Michelle Marie

This is the story of our beautiful baby girl . . .

We thought she was going to be born in Nashville, TN in July, NOT over memorial day weekend in May, while we were 'vacationing' in TX!

She is our first, and probably to be our only, TX girl.  We arrived to my parents' the Saturday before memorial day, ready to spend a few days, and then head back.  Well, when we arrived I noticed that I was really starting to swell, even in my hands and feet.  Figuring it was from the drive down, I tried to just take it easy for a couple of days.  Even on self prescribed bed rest, the swelling did not improve.  By Monday morning, after doing nothing but laying on my side and drinking plenty of fluids, I started to notice other signs of pre-clampsia, like headaches and such.  I went to the hospital Monday morning with blood pressure out of control, and protein levels running rampant.  The hospital decided to keep me to monitor me and baby for 24 hours, and see how my blood pressure did.  With no improvement by Tuesday night, they decided I needed to stay there indefinitely and just let baby girl grow.  That quickly changed when the dr got more of my test results overnight.  Wednesday morning the dr was in my room waking me up to say, 'we need to deliver baby, today!'  I was in complete shock, but understood why.  Baby was doing great, while mom was really not doing so well.  The dr thought it would be safest to deliver, rather than wait and let conditions worsen.  So, at 32 weeks and 2 days, our baby daughter was born.  

She is currently in the NICU here in Plano, and doing well.  She is just so very tiny.  She has been able to breathe room air since birth, and is just busy learning to eat (generally babies don't learn to do this in the womb until 34-36 weeks, so she is being fed by a tube).  Her biggest job right now is to continue to gain weight and keep herself warm (preemie babies loose weight just like full term babies at birth, and just today she reached her birth weight again!).  It is a delicate balance, but she is doing well.  I was able to come home from the hospital a week later, on Monday.  It is so hard to leave her at the hospital each day when I go visit, but I know she is in good hands.  The NICU she is at is one of the very best, and Bryce and I have been very pleased. 

 We love her so very much, and realize what a special blessing she is in our lives.  Tyler and Natalie are not allowed in the NICU, and do not understand that their new baby sister is here.  It is very hard for them to relate when they can't see or hold her.  But they love to see pictures and hear about her.

Fortunately we are able to stay here with my family until Michelle comes home.  My mom and family are here to help, and it is such a blessing to have all the support we have. 

Michelle Marie Unck

born May 27th, 2009

4 lbs 1.5 oz, 17 1/2 inches long

12:37pm