We're finally home...and loving every moment. Danny and I could stare at Cadence all day. We absolutely love her. She's a great baby. We all came home on Tuesday afternoon. We were originally supposed to come home on Monday, but Cadence had other plans...
About 6 hours after Cadence was born (around 9:00 pm), one of the nurses who was taking care of me came into our room to let us know that while she was completing some routine tests, the decision was made to admit Cadence to the NICU. We were told that she was breathing rapidly and they were concerned with her oxygen levels. Around midnight, the NICU nurse practitioner (who knows my mom well), came into our room and told us that there were several reasons as to why Cadence might be having difficulties, but we would have to wait for more results. We were both completely overwhelmed and nervous about our baby's future.
During the early morning hours (2:00 am or so), Danny and I went to visit Cadence in the NICU. It was really hard seeing her hooked up to so many monitors! Especially since she seemed so healthy when we saw her last. The neonatologist would be making his rounds in the morning so we knew we would have to wait until then to receive the chest x-ray results and we would have to see if her blood culture results came back negative (they thought she might have pneumonia). We would either be going home on Tuesday or as late as next Saturday if she was sick .
It was nerve wracking when holding Cadence. The nurses were monitoring her heart rate, her respiratory rate, and her oxygen levels. She was also hooked up to oxygen through her nose. Sometimes one of her sensors would come loose and her monitors would begin beeping. We would get so nervous that something was happening!
Every day, Cadence graduated to a new level. At first she was weaned off of her oxygen. After that, she no longer was under a warmer. Next they were able to decrease the amount of fluids she was receiving from her IV. We weren't able to feed her in the beginning.
It was difficult being in the NICU, but the experience allowed us to meet a lot of great nurses and doctors that were able to help us along the way. Breastfeeding slowly became a breeze after all of the help we received. Cadence was eventually taken off of all monitors. It was reassuring to hear one of the nurses refer to Cadence as a "large" baby. There were so many babies around Cadence that were having a lot of difficulties. We felt blessed to have a baby that was doing so well.
Everyone at St. Ann's was phenomenal and tried their best to make Danny and me comfortable. Danny was such a great support and I don't know what I would have done without him. He is going to be the best dad.
I appreciate all of the help that we received from family and friends -- especially from my mom. She was working the night that we were admitted to the hospital and clocked out when we arrived. She was running on even less sleep than we were, but you would have never known it!
When we were discharged, it was determined that Cadence had Transient Tachypnea of Newborn (and not meconium aspiration or pneumonia). I looked online to learn more about TTN, and basically, a baby with TTN breathes faster and harder to get enough oxygen into the lungs because extra fluid still remains in the lungs after birth. If you want to learn more, you can visit
http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/lungs/ttn.html.
Here is a group shot with Dr. Jenkins. She is a terrific doctor. I had no doubt that she was going to make sure Cadence arrived into this world safely!
One of mom's co-workers decorated Cadence's crib for us! It was so cute and really lifted our spirits!
Here is Cadence in the NICU hooked up to all of her monitors, but still as cute as can be!
Here is the proud Daddy!
Grandma Iacobucci and Cadence
Cadence with Poppa Iacobucci
Uncle Mike with Cadence
Mammaw Schuerman and Cadence
Pappaw Schuerman and Cadence
Our little Buckeye!
Time to go home!!!
On our way!
First impromptu bath after (after her first blow-out!) She wasn't too thrilled, but she was clean!
Scarlet already babysitting!
Cadence's grandma and great-grandma!
Her little bonnet made her look like a cute Amish baby! :)
Grandma and Pepe
My Auntie Dianne is Cadence's godmother, my brother is her godfather 
Danny being funny ("the circle of life..." like the Lion King)
The Schuerman family
The Iacobucci family
Deacon Demidovich performed the baptism
Here she is in her 4th of July outfit after the baptism (thanks for the outfit Michelle!)
I just love this face!!
Taking a snooze after her 1 month check-up! You can see her boo-boo from her 2nd hepatitis B vaccine. Cadence is now 8 lb. 3 oz. (25th percentile) and 22 inches long (75th percentile). We've got a tall, skinny kid on our hands!
I couldn't resist including this one! Ha!
