The doctors rushed Piper to the NICU to clear her airway minutes after she was born and kept her there for 6 long hours. As a brand new mom this scared me almost to death. My heart sank deeper than I knew possible. I couldn’t be away from her and insisted the nurses wheel me to her side after an hour of separation. They cleared her airway successfully and she was monitored for the remaining mandatory set amount of hours.
Holding Piper in the NICU
The next night, the nurses said Piper was too quiet and took her back to the NICU, finding she had a heart murmur and three small holes in her heart, another big scare as a first time parent. I imagine even as a second or third time parent this would be difficult news to hear about your child. She had to see a cardiologist every 3 months for a year and a half to be monitored but the holes and murmur ended up being nothing to worry about. They have since healed completely. At 1&½, Piper’s cardiologist cleared her heart as healthy as can be!
The largest obstacle we faced with Piper was hip-dysplasia. According to her doctors she was in the breech position for months, causing her leg joints to form outside of her hip sockets. The day we were released from the hospital we immediately went to an orthopedist and got Piper fitted for a brace to correct the dysplasia. We took her to weekly orthopedist appointments and she wore her brace for her first 3 months. She wasn’t too happy about it either. Luckily she won’t remember anything, and I’m convinced that brace turned her into Super Baby. As soon as we got the okay to take the brace off she was rolling over, and shortly after crawling before she could even sit on her own. Piper walked at 9 months and hasn’t slowed down since!
Writing it all down makes it sound so much worse than it felt at the time. Being a parent can be a scary thing.
We celebrated with a trip to the park after getting good news about Piper’s heart!
Thankfully all Piper’s health issues ended up being temporary little things in the grand scheme of life. Today Piper is a healthy, happy, snuggly, little girl full of energy and love. We are so lucky we have this sparkle of sunshine in our lives. She changed us for the better. I can’t wait to meet her little sister and experience a double dose of love! Fingers are crossed we don’t have any complications with our new little love.
May 22nd is coming quickly…!
Xo- Alia
