Her Story So Far

Our baby girl was born July 25, 2012! She's amazingly beautiful and perfect! Here is her story so far.
It started Tuesday July 24th. I was feeling restless so told Brendan I wanted to go to the mall to eat dinner and then walk around the mall because I always read that walking helps move along labor. Id been having mild cramping, it felt like menstrual cramps but nothing bad. So we had dinner and walked. I made it one loop and was super tired so we went home. Oh I should warn you, I'm going to just tell it like it happened so if you're grossed out my bleeding, discharge and the like, you may want to turn away!
Anyway, I noticed that I was having some watery discharge. I'd been losing my mucus plug for a couple days so I assumed it had to do with that.
The next morning I had an appointment with Dr. Bodon for an ultrasound so get an idea of how big she was. I went to work early that day then left for my appointment. We did the ultrasound, the tech said she had a big belly but not so big head. And that she was probably around 8 lbs 6 ounces. Yikes! I went in for my checkup with Dr. Bodon and waited for a while. When she came in she asked about the watery discharge. I told it'd started last night and she checked it for amniotic fluid, which it was. Apparently my waters were leaking. She told me that I would have to go to the hospital and probably be induced, since we weren't exactly sure how long they'd been leaking.
And so I got out of there and called my mom since she had to fly here from Oregon. Told her to get a flight and get down here. Then I called Brendan and told him to get off work and come home. I went back to work to hand out some of the things I was working on then went to the house to get everything we needed.
We got to the hospital around 11am. They were expecting me, so we went to our room and settled in. They hooked me up to antibiotics just in case of bacteria from my waters leaking. We just kind of hung out there for a while until the pitocin they also gave me started to kick in. It's a medicine to help induce labor. Well for me it started to kick in a little too well. Normally contractions come and go, like ebbing and flowing, peaking then settling down. For about two hours, my contractions just kept coming. It would get bad, start to come down and then start back up again. I had no rest. And my contractions were low so the monitor wasn't picking them up. I was miserable. Finally the epidural man came. Hooray!!! He was explaining all the risks and everything and Brendan was asking questions but I totally didn't care at all and just wanted him to help. So he put in the epidural. Brendan said it was pretty weird to watch but I was in pain and didn't even really care. After that kicked in I was feeling totally fine. At around 5pm I was 5cm and was trying to rest and take a nap. That didn't work out so well with all the wires and my blood pressure cuff going off every 10 minutes. But at least I was able to rest a bit. My moms flight was getting in at 7:45 and my dad was on his way too. I'm not sure exactly what time he got there, but it was awesome that he made it!
The next time the doctor came in, she checked me and said you're 9 1/2, it's time to start pushing. I started to panic a little bit, my mom wasn't there yet and I wasn't sure if I was ready! But that doesn't stop babies! So they turned off my epidural and I started pushing through the contractions. Honestly the next while is a bit fuzzy, but it was PAINFUL. I was pushing and Brendan and the doctor could see the top of her head but my back was hurting so bad I couldn't even think straight. All I could think about was my back and making it stop hurting and getting away from the pain. Down there wasn't even registering on my pain-o-meter. The doctor told me that her head was face up so it was a little bit harder for her to come out. Turns out when they're head up it's like giving birth to a baby that weighs an extra pound. It's really hard to push them out. So after a while of pushing as hard as I could and crying and thinking I couldn't do it she offered to help with the vacuum. She attached it to her head and starting trying to get her out with my pushing and the sucking of the vacuum. It got to a point when I honestly didn't think it was going to happen. I didn't think I could push anymore or that my pushing was going to get her out. I was trying with all my might and suddenly she was almost there! Her head came out and that's when my mom ran in the room! She JUST got there to see her get totally pulled out and be born. My mom made it! And Camille was finally born! July 25, 2012 and 8:00 pm. They took her and started cleaning her and making sure all was right with her. I stayed on the bed and Dr. Bodon started stitching up my insides, while I attempted to wrap my brain around it all. Brendan stayed by the baby and took pictures and watched them clean her up. She weighed in at 6 pounds 12 ounces, WELL off the expected weight but THANK GOODNESS she wasn't 8lb6oz! I don't know how that would've worked at all!
