room, Belle pooped EVERYWHERE.  That was all it took for the pediatrician there to say that things were definitely looking up.  She told us that surgery was probably off the table now, but she would need to be monitored, of course, to be sure. 

Everything was fine after that.  However, they had to keep her to monitor her sugar levels and they wouldn't release her until they were consistently at a certain level or higher.  It was surreal to be there with her (I spent most of every day at the hospital of course, since they didn't have a room for me) because her roommate was a preemie, as were most of the babies in there.  Most of them were quite sick, but my baby really wasn't.  It broke my heart. 

It was a real experience being in the NICU.  I was kind of an emotional wreck, not only because of the stress from the odd medical complications Belle had, but because the NICU is a stressful place.  When nurses would rush around and you could her a monitor going haywire, my eyes would start to water because I knew what it ment.  All I can say is that I'm greatful for all the care they gave Belle even though she wasn't very high maintenance in comparison. 

The next 3 months were certainly a rollercoaster ride.  After all of that, it took soom time to get Arabella to breastfeed.  She had been on the bottle with breastmilk for so long that she was quite the lazy eater and breastfeeding was a bit too much work for her.  Then we discovered she has a few food allergies and I had to change up my diet to accomodate (that was not easy AT ALL).  Finally, even at 4 months, she wasn't getting enough food and wasn't growing.  Back to the bottle we went.  Now, after all of that, she's gaining weight consistently and is starting to reach some of the developmental milestones that she fell a bit behind on!  Steve and I have to laugh at what "noob" parents we are, but hey, it's all part of the process right.  The first kid is the ginuea pig (we were firsts too, so we have sympathy for her).  Now, it seems that we're dealing with teething....at least that's normal.  But man can this kid scream.  She's not enjoying this one bit.  Just a day in the life I suppose :).