New Journey - Welcome to the world Abigail

Family and Friends I hope that you will be able to use our family blog to help stay in touch with our family and to keep you updated on Abigail and the rest of the family. I will try to post often and include pictures and brief explanations of what is happening. I also hope that his blog will help me do some of my own personal journaling of what is going on before it all starts to blur together. I will give warnings before going into details that some readers way wish to overlook.

Little did we know that just a week ago that we would be checking into Mercy and having a baby in March.

I was 23 weeks along when I started experiencing bleeding and cramping. We got to Mercy at about 7 PM on Saturday, Feb 28. Joshua was with us as the snow had started to fall and we knew no one would be able to get him to bed. I was admitted to Labor and Delivery and Travis and sleeping Joshua left the hospital at about 9:30 to go home. Things were okay over night and by the morning were looking better.

Warning Details
I had a sonogram on Sunday showing that my cervical length was shorter than it should be and a check the night before showed I was about 1 cm dilated. The high risk pregnancy doctor had to give me the harsh reality that our little girl could be born soon but not necessarily.

With Joshua in Red Bud now with my mom, Travis was able to stay at the hospital with me Sunday night. Sunday the cramps got worse along with the bleeding. A resident checked me and I was now 1-2cm dilated. The decision was made to give me magnesium to slow/stop labor as well as the first steroid shot to stimulate lung development. Once again on Monday things slowed down (I was now on the mag). The magnesium made it so that I was light headed and could only have a clear liquids diet of jello, broth, and popsicles. I still had bleeding on Monday night but no cramps and I was given the second does of steroids.

On Tuesday I got another sonogram and amniocentesis to see if there was an infection causing preterm labor and if it was bacterial then our little girl would need to be born very soon. By Tuesday late afternoon I was moved to the Antepartum wing in hopes that labor had subsided and we would be moving into bedrest for a prolonged time. When the night time hit however my cramps and bleeding returned. I was put back on monitors to watch baby's heart rate and my cramps/contractions; however, when checked my cervix was unchanged which was a good sign. The resident doctor was able to start seeing contractions through the readings and right away in the morning I was moved back to Labor and Delivery. Things settled a little but but cramps and bleeding continued. I was checked again and everything was still unchanged, it was looking like maybe we would just be in this state for a while. I was preparing myself to deal with labor pains for a few days! 

Like everyday my OB/GYN stopped in to see me and we discussed how this could go on for a while. Not to much later I spoke with the resident again explaining that cramps were getting a little worse and he reminded me that we were moving into the night time mode in which contractions get worse for most women. After he left I decided to relieve some pressure by using the bathroom. The nurse helped me get everything settled with the monitors back in bed and was out of the room. Not more than 3 minutes later things changed dramatically.

All of a sudden I could feel pressure and the pain increased. We pressed my call button and shared the changed. I could really feel the pressure and told my mom and Travis that they had to get someone in the room. Quickly the nurses responded as well as another resident. Within about 2 minutes our baby girl just came out in the bag of waters. The resident carefully moved her to the isolate and the nurses started doing their jobs. Within a few seconds the first nurses from NICU were there and the Dr. was there very soon as well. My resident dr. worked with me to finish labor.
End of labor details

The doctor and nurses worked quickly to resuscitate our 23 week, 4 day, Abigail and get her stable. Once her breathing tube was in her heart responded and then they gave her medicines to help open up her lungs. It seemed like time was flying away as I watched them work. Just thinking and praying for her to be okay. Once she was stable they moved her over to my bed so that I could look at her and touch her before they took her back to the NICU to continue to help her. Travis went with her and my mom stayed with me. I had to complete the recover process that every woman completes after delivering a baby.

Travis was back in short time because they were putting in Abigail's IV lines and he really could be in the room. Travis' parents were able to come up after getting his aunt and uncle to come and stay with sleeping Joshua. Pastor Reitz was also there quickly. After some time Travis, his parents, and pastor were able to go back to NICU and my mom stayed with me as I finished up recovery. They took me to my new room to unload stuff then I finally got to see my beautiful tiny little girl.

We are so thankful to Pastor Reitz who performed a very emotional baptism and made Abigail Lydia part of God's family.

I had to get back to my room to be admitted and after prayers everyone else left for the night. I was so thankful to be able to do what many new mothers do for their babies and start providing milk for her. After taking a sleep aid I was able to get the first nights sleep in 4 days (while still doing my Mommy duties).

In the morning I got to go see my little girls on my own accords. The nurses said she was doing great!

Thank you the awesome nurses, great resident doctors, Dr. Matt and Dr. Ryan, as well as all those who helped Abby and I during delivery. Thank you also to Abigail's nurses and NICU doctor, Dr. Booth.