Grace Is Born

Our first child, Grace Anne, was born at 12:11pm on the 27th of December 2001 at the Royal Hospital For Women, Randwick. She weighed 3.340kg (7lb 5oz), and measured 51cm (just over 20 inches).

27 Dec 2001I had a great sleep last night. Unfortunately Megan can’t say the same thing — she started getting contractions around midnight, but didn’t call until 5:30 this morning to let me know she was being moved to the delivery suite. I quickly got dressed and headed over to the hospital (luckily it’s only 2 minutes away).

The delivery progressed smoothly (as these things go), and Grace Anne Collins was born on 27-12-2001, at 12:11pm. She weighed 3.340kg (7lb 5oz), and was 51cm long (just over 20 inches).

Due to her heart problem (an AV Septal Defect), Grace was placed into Level 3 care in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. She hasn’t required oxygen or medication yet, which is a good sign, although she is on a glucose drip to keep her blood sugar level up. There are half a dozen probes stuck all over her little body, monitoring things like blood pressure, pulse, blood oxygen level, breathing rate, temperature, etc.

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So far everyone is pleased with Grace’s progress. If she keeps doing well, the nurses expect to move her down to Level 2 care tomorrow.

Maryanne (Nan) and Nina arrived at the hospital around midday carrying bags of sewing to keep them occupied while they waited for the birth. As it turned out, they didn’t even get time to get anything out of their bags!

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Because Grace was born fairly early in the day, Robyn (Grandma), Ian (Granddad) and Todd (err, Uncle Todd) were able to drive up from Huskisson to visit in the early evening.

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