Introducing Gracie Kay Ulrich!

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Born July 17th @ 8:30 pm, she weighed 4 pounds and 3 ounces. She is sweet little piece of heaven. She has brown hair, a lot more hair than Max ever had, and was 17 inches long.

Okay, so here is the long story of her birth. I felt yucky all week, a little crampy and my back was a little sore, but I thought I had just been holding Max too much. Then on Friday, I woke up early and went to Michelle's house to make some crafts for her room. When I finished up I felt super gross, and told Michelle I felt like an old lady cause my body was just achy. When I got home I realized that I really hadn't felt her move for a while so I starting doing kick counts. The doctor said I should feel the baby move at least 10 times in 2 hours. After about a half hour I started panicking because I had just eaten and she was usually so active. Finally, after a few intense contractions and still no movement I decided I had to go to the hospital. I dropped Max off at Michelle and Jake's and luckily Michelle came with me to the hospital.

When we got there they hooked me up to the monitors and told me she looked fine. I still didn't feel good about going home though, because I still hadn't felt her move and her heart rate was dropping every once in a while. I was also feeling contractions, but the monitor wasn't picking it up. The nurse kept assuring me that her heart rate looked good, but said she would call the doctor and let him know what was going on. The doctor ordered an ultrasound, and after 30 minutes there and trying to get her moving with no success, they sent me back to labor and delivery. I still wasn't too worried, or considering that they might deliver the baby, but I think that's cause Michelle was trying to distract me! Good job Michelle!

When we got back to Labor and Delivery the doctor was on the phone with a pediatric specialist at Primary Children's and he told my doctor they should deliver her based on the ultrasound. Apparently, she only got 2 out 10 points for her health. It was a whirlwind after that! Mike showed up right after I found out I had to deliver. They threw some clothes at him and rushed me back for surgery. It was crazy! Thanks to the big lunch I had I threw up the whole time they were delivering her and I didn't notice they had even begun when I heard her crying. I was so worried. They didn't show her to me or say anything...and I had to wait two hours before they rolled her into my room for 30 seconds.

Luckily, she has done extremely well since then and is already off oxygen and should be out of her isolette soon. She just started gaining weight and the nurse says she just needs to learn to eat now. She has already latched on a few times and has nursed really well about 5 times. Right now we are just letting her have her rest because she is a little jaundiced, and the doctor said it was best just to let her sleep that off before we try to stress her out and make her breastfeed.

I am so thankful for her sweet spirit and can't wait until Max gets to meet her tomorrow. What a crazy weekend! We are so grateful for our families and for all of their support. We hope she can grow up big and strong and come home soon!