I don't usually post names of our kiddos but I did want you to know his name...for those of you who don't read my girls blogs.....Baby Noah arrived on Wed. Oct. 5th, almost 5 weeks early. I don't have alot of time to type since I am sitting in the NICU of a local hospital but I wanted to tell you of the Lord's goodness before heading, bleary-eyed, to bed for a couple of hours.
Last weekend I started having some contractions that were a bit bothersome to me in their frequency so I talked to my midwife. We had already decided a few days earlier that we should go back to the Perinatologist for another growth ultrasound for baby since he had a two vessel umbilical cord instead of a three vessel cord. My original appt was for the 10th or 11th of Oct. but we ended up moving it to Friday the 7th. Unfortunately Mark wasn't going to be able to go with me that day so I decided to give the dr.s office a call and ask if there was anyway I could come in on Wed. the 5th instead. I was able to get an appt. so on Wed. off we went.
I was still having some contractions off and on but nothing too serious. While the ultrasound tech was doing the scan she excused herself and came back with the doctor. I knew something was wrong at that point. The doctor proceeded to tell us that baby's heart rate had some periods of dipping down lower than he liked to see it. He suggested being monitored in the hospital for a few hours. We weren't thrilled with the idea as we had some things we wanted to get done that day but consented to it. DH and I decided that while I was hooked up to the monitors he would run our errands and then come back about the time I should be ready to head back to the dr. for him to tell us what he saw. While being monitored baby had several episodes of dropping heart rate for 3 or more minutes. When the second one happened with in a minute my room was flooded by nurses and doctors and I was quickly put up on my hands and knees to try to get baby to change positions and move off of the umbilical cord. Right at that moment is when Dad came through the door, shocked to see what was going on. I am sure he was expecting me to be just sitting demurely in the bed hooked up to the monitor. We were very quickly educated on the C-Section process, risks and benefits. They didn't have to convince me, I knew I didn't want to experience his heart rate dropping again like it had. That was very scary and I just cried out to the Lord while on my hands and knees for Him to bring baby's heart rate back where it needed to be.
Apparantly while they were getting me ready to go back to the OR baby had another drop in heart rate, which I didn't know about so they sped things up and wasted no time getting me in the OR. Dad had to wait a bit to come back until they had the anesthesia in place. God provided a wonderful staff in the OR. I had a student nurse at my side holding my hand and quoting Scripture to me the whole time until Dad was able to come in and then she came back to my side when he left to go with baby to the NICU. We didn't know until later that night that baby's APGAR score when he was born was a 1 which is the lowest you can get before there is nothing. His umbilical cord was wrapped 4 times around his neck and he had a knot in his cord. The OB Dr. who did the c-section said that if I had waited to come in even one day the outcome of his delivery would have been drastically different, meaning we probably would have been looking at a Stillbirth. Everyone in the OR was amazed when I told them that I actually wasn't supposed to have come in until Friday. We have been able to share with alot of people while here the Lord's hand in all of this and we have had alot of Christian nurses which has been wonderful.
There are so many babies here that need prayer and their families too so if you think about it, pray for the NICU babies. That is how I fall asleep each night while here. Tonight we will be sleeping in the family room with Noah which is a last step before being discharged tomorrow, Lord willing.
