Lydia Gray is here!

The day we've all been waiting for over the past many months came over the weekend and it was nothing short of a series of answers to prayer. Lydia Gray is here!

Here's the story:

As the doctor's calculated due-date came and went*, Jenn and I were having visions of Lincoln's labor story again. We really wanted things to happen naturally, have a "normal" labor process, and end with a healthy, vaginal birth. But then at Jenn's doctor's visit on Thursday, October 14, they talked about scheduling induction for the following Monday. They described this process as routine and no-big-deal. Jenn and I then went to our small group on Friday evening and heard about just what the type of induction that the doctor was speaking of would entail, and we were not looking forward to it. (*The doctor calculated the due date as October 12. Jenn, with her months of charts and notes, calculated the due date as October 16. Jenn has a slight amount of satisfaction about this!)

We know that many folks were praying for us and for Lydia. Jenn and I had been praying for a long time that God would give us wisdom and clarity when it came to the birthing decisions we'd have to make. There was certainly anxiety in the back of our minds following our first experience, and the unknown of the coming delivery was weighing on our minds.

I mentioned a few posts back that I'd recently listened to Rich Nathan talk about waiting, how God's timing isn't our timing. He spoke about how it is not often that we take a request to God saying, "Fix this now," and have God simply fix it "now." And he's so right. But I also recall hearing and reading on a number of occasions that God wants us to share our concerns with Him, that He's interested in what we're interested in, and that a failure on our part to raise a concern that we may think is too small for Him is really a confession that we think He's too small for the concern. So I prayed on Friday evening that God would begin the labor process before our induction time on Monday. I'm not saying that this all worked out as it did simply because I'm a good prayer, but certainly the LORD heard our concerns and provided for our desires.

Jenn began feeling contractions that were different from all those before on Saturday morning. We went about our weekend routine of spending time outside, as evidenced by the recent blog posts. By mid-day Jenn felt confident that Lydia would arrive by the end of the weekend. We continued to pray. By the time we got to Boo At The Zoo at 4:00pm, the contractions were coming about every 5 to 7 minutes. Then, sometime around 8 to 9, they started coming about every 3 to 4 minutes and they were increasing in intensity. In a very short period of time, they went from bearable to nearly unbearable, and that's when we went to the hospital. Jess, our Doula, was surprised how fast this period passed.

When we arrived at the hospital, Jenn couldn't talk through the contractions, they checked her and she was 6 cm dilated and 90% effaced. This was fantastic news. We had determined between the two of us (with some Godly wisdom) that if she was only 1 or 2 cm dilated then we'd move for the C-section right off the bat. We saw no use in complete exhaustion and depression. But a vaginal delivery was looking possible (we took this as an answer to the "please provide clarity" prayer.) The nurse then hooked her up to a fetal monitor, and then they determined that Lydia's heart rate was slower than it should have been. It's not an exaggeration to say that a panic ensued. Nurses were scrambling, the on-call OB was paged, an IV catheter was placed, fluids were run, an oxygen mask was applied. Thankfully, her heart rate picked back up again. Jenn needed and asked for an epidural.

Placing the epidural required a full liter of fluids to be given, and that was taking some time. And then it took a while for the epidural to be placed because of a slight curvature of Jenn's spine. Once the epidural began to take effect (it took a little longer to help the left side than the right), labor became bearable again for Jenn, and things started moving nicely. The midwife planned to break Jenn's water once she wasn't painful through a contraction. This happened after an hour or so, and once the water broke, it was about 20 minutes of pushing before Lydia was born. This is apparently a short period of time for pushing with an epidural. Jenn was able to feel well enough to know when to push, and that was a good thing.

Her arrival was at 2:25 am on October 17, 2010.

This entire ordeal could not have been more different than our first delivery experience. And Lydia is certainly a unique baby. She's been nursing very well and sleeping very well (of course babies sleep more in the first day), two things that took us months and a week, respectively, to experience the last time around. No two are the same.

Grandpa Doug, Grandma Paulette and Lincoln came for a visit today. Lincoln was very good holding Lydia, but I'm not sure he really understands that we'll be taking her home with us. It'll be an adjustment, but judging by how he's handled transitions in the past, it'll take some easing, but he'll be great about it.

Lincoln gave Lydia her first present, a Pink Elephant that he picked out from Carter's, not unlike his own Bear.

We can't wait for all of you to see Lydia. I know Grandma Laura and Auntie Em are chomping at the bit to see her, and the time will soon come.

As I write this, Jenn and Lydia are still at the hospital. I'll pick them up tomorrow. I'm certain that there will be more anecdotes to share that will come up as time goes by. It's nearly impossible to recount all of the details here, though I've tried to hit the high points. That Lydia was born healthy and that Jenn is relaxed and only mildly uncomfortable is nothing short of the LORD hearing our cares, concerns and prayers over the last two and a half years and answering our requests to Him. Praise God!

