Abigail Ann Kissel, born July 25th

Abby was born at 12:21am on July 25th.  She was about 4 pounds 5 ounces (probably a bit less since she had a shirt and diaper on when she was weighed) 16 3/4 inches long.

We kept her laying on my tummy just loving her and giving her kisses.  The doctor (who walked in after she was born) just sat by us while we enjoyed our daughter.  We kept the cord connected until it stopped pumping blood, about 10 minutes.  I think that is longer than normal but I may have heard that wrong.  Our doctor was in the OR so he missed being there, but he dropped by later and then visited us each day in the hospital.

Our photographer was there quickly after Abby came out, we tried to have her there for the birth but it all happened too quickly.  I'm so excited to see the pictures that she was able to capture.

As soon as Abby had her first bath we invited everyone in to meet her.  Our room filled with so much love.  Our friends and family had been waiting so patiently (probably impatiently if they are like me).  Little Abby was passed from person to person, getting love and kisses.  I just sat there taking it all in, feeling so much appreciation for the gift of Abby and the love that was surrounding her.

After everyone had left we took her to the Special Care Nursery to have her blood sugar and o2 stats taken as well as getting an IV going.  Since her body was working hard to stay strong we wanted to help out with some sugar (she wasn't strong enough to try breast feeding).  We also decided that an IV was the best choice to get her stabilized and we would work on getting a feeding tube later.

 Andrew enjoyed meeting his baby sister.  The big kids were barely able to wake for a picture, then crawled back into bed... Andrew was up for a party.  He stayed up until after 3am when he went home to go to bed. The whole time he was wanting to hold Abby and touch her nose or give her kisses. So precious.

 About an hour after birth.

 Getting warm with her Daddy. During her ultrasounds we saw her with her hand up by her face a lot.  This picture reminds us of one from the ultrasound.  

She was always calm when her Daddy was holding her.  Clearly that was a happy place for both of them.