4 years ago...

today....oh what a day that was....it was the day my baby was born! We found out 4 days ago what sort of road we were going to be heading down, but that couldn't prepare us for what we were about to endure!!! It all started on Dec. 6th - 2004 when I took that pregnancy test to find out it was true, but 3 weeks later (just before Christmas) I started having complications.....needless to say the pregnancy was not the easiest, many visits to the doctor and even a little bed rest. I went in for a scheduled US on July 7th - only to find out she was head down and I was 3-4 cm and 90%, but the RN said to come back tomorrow cause Dr.Shinn would need to talk with me. I went back the next day by myself cause Nick was out of town, and he said the baby had a blockage in her stomach and there is a possibility she would need surgery....but surely he was wrong - that is what I thought! I had done everything the Drs asked me to do!!
So we were off to a specialist in Indy - Monday morning it was all confirmed, she would need surgery, and an Amnio was done that day to assure the doc that her lungs were developed!
We got the call on Wed July 13th - "the babies lungs are developed" they told us and we were on track to deliver the next day!!! I remember being so anxious yet so scared at the same time, and still convinced that the surgery would be in and out so we packed for 2 weeks!! I know - what were we thinking!
We arrived at the hospital at 10am on Thursday July 14th - me, Nick, my parents, and Monica! His family was to follow later in the day - I was so nervous, but got my epidural and off we went, finally at 6 something the doc said it's time to push and my room went from being quiet and calm to crazy....I would say about 10 people and I didn't have any family in there! Most of the them were the NICU team, I was so scared but I did it, and out she came, so beautiful.....Jaya Jane Deckard born at 6:48pm @ 3lbs. 12oz. and 18.5 inches long!
We had a long hard road ahead of us....I had never seen a NICU before and wow what an eye opening experience, I will NEVER forget it! When Jaya was 1 week old we had her baptized in the NICU, Rajeev and Tiff are her godparents - it was a small but nice ceremony....our parents were able to be there as well as Kait! Finally she could have her surgery and get her colostomy bag....but that wasn't the end, she would need 4 more major surgeries and numerous outpatient surgeries as well!
Finally on Sept 6 at 8 weeks old I was able to bring her home all 6lbs of her!!! It was so nice to be at home but nervous, no monitors to let me know how her heart was and no nurses to help. Thankfully though we didn't have to sleep at the hospital thanks to Bailey and Anne! They took us in for the entire time she was there and for all our future visits!!! The next 2 years were very difficult but we made it through - and so did she!!!
I won't bore you all with more details but she has come so far and so have we - we are so thankful everyday for all the nurses, NICU teams, and docs who took care of our baby and we can't say thank you enough! And also to our amazing family and friends who helped us get through the struggles!!!! Jaya is an amazing little girl who fills our life with joy and happiness, hopefully one day she will read this and know how proud we are of her!!

So with all that said - HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAYA!!! We love you!!!