Blake's Birth Story...er...Saga?....Drama?

Part I

Yes, I'm going to share our story with you about Blake's birth and yes, it's at least a 2 part-er. ;)

Before I get into it, let me first say how much we appreciate so many of you faithful friends and loved ones for praying for us over a matter of many, many weeks. And when the crisis came you just kept your heads bowed for us. "Thank you" cannot begin to express our gratitude. It is for you and for Blake that I will relive the details and I hope it will bring glory to the One who got us through it.

Blake was born on Tuesday, January 3rd but we weren't really expecting him to be delivered until the next day at the earliest. I had been on bed rest for 3 weeks and we were scheduled to see the perinatologist on January 4th to measure Blake. If Blake showed adequate growth he'd stay in and if he didn't we'd go ahead and deliver on the 4th.

Well, my very wise and wonderful OB decided the week before that he didn't want me to go all the way to Wednesday without a doc checking on me so he had me come in to see him late morning on January 3rd. (Very good call, Dr. Cowen.) We knew my placenta and the cord were showing signs of or foreshadowing pre-eclampsia or HELLP syndrome but my blood pressure was ok so we were trying to wait and give Blake a little more time to develop.

The morning of the 3rd I told Jason to go on to work because we weren't going to have a baby that day (haha) and we might the next day so he should go ahead and get some things done to prepare for being out for a few days. My parents dropped Grant off at school and then went with me to my OB appt. I went in, sat down, the nurse took my BP and it was high. Dr. Cowen came right in and took it again and it was too high. He told me, "You're done. Today is a great day to have a baby." A c-section was scheduled for 3pm that afternoon and I had my dad call Jason to tell him to start packing up and heading to the hospital but not to hurry. (It wasn't even noon at this point.)

On my way out of the office Dr. Cowen had me duck into the sono room to see Janet, the sonographer, to "just take a peek" at Blake. Dr. Cowen and my mom followed me in, Janet jellied me up, and Blake appeared on the screen. Janet and Dr. C looked at each other and I knew something wasn't right. My amniotic fluid was down to 5.5 (If you remember I had issues earlier with my fluid level and anything under 6 is cause for immediate delivery.) and suddenly we were in an emergency situation. The "3pm c-section" turned into a "as soon as you get her prepped" delivery time frame. I called Jason and told him to hurry.

Things moved very fast and I was so grateful that Dr. C's office is on the first floor of the hospital. Kind of convenient since I like to have emergency c-sections with my babies.

There were a ton of medical personnel bustling around and the anesthesiologist was especially encouraging as I'd eaten breakfast that morning (again, not thinking I'd have a baby until the next day) and I was told there was no time to let my stomach empty out before surgery so I'd probably be vomiting everywhere. Awesome. They started pushing anti-nausea meds and many of you started praying as my mother texted out very specific (and perhaps graphic) prayer requests. Let me say that all of you who prayed against the nausea and vomiting are officially my best friends. Your prayers were answered and I never got sick. The anesthesiologist was shocked. God works even in the small stuff my friends. :)

Another concern was my lab work. If I was getting HELLP syndrome again then my platelet count may be too low to do a spinal block and I'd have to be intubated and knocked out for surgery. I didn't want to go this route for a myriad of reasons and thanks to many prayers as we waited for lab results my platelet count was fine. We were a go for the spinal block.

Blake's heartbeat was being continually monitored since my amniotic fluid was apparently drying up rapidly. Every time the nurse put the monitor on my belly and it would take a second to hear his heartbeat I lost a few months off my life. Excruciating. I just wanted someone to get him out!

Jason made it to the hospital and suited up just in time. Finally surgery started and Blake was out in a matter of minutes screaming his head off. Incidentally, he also peed on the assisting surgeon. Pretty funny. Dr. C kept telling me how great he looked and the NICU team told us he was looking really good too.

One of the NICU nurses checked the policies and procedures to make sure Blake weighed enough to stay out of the NICU (and he did by 1 ounce!) and we were told there was nothing wrong with him and he could stay in the OR and recovery room with us. It was a miracle! That little 4 lb. 13 oz. baby boy was perfectly formed at 36 weeks and 1 day. Glory! I was able to hold Blake and nurse him in the recovery room (none of which I was able to do with Grant) and we thought the worst was behind us. But we were wrong....