Once again we found ourselves four days past our due date and decided again to go for an induction. I was a little bit progressed, and my doctor would only let us go to 41 weeks anyway. Mom came in on Sunday night to watch Josiah, and we headed out Monday morning at 6:30 a.m. to UAB's new Women's and Children's Center.
We had to wait about an hour in the lobby for a room to open and nurse to arrive. Once there, they broke my water and started me on Pitocin. We had a great nurse; she was calm and kind and careful, but not overbearing. She told us she had been doing labor and delivery for 18 years - that's good to hear! I was having some pretty strong contractions, and the epidural took a while to arrive. It finally did, but it dropped my blood pressure pretty low. So they gave me a ephedrine, and it made my heart start beating out of my chest.
The epidural did such a good job that I took a little snooze while Jonathan watched the World Cup. I awoke from that nice nap to my nurse shaking me, telling me to shift my weight. Soon half the nurses on the floor and several residents were in my room, turning me side to side. Micah's heart rate had dropped suddenly, so they started wheeling me to the OR for a C-section. I can only attribute it to God's mercy that I didn't feel panicked or scared. We were both just praying.
By the time we got to the OR, Micah's heart rate had stabilized and my doctor arrived shortly afterward. We stayed about 10 minutes, but everything looked fine, so we went back to our delivery room. Jonathan commented that it was a good reminder that God was in charge.
The actual delivery went much quicker than last time. I could feel the contractions enough to push, but it wasn't painful. Plus I knew better which muscles to use, and he was out in about 20-30 minutes. One of the first things I noticed was how different his cry was from how I remembered Josiah's.
Then things started down the same path we had been on last time. His oxygen saturation was low, and breathing was fast. The resident who saw him was super nice and seemed optimistic that it should resolve shortly. Despite that, I broke down crying when Mom and Mrs. Sharon came into to see me: "They took him away again!"
We went to see him in the NICU later that night and met with the attending physician. He was concerned about his chest x-ray, saying he thought it looked more like pneumonia. That meant a 7-day treatment of antibiotics, which had to be administered via IV in the hospital. The good news was that I could start nursing him, and we could visit him whenever we wanted.
I remember touring the new hospital a month prior to my delivery and seeing the NICU and thinking, "This is amazing. I hope we don't need it, but it's a great facility." There were several differences between this facility and our last hospital: each child has their own room and there's a great 24-hour visitation policy.
The next day (one day after delivery), we meet with a different attending physician. She said his X-ray still looked bad and she wanted to rule out heart deformities (they had heard a new murmur), as well as get an lumbar puncture to rule out meningitis. All of this sent Jonathan spiraling into miserableness. For me, ignorance was bliss, but Jonathan knew enough that it sent him into life-and-death contemplations (but God used it to teach him some great things!).
By the end of the day, they had ruled out the heart issues and the LP was clear. At that point, we were happy that it was just pneumonia! Once again, we just had to glance around the NICU to realize how blessed we were to know that our child was mostly healthy, and our stay had an end point in the near future.
Josiah at this point was having a rough time. We decided it would be best for Jonathan to stay home with him, but he still was not doing well with his Mama not at home and his schedule rocked. I stayed with Micah, but tried to meet the boys for lunch and dinner. Several people stepped up quickly to bring us meals - such a blessing! Jonathan did an awesome job taking care of Josiah and the house. It was a little ironic for him to be home, and Mom spending all her time at the hospital.
Once again, it was not easy, but we're grateful for the lessons God teaches us through trials (apparently we needed a refresher course). And now we have two beautiful children!
We had to wait about an hour in the lobby for a room to open and nurse to arrive. Once there, they broke my water and started me on Pitocin. We had a great nurse; she was calm and kind and careful, but not overbearing. She told us she had been doing labor and delivery for 18 years - that's good to hear! I was having some pretty strong contractions, and the epidural took a while to arrive. It finally did, but it dropped my blood pressure pretty low. So they gave me a ephedrine, and it made my heart start beating out of my chest.
The epidural did such a good job that I took a little snooze while Jonathan watched the World Cup. I awoke from that nice nap to my nurse shaking me, telling me to shift my weight. Soon half the nurses on the floor and several residents were in my room, turning me side to side. Micah's heart rate had dropped suddenly, so they started wheeling me to the OR for a C-section. I can only attribute it to God's mercy that I didn't feel panicked or scared. We were both just praying.
By the time we got to the OR, Micah's heart rate had stabilized and my doctor arrived shortly afterward. We stayed about 10 minutes, but everything looked fine, so we went back to our delivery room. Jonathan commented that it was a good reminder that God was in charge.
The actual delivery went much quicker than last time. I could feel the contractions enough to push, but it wasn't painful. Plus I knew better which muscles to use, and he was out in about 20-30 minutes. One of the first things I noticed was how different his cry was from how I remembered Josiah's.
Then things started down the same path we had been on last time. His oxygen saturation was low, and breathing was fast. The resident who saw him was super nice and seemed optimistic that it should resolve shortly. Despite that, I broke down crying when Mom and Mrs. Sharon came into to see me: "They took him away again!"
We went to see him in the NICU later that night and met with the attending physician. He was concerned about his chest x-ray, saying he thought it looked more like pneumonia. That meant a 7-day treatment of antibiotics, which had to be administered via IV in the hospital. The good news was that I could start nursing him, and we could visit him whenever we wanted.
I remember touring the new hospital a month prior to my delivery and seeing the NICU and thinking, "This is amazing. I hope we don't need it, but it's a great facility." There were several differences between this facility and our last hospital: each child has their own room and there's a great 24-hour visitation policy.
The next day (one day after delivery), we meet with a different attending physician. She said his X-ray still looked bad and she wanted to rule out heart deformities (they had heard a new murmur), as well as get an lumbar puncture to rule out meningitis. All of this sent Jonathan spiraling into miserableness. For me, ignorance was bliss, but Jonathan knew enough that it sent him into life-and-death contemplations (but God used it to teach him some great things!).
By the end of the day, they had ruled out the heart issues and the LP was clear. At that point, we were happy that it was just pneumonia! Once again, we just had to glance around the NICU to realize how blessed we were to know that our child was mostly healthy, and our stay had an end point in the near future.
Josiah at this point was having a rough time. We decided it would be best for Jonathan to stay home with him, but he still was not doing well with his Mama not at home and his schedule rocked. I stayed with Micah, but tried to meet the boys for lunch and dinner. Several people stepped up quickly to bring us meals - such a blessing! Jonathan did an awesome job taking care of Josiah and the house. It was a little ironic for him to be home, and Mom spending all her time at the hospital.
Once again, it was not easy, but we're grateful for the lessons God teaches us through trials (apparently we needed a refresher course). And now we have two beautiful children!
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