Here is the story of Lucia's birth. I'm trying to include all of the details, so if you don't want the uncensored story...don't read on. :)
I started having contractions that were decently strong on Sunday night, 3/08 at 11pm. They continued like clock work at 10 minutes apart until about 5am on 3/09. I didn't wake Pat because I figured we would have a lot of laboring to do and there was no reason that both of us should be awake especially when there was nothing really that he could do at that point. From 5am to 7am, the contractions increased in strength and moved from 10 minutes apart to 7 and then to 5. I woke Pat up part of the way through that process and we started getting ready to head to the hospital. At 7:15, the contractions had been consistently 5 minutes apart for over an hour, so I called Triage to make sure that I should come in. They took me through a series of questions and then told me that I should probably wait an hour or so to make sure that the contractions were getting even stronger. 15 minutes after I hung up with them, the contractions stopped. They would come lightly maybe every 20 minutes. We were totally disappointed because we had the bags completely ready to go and Pat had called in to work that he wouldn't be working that day. I had the day off as a vacation day anyway at that point. So, we waited for a few hours with no change. I finally decided that it wasn't happening and that I needed to move on with the day, so I drove downtown with snow on the freeway to meet Kaitlyn, my friend Erin, and Renee for lunch at Skillet. We hung out at Renee's place until we picked up my brother Craig for dinner. Pat stayed to work from home and was totally disappointed that the whole process was stopped and perhaps a bit peeved at me for heading out to a normal day when we had such a crazy start to it. I started to have contractions again 7 minutes apart during dinner and, by the time dinner was over, I was VERY ready to be heading home. They just got stronger and stronger on the drive home to the point that I had a bit of trouble getting in the door. Kaitlyn came home with me that night so she was watching out for me. I think that we must have headed for the hospital not more that an hour after getting home from dinner at around 8:30 or 9:00pm. We arrived at the hospital and Patrick and I went into triage to get the update. To my shock and horror, I was still at 2cm and 50% effaced. I couldn't believe it. They decided to have me walk laps around the hospital floor for an hour to see if I could get things moving. So, Pat and I made what seemed to be a million painful labs around the floor with contractions coming about 2 times a lap. I am sure that we looked pretty funny making circle after circle. Kaitlyn has some video of this interesting labor inducing technique. I thought for sure that we had made great progress but after an hour I was checked again and found out that all of that walking seemed to have done nothing. We were sent home from the hospital at about midnight. We got home and an hour later my water broke. I was so happy that something was finally happening because the thought of making it through the night with those hard contractions was not pleasant at all! We rushed back to the hospital and found that I was 4cm and 100% effaced, so the walking must have done something. I was emitted around 2am or 3am and immediately got an epidural at about 4.5cm dilated. I have never been so happy to get drugs in my entire life. I know that everyone has their own feelings on medical intervention during labor but I am a HUGE fan. :) I then slept the rest of the night, which was wonderful. I was checked out by a nurse at 7:30 and was 6cm dilated, so Kaitlyn came in and the three of us were just chatting and eating breakfast waiting for the big show. At 9:30 I let the nurse know that I felt like things must be progressing. She checked me out again and was shocked to find that I was completely ready to push. Here comes the great part...the doctor wasn't "available", so I had to wait until 11am to push! I sat around fully dilated for at least an hour and a half. Sheesh! Anyway, Kaitlyn bailed on the birth process when I was told that I was ready to push. I think that she had had enough reason to never want to have children as she watched the contractions. She didn't need to see the birth too. :) At 11am, the nurse let me start pushing even though the doctor wasn't there. Apparently, I am fast because he had to stop me in the middle of pushing to get the doctor in the room. When he saw me, he told me "now don't you push at all right now". So, we sat there as poor Lucia's head was being smooshed and he put his scrubs on. :) She entered the world at 11:34am with not much trouble at all.
