Nadia Catherine Christine Bjarnason

Our daughter, Nadia Catherine Christine Bjarnason was born Saturday, Oct 22 by emergency c-section. She was 2 lbs 15 oz and was 41 cm long. It was a wild ride documented on Twitter @thoriscoolth. It was the scariest day of my life.

It turned out that Tara had pre-eclampsia, a condition potentially fatal for both mum and baby with the only treatment being getting the baby out. Over the course of 6 hours, a routine non-stress test at 10 am escalated into an emergency c-section at 4 pm. Two hours prior to delivery, we were told that the c-section was happening that day. It was my job to grab a bite to eat (having missed lunch, they were worried I would faint in the operating room) and make some phone calls before Tara went in for the c-section.

I was so scared. At this stage we knew Tara was dangerously ill, and the baby could be very sick as well because of mum's condition. When Nadia was born she immediately started crying, and I felt a great relief. 10 fingers 10 toes and a squirmy little baby!

I got to accompany Nadia to the NICU. Her arms and legs were moving and she was looking all over. She was born a bit small for her gestational age, and was cause for minor concern in the NICU. One of the reasons for delivery was that pre-eclampsia results in poor nutrition for to the baby in utero, so delivering early means we can better nourish the baby outside the uterus.

My sister in Vernon came as soon as she could and Tara's parents came out that night (Saturday), and the first few days went according to plans. Tara had wires and tubes coming out of her, and Frankenstein-looking staples in her abdomen, but she recovered quickly, and as soon as she had the lines taken out of her, she was walking around a bit. The following day, Tuesday, she could walk to the NICU on her own.

Everything initially went well with Nadia too. She was taking the feeds well and was getting supplementary nutrients through peripheral IVs and a PICC line. Unfortunately, the experts in Kelowna could not get the PICC line stable, and it failed after a day. They were not comfortable trying again, and decided Tuesday night that Nadia would have to go to Children's Hospital in Vancouver to continue treatment.

Wednesday morning Tara was discharged and accompanied Nadia by plane to Vancouver. I followed as soon as I was able by land, arriving in the late afternoon. I stayed in Vancouver with them until the following Monday, leaving for Kelowna in the afternoon. It was very difficult to leave Tara and Nadia that day.

My girls were in Vancouver just over 2 weeks. Nadia was flown back to Kelowna on November 10th. Unfortunately, there was not enough room on the air ambulance to bring Tara, so she booked her own flight later in the day.

My mum and sister came to visit the first weekend Nadia was back in Kelwona. In addition to getting to meet Nadia, they spent a few days with my other sister in Vernon, and cooked us loads of meals that they froze for us. They came in tremendously helpful when we were trying to be at the nursery every 3 hours during the day for her feedings.

After 48 days and weighing 5.5 lbs, Nadia came home with us today! In the words of cousin Kiran, we are having a baby for Christmas!

===Post Script===

If you followed my tweets, you might ask why I call her Valentine.

My father's father was 3 lbs when he was born on the farm, on Valentine's day. They kept him on the stove to keep him warm -- kind of an improvised incubator. So Nadia and Afi were nearly the same weight when born. Since Afi was born on Valentine's day, about half of his government forms -- things he would have filled out himself as various government initiatives started (such as SIN cards), Afi had "Valentine" as his middle name. My grandfather grew to be a big man, almost 6 ft tall. I thought it appropriate to give my daughter her first nickname in the likeness of her great-grandfather (langafi), having nearly shared the same birthweight.

The name Nadia means 'first' or 'the beginning' in hindu, and 'hope' in Ukranian. Catherine is Tara's mother's name and Chirstine was her nanny's name.

Nadia - We did our best naming you, giving you strong names and nicknames. The rest is up to you.