Birth Story

***Warning...rantings of a new mom...this is long and I can't get the spacing to work!!*** What a week! One that we will never forget! We are thrilled to welcome our sweet, little baby and have instantly fallen in love with her. We're figuring out her name, but here are the things that led to her early arrival: * Prenatal Visit (32 weeks) - Tuesday, March 29th - Up to this point, everything had been great with our pregnancy. I felt really good and am someone who loves being pregnant - especially feeling the baby move, etc. At this visit, I was measured at 31 and the baby's heart rate was great. BUT, there were traces of protein in my urine. This was disappointing, but not shocking (as it's happened with the last 4 pregnancies). Dr. Brown wasn't overly concerned because "trace protein" in and of itself is fine. I asked for a few dipsticks to take home and then scheduled my 34 week check. * Wednesday, March 30th through Sunday, April 3 - We took a family trip to Union, OR to visit Jon's parents while the kids had spring break. We had a wonderful, relaxing time! * Sunday night/early Monday morning - April 4th - When we got home from Union, I dipped a urine stick and could easily tell the protein level had increased. During the night on Sunday, I didn't feel the baby move around very much, so I called my doctor's office on Monday morning. They told me to go to Labor & Delivery for a non-stress test. Jon & I headed over there after getting kids to school/preschool & Hannah to play with Heidi (Alisha - thank you again so much!). (Although, we did take our neice, Brooklyn with us. I watch her on Mondays and she's still at such an easy age, that we just took her. She was really good and Jon took care of her. I know hospitals see all types, but I'm sure they wondered what we were doing there 33 weeks pregnant with an 11 week old). The NST went fine and they felt like the baby was doing well enough to send us home. But, they wanted me to collect 24 hours of urine and then come back on Tuesday for another NST. I was so grateful to have the chance to go home and spend the afternoon getting things put away from our trip and clean a little bit. I also packed a hospital bag, just in case... * Tuesday, April 5, 2011 - My sister Becky came over to work from our house (how tricky that must have been!) and watch Hannah (and later all the kids when they got home from school/playdates). Jon and I went in for the NST. They hooked us up and over the course of a few hours, put an IV in, took blood work and watched the baby. They weren't thrilled with what she was doing on the NST. Every once in awhile, when I'd have a contraction, her heart rate would dip low and would take longer than they'd like to get back up. The protein level from the 24 urine came back really high. Normal is right around 100, mine was over 600, which probably means the protein level was near a +5. My doctor came in and we decided to start a course of 2 steroid injections (24 hours apart, ideally), have an ultrasound done to determine fluid levels & size of the baby, and to keep me in the hospital on monitors and watch her heartrate. Our goal at that point, was to make it to Thursday and then do a C-Section (unless she suddenly had absolutely perfect heartrates and the protein seemed to be controlled). They did the steroid injection (in the bum), which hurt! Talk about thick serum! The ultrasound went well and the fluid levels were still great. The baby looked good and they estimated she'd be about 4 lbs. 7 oz. (although they told us it was give or take a pound). We made the decision to fly Jon's mom in from Oregon and looking back, everything fell in to place for that to happen. Jon's sister Anne had gone up to Oregon with us and was already planning on staying about a week and a half longer. And then, his sister, Rebecca, ended up helping a co-worker by taking a couple of weeks off. Those 2 great sister-in-laws, were willing to let Diane come and help us, while they stayed to take care of Jon's dad. Jon went home around 6 to finally relieve Becky & John from our kids. He gathered them up and brought them to the hospital, mostly so they could see that I was fine and that everything was calm and okay. They didn't stay very long as they were exhausted. As, I settled in for the night around 10:30, everything seemed fine on the monitors. But, as soon as I would doze off, the baby's heart rate would drop during contractions (or non contractions) and they'd come in and have me shift around to try to get her to happy again. It was a really long night, with not more than a few minutes of sleep. The nurses talked with my doctor (who happened to be on call) on and off during the night and then came in at 7:00 a.m. and told me that Dr. Brown felt it was better to do the C-Section that morning instead of waiting another 24 hours for the steroids. They did give me the 2nd steroid shot and then I called Jon to tell him to come over. We were so blessed that my brother Mike could watch the little kids at our house, so as soon as he got there, Jon came over to the hospital. They had me all prepped for surgery, so as soon as Jon was ready, we walked back to the OR. Jack's C-Section was much more emergent (I walked into the hospital and an hour later, he was out), so this one's prep was much more calm. I had a really great anesthesiologist, my own doctor was there to do the C-Section, and I had a really great ER doctor at my side!! That doctor was the one who knew right when to slip me his hand (during my spinal block) and what to tell me during the surgery. The surgery went well and our sweet baby was born at 9:50 a.m. and came out screaming! What an incredible blessing! I was so happy to hear her screaming over and over (probably more than any of our other kids have screamed). Jon said she was quite blue when she first came out, but pinked up really quickly. The doctor also said she was quite tangled in her cord - it was around her leg, her arm and and her body. They weighed and measured her and she was 3 lbs. 15 oz. and 17 1/2 inches long. Jon went with her to the NICU while they stitched me up, but he was back by the time they finished. He said that she was doing really well - including breathing completely on her own. They immediately started an IV on her, and hooked her up to the normal wires (heartrate, oxygen levels, etc). She is perfect in every way - just a miniature version of a healthy baby. She has really long fingers & hands (like Lindsey), blonde eyebrows and a little blonde hair at the front of her head and a little darker hair in the back. Having a baby in the NICU is full of highs & lows. One visit to peek at her is uplifting and positive and the next can be emotional and tough. We are eternally grateful for each and every thought and prayer that have been sent out way. We feel them, those prayers are being answered, they strengthen us and we are excited to watch this sweet baby grow!