It was the most amazing experience of my life to watch the doctor hold up our little girl. I could not believe that she had spent 9 months growing inside of me and came out a whole and complete little person. Birth and life is a miracle and I can't believe anything other than God's creation of life especially after seeing Lucia enter the world and the few days that followed. Surely all of the credit goes to the Lord for his design of our frail bodies. The nurse set Lucia on me and she was there for less than 30 seconds before they realized that there was something wrong. It was a wonderful but short time to see her little body. I could tell there was something very wrong though because she couldn't cry and was quickly turning purple. They took her away to the other side of the room and started to work on her. She wasn't breathing properly and, in about 5 minutes after her birth, they had two nurses, two NICU nurses, and a NICU doctor in our room working on her. It was a terrible feeling to watch our new little girl from across the room and not be able to do a thing and to have no idea what was happening to her or if she would be ok. After 25 minutes on working on her in the room, they had pulled so much liquid from her stomach and lungs that you could almost fill a film canister 2/3 of the way. They then decided that they had to admit her to the NICU. They didn't know what was wrong, so they didn't say much to us. They put her in a glass enclosed little rolling baby crib, rolled her past me so that I could reach in and touch her face, and then whisked her off to the NICU. Pat went with Lucia and sent Kaitlyn in to be with me. I am so grateful for Kaitlyn. If I had been left alone in that room after giving birth, I would have lost it. Kaitlyn stayed with me for an hour. One of the nurses from the NICU came up to give me an update. I didn't understand most of what she said because I was so focused on seeing Lucia and, really, the update was a "we don't know and are testing everything" update. Basically Lucia was not able to fully breath on her own, her white blood cell count was high so there was a possibility of some kind of infection, she had fluid in her lungs and stomach, and there was the small possibility that she had underdeveloped lungs. I couldn't wait any longer, so I told the nurse that my epidural was wearing off which it was...um...sort of. They had to get another person in the room to help me into the wheel chair. By the time I had accomplished that, Pat had come back upstairs because Lucia was stable and he wanted to check on me. That was an intense few minutes as he told me his emotional story of watching our daughter being hooked up to machine after machine. It was terrible and I have never seen him so broken before. Kaitlyn had stepped out of the room to give us some space, so we passed her in the hall and gave her the unpleasant task of calling all of the relatives with the news. She was the one that then had to tell the family that the baby was born but was in the NICU and, at that point, we didn't know what the problem was. Patrick and I made it down to the NICU and I was able to sit next to Lucia for an hour. I couldn't see her face because it was covered with a breathing mask and her bed was higher than my wheel chair. I could feel her little arms and legs though. I was a bittersweet time for sure. I had fallen instantly in love with her and was torn apart that she was hurting. She had a tube from her mouth into her stomach, was hooked to three different monitor devices, had a baby IV in her hand and had more pricks in her foot to draw blood that I lost count by the end of her stay. She was so weak and fragile. They had her on 35% oxygen and 21% is normal. I had to leave after an hour to lie down. Family started to arrive while I was upstairs, which I will admit was hard to know after the fact that they were able to see my little girl when I could not. By 5pm, the doctors had completely removed her from the oxygen machine. This is no small miracle because most babies, if they need oxygen, are on it for 2 to 3 days. One of the difficult parts for me was that, when they took her off of the oxygen, Pat came up to get me because we could hold her. The nurse wouldn't let him go in the room. There are not words to describe how mad I was about that. There my baby is down stairs and the nurse doesn't want me to go see her because she thinks I need to rest. I don't think I need to say more about that...I was pissed! Anyway, I finally made it downstairs at 6pm with Pat and I got to hold Lucia for the first time. It was wonderful and I could not imagine a more fulfilling experience. She was perfect. At that point, she was still hooked up to the three monitors and the IV but I found out that while I was sleeping, she pulled the stomach tube out of her mouth and the doctor let her keep it out! :) She is a fighter.
The next day's victory was that the x-rays of her lungs came back and showed a complete turn around from the day before. She was breathing on her own and her lungs were healthy and strong. The next step was to wean her off of the IV to see how she would respond, wait on the white blood cell numbers and the infection cultures to come back on Thursday at 1:30pm (48 hour wait period). During that same day, 3/11, we learned that her white blood cell count was better and that the only outstanding potential issue would be the results from the blood tests. We spent that day in the NICU every moment that we could just holding, feeding, and loving her. Kaitlyn showed up at the NICU at 11:34 with a "Happy 24 Hour Birthday Lucia" cake which was so much fun. We quite enjoyed that especially with the contrasting hospital food. Terry and Kathy, Pat's parents, also came for a visit to see the little miss. Later that day, our friends Justin and Jenni and Erin and Neil came to visit. It was great to see friends, talk about the birth, and laugh. We are certainly blessed with great people supporting us. One fun thing that Justin and Jenni mentioned is that they had talked with Justin's parents and told them about Lucia and asked them to pray for her. It turns out the news had already reached them and we don't even know them. Again, evidence to me that our little person is in God's hands. Wednesday was a good day.
Thursday was excellent. We found out during the NICU rounds at 11am that we would be able to take Lucia home. She had been weaned from the IV completely the day before and nothing had come back on the blood work that suggested an infection. My doctor had been gracious enough to find a reason to keep me in the hospital one extra day so that we could stay close to Lucia, so that meant that we were all going home together. I was so thankful for that. At the beginning, we didn't know if her stay would be a day or a few weeks. We rushed around to finish up all of the discharge paperwork, watch a CPR video, and let Lucia pass her 90minute car seat challenge where she mastered the art of sitting in a car seat for 90 minutes without setting off any of the monitor alarms. She passed with flying colors. They brought her out of the NICU in her car seat with her car seat in a wagon...apparently a hospital NICU rule so that you won't drop them. :) We loaded her up in the car and made it home by 5pm that evening.
It was a crazy ride to say the least. We are immensely grateful for her health and know that she is a blessing from God. We love her to death and can't imagine life now without her. Every moment I am thankful for our little girl and pray her little life will be a blessing to others.
Lucia quite enjoyed her first day with Grandma Summerill (my mom). It is so fun to show her off especially to someone who thinks that she is as perfect as we do. :) My mom will be in town until Sunday morning, so we are looking forward to great times while she is here. Today's highlight was probably the post baby bath bliss.
Today has been a banner day for little 9 day old Lucia. She had the pleasure of meeting her great grandma Shirley who made the trek from Port Orchard and her great aunt Kara. It was fun to see a few generations together. Jai and Solveig also visited today too bringing food and brownies, which I am about to eat. Here are some pictures from the visit.
