Friday, June 5, 2015

Lily Claire's Birth Story

I am so pleased to share the birth story of our second miracle baby with ya'll, she is truly a miracle to us. We were so surprised that I was even pregnant again after 4 years of trying with no success. God has a plan and all things happen in His timing, a lesson learned through our journey of infertility.
 
 My pregnancy with Lily began with no problems, I sailed right through with little complaint. Towards the end of my second trimester things took a turn in a not so positive direction. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, I was no stranger to this as I had it with my son. I was able to control it with diet and exercise. This lasted for a short while, even with dietary changes and walking my blood sugar was still elevated. Next came the swelling in my feet and ankles, I never did swell with Jacob so this was new to me. At my last several midwife appointments my blood pressure had gone from being perfect to elevated and quite concerning. On May 21st I went in to see my midwife to have a test run due to my elevated blood pressure. They very quickly realized that I was severely pre-eclamptic and the baby would have to be born very soon. I was admitted into the hospital that evening. I was only 36 weeks along at this point. The induction process began the following morning. I was so thankful to have my family present, they had come down from Oklahoma for Memorial Day. We had a big weekend planned of grilling and fun, little did we know that would not happen as we would be celebrating the arrival of our daughter.
 
The nurse began my Pitocin drip sometime that morning, true labor didn't really began until that evening. I did my best to labor without medications as long as I could, I did have an epidural. Things appeared to not be going well, Lily's heart rate had dropped and my labor was not progressing as it should have. My grandparents had come in for a quick hello and to pray over me. We all joined hands and began to pray, the sweet and powerful presence of the Lord moved into that room. As I began to weep I felt a peace sweep over me and I knew in that moment that everything would be ok. Soon after prayer my labor fell into a perfect pattern and picked up quickly. Not long after that my midwife came in and checked me, I went from dilated to a 6 to a 10 very quickly. There were a lot of people in the delivery room that night, my midwife, the OBGYN, a pediatric doctor for when the baby was born, several nurses, my original midwife from the birth center I started with, and several of my family members. My husband told everyone that when the baby arrived he would announce the gender, as we wanted to be surprised until the birth. I began pushing at 8:39pm, I was able to push Lily's head out but unfortunately her shoulders got stuck. The OBGYN stepped in and helped to pull her out. It took a total of 20 minutes. She came out blue and not breathing, her cord had been wrapped around her neck. She was born at 8:59pm and we later found out that our church was having a prayer meeting that night and right around the time of her birth they had begun to pray for me and the baby. More family was gathered in the waiting room and when they found out she was not breathing they gathered around and prayed. Color returned to her body and she began to cry with life. I cried and thanked the Lord for giving us such a precious gift. With tears streaming down his face, my husband announced we had a baby girl. Everyone in the room cheered and thanked God for this little life.
 
Lily weighed 8lbs 13.6oz, she was very puffy from the diabetes I suffered with during pregnancy. She was born with several complications which resulted in her transfer to a children's hospital NICU in Fort Worth. I was unable to hold my baby for the first 24 hours, thankfully her daddy went to the NICU with her and stayed by her side. I was unable to be moved due to the type of medication they had put me on for my blood pressure. I was released the next day and I went over to the NICU and stayed with Lily for the next 4 days. Every day prayer went up for her and every day something either came out or off of Lily. She had a feeding tube, two IV's, and monitors strapped to her little body. There is power in prayer!!! We were finally released to go home on Wednesday, May 27th.
 
We give God all the glory and praise for the miracle he performed in our beautiful little girl. She is now a healthy little baby and has such a proud big brother. We are so thankful to be home and together as a family. Thank you Jesus!!!