Lincoln's Here!!!

First of all, Jenn and Lincoln are doing very well. Jenn is recovering on schedule and despite being a bit sore, slightly uncomfortable, and very swollen, she’s definitely improving with time. Lincoln is getting used to life, and he’s been a joy in his first couple of days.

Nothing about the labor process went according to plan. Jenn and I have heard stories about women who arrive at the hospital and within a couple of hours have their babies and then go home. All labor experiences are unique, and for Jenn, a relatively quick, seamless, pleasant labor, now looking with hindsight, was just not possible.

She had her first contractions at 7:30 am on Wednesday morning. They were seven minutes apart and not too uncomfortable. She and Laura walked about four miles to get things moving. Later in the afternoon, we went on another two-mile walk in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (down at Beaver Marsh). The contractions began coming faster, and around 8:45 pm we went to the hospital when the contractions were consistently three minutes apart. When we arrived, she was 1.5 cm dilated. We walked up and down the hall for another two hours, and she checked out at 2 cm.

Jenn then had to stay in bed with the monitors on (very uncomfortable) until morning, and her contractions maintained every 3-5 minutes, were lasting 1-2 minutes, and were very, very intense. She then checked out at 4 cm. We were finally able to move to a birthing room (there were seven deliveries the evening before and the rooms were full the night we were admitted), and she was able to get into the tub. This added just another cm, and Lincoln wasn’t moving into the pelvis.

It was at this time that the contractions were coming so quickly and so intensely that Jenn opted for an epidural. She has very small vertebral spaces, according to Dr. France, but the epidural helped out greatly… until it titrated a bit too low and Jenn could feel the contractions (oxytocin was now on board) literally one after the other. She was given another bolus, developed violent shaking, and checked out at 8 cm, making no progress from the previous check a couple of hours before. By about 8:00 pm Jenn and Mary (our CNM) began talking about a C-Section. Jenn was in the OR by 8:40. She was very peaceful about this decision because it had become apparent that Lincoln wasn’t planning on coming any other way.

By the time I got in the OR, Jenn was on the table and the OB had already started cutting. Jenn didn’t even know that the procedure had started, that’s how good Dr. France was with her anesthesia. So when the surgeons were in Jenn’s belly, they noticed a very large swelling, one of the assistants said, “Oh, my gosh, what is that?” It was Lincoln’s head… his big, long head. It popped out of her belly, and then they proceeded to get the rest of his body out. It was at this point that everybody in the room understood why Jenn had been in labor for so long with no progress with delivery: his head had never engaged the birth canal and was wedged on the side of Jenn’s pelvis & the cord was wrapped around his body in several places. He couldn’t have been born alive any other way.

The first evening went very well. Lincoln was alert from the start when the nurse was bathing him and checking his vitals. He cried a bit, but not too much. I held him a bit, and then Jenn was able to feed him while she was in Recovery. We didn’t sleep too bad the first night.

The first morning went very well. According the nurses, his first morning was typical. He was alert for a while, very happy, and not fussy. He fed well and napped well. Then midnight hit. Lincoln screamed for a long time from 12:00 am until about 2:30. Finally a warm blanket helped him get to sleep. Again, according to the nurses, this second 24-hour period was typical.

On Saturday evening Jenn and I were starting to see a setback on the horizon. Lincoln was losing weight faster than is normal for a newborn. He was getting inconsolably fussy after his feedings with ear piercing screaming for an hour or more at a time. Our brief visit with the on-call pediatrician on Sunday morning brought news that was discouraging: they wanted to keep Jenn in the hospital another day and supplement Lincoln with formula for a couple of days. His temperature was increased in the morning (from sitting on my lap for 2 hours) and he had to have another CBC and blood culture. (Human medicine drives me nuts sometimes.)

Over the next hour or so, his temperature normalized, and this was the first bit of good news on Sunday.  Secondly, formula supplementation made a BIG difference. We saw that Lincoln simply wasn’t receiving enough at his feedings during the previous days and that’s why he was screaming so much. The route for formula supplementation won’t negatively affect breastfeeding in the future, and it has provided satisfaction, contentment and nutrition to the point that after observing his progress, the doctor discharged him to come home!!! Mom was extremely happy, and commented in the car on the way home that it is amazing how much good news and going home can make one feel better.

So I’m sitting at home now finishing up this composition, and Jenn is downstairs finishing up Lincoln’s latest meal, and as of 8:30 on Sunday evening, we have a happy, healthy little boy.

We’ll let you know how things go overnight.

Jenn and Lincoln have their first pediatrician appointment with our new set of doctors tomorrow at 10:15 am, and what follows will be Lincoln’s first day at home. What a blessing!

We greatly appreciate your prayers over the last 4 days, not to mention the past several months. Don’t stop now! Lincoln will be growing a little every day, and his mom and dad need the grace of God to provide the best possible home for him.

(Remind you of anyone?)