Our "miracle" baby.

As soon as Tienna was born she was taken into a small room (within my delivery room) and examined by the NICU staff. She passed meconium in utero and they wanted to make sure she hadn't swallowed any. Jason went with her. (This isn't the miracle part).

While they were examining the baby (she was A-OK, by the way), the midwife asked me to give a couple more pushes in order to "birth" the placenta. (Gah! Really? I thought I was done pushing!)

After that was done, she examined the placenta, as usual, and discovered that we had a velamentous cord insertion. I had no idea what that meant, so she explained to me that the umbilical cord wasn't attached to the placenta in the normal spot. It was hanging on...barely. She said that it could have become disconnected during the birth, or if my water had broken at home, or any other time during my pregnancy...and we could have lost our sweet baby.

Usually this condition is discovered during the ultrasound mid-pregnancy. But Patricia had looked over my ultrasound records just that morning while she was waiting for me to arrive at the hospital and saw nothing.

I can't imagine if we had discovered it at my 20-week ultrasound. I would have been afraid to sneeze! I would have been terrified throughout the remainder of my pregnancy.

I know this may seem like a small miracle, compared to what a lot of people go through. But it was a big deal to me. This pregnancy seemed a little surreal. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have another little person in our house. I couldn't picture what it would be like. I freaked myself out, thinking that this meant something was going to happen to my baby. That something would go wrong and I wouldn't actually bring her home with me. (I know, I drive myself crazy.)

I am just so glad that everything went well. The day of Tienna's birth was so perfect. I cherish the memory of every single second of that day. Because I know that things could have been vastly different. With the smallest twist of fate, it could have been the worst day of my life.

I am so grateful for my sweet, healthy baby. She is perfect. In every way.