She got all cleaned up and I got all stitched and cleaned up and they gave her to me to hold. She was so beautiful. It's impossible to describe that moment, I was just so happy. It was amazing.
We hung in the room for a while longer, letting everyone hold her and her getting a bath. I was starving and thirsty but it was late and nothing was open so the nurse brought my a sandwich. It was bread and turkey, which I balked at first, but then totally ate it. Poor Brendan was starving too, since he hadn't eaten much all day either! So I told him to go get some food while we waited to be moved. Eventually they figured out which room we were going to and we started getting ready to go downstairs. Recovery is like on the OTHER side of he hospital so they put me in a wheelchair and my parents loaded up our stuff onto a cart and away we went.
We had the room all to ourselves which was really nice. It had an adjusty bed for me, crib for Camille and a terrible chair that turned into a terrible bed for Brendan. That first night was rough. I tried to feed the baby a couple time, it was only working so so. I got an hour and half sleep that night. Every time the baby would move I was worried something bad was happening. I was so worried I was going to break her or hurt her.  Thursday, my parents came over while Brendan went home to try to get some real sleep. We just kind of hung out in the room while the nurses came and went with all their million tests and checks. I was insanely thirsty but otherwise was a-ok. I was able to take a shower which seriously felt like the most amazing thing ever. That night my mom stayed at the hospital while Brendan slept at home. I got like 3 hours of sleep and was feeling fine. Friday, we were hoping we would be going home that day and Raime came to see us! She held Camille and brought us flowers :-) But then the nurse came in and said the pediatrician wanted to talk to me on the phone. When I got on he told me that the baby had an infection and needed to go to NICU and wouldn't be going home with us. The nurse told me that Brendan could go with her but I had to wait until I was discharged. I was devastated and crying. I felt like I had done something wrong, was somehow unfit and was hurting her. I was crying and she was crying and I was trying to calm down but I was freaking out about her leaving me. We hadn't been apart really yet and it was killing my heart for her to leave.
I was discharged a couple hours later and headed upstairs to the NICU area. She was in a bed with a warming lamp and already had a ton of wires and tubes coming off her when I got there. Brendan explained what was going on. I'm so glad that he went with her so that she wasn't alone. Basically she probably swallowed amniotic fluid and maybe meconium while she was being born and she got a little infection. They gave her some shots but it wasn't enough so they had to hook her up to an IV of antibiotics. She would be staying there for 7-10 days. And I had to go home every night without her. There aren't beds in the NICU so I couldn't stay with her all the time. Looking around the NICU I realize how very very lucky I am, there are babies in bubbles, with tubes breathing for them. It's heartbreaking. But it doesn't make leaving her there any easier.
We've fallen into a routine of being there for her 8am feeding and pretty much all day. We leave around 9pm and I come home and pump twice during the night so she has food for the nighttime when I'm not there. She's a good baby, she's not too fussy, loves to just sit up and look around. My mom comes with me on most days and we've got a system all worked out, setting up privacy screens and the pumping station, I feed her, then Grammi holds her while I pump. I keep reminding myself that she's okay there, she doesn't even know any different, she's never gone home, doesn't know that there's an awesome room waiting for her.
I am hopeful that the doctors will give us a date soon of when she'll be able to come home. The nurses have told us it's 7-10 days but they have to assess her numbers so they couldn't give a day. We should be getting new infection test results soon. Every time she's had them the numbers have halved. her high point was 1.44, then .89, then .45 then .28. Fingers crossed that the next one is at zero. Friday will be a week since she's been there. I want to hold my baby without cords and wires coming out of her. I want to bring her home and snuggle her. She's so beautiful, she's like a little baby dolly. I know I'm biased but I'm seriously blown away by how pretty she is.
Here's some random pictures

Fingers crossed, pray, do a rain dance, whatever it is you do, please do it for Camille to come home and be healthy. Thank you for all the love you all have given us.