12-10-10

 I am not really sure how to start this post other than to say that December 10th did not turn out quite how I expected.  Well, I did end up with a baby by the end of the longest day so I suppose we can say goal accomplished.

The Lord has faithfully answered so many prayers along this journey and this day was no different.  To my amazement I was able to stay pregnant with the plan to induce at the 36 week mark.  I was previously induced with Lucy Mills at 36 weeks and my labor with her took 11 hours before she made her grand entrance into the world.  So naturally I figured that this labor and delivery would follow suit. 

After kissing my sweet little girl goodbye, enjoying a quick date night dinner (at 4 o'clock!) with my husband, I checked into the Labor and Delivery unit at the hospital ready to get the show on the road.  I was given cervadil which the doctor said should speed the labor process along.  She said that with the progress I had already made that the baby would probably arrive no later than noon the following day.  Off to dreamland I went with the anticipation of being a mother of two within hours.  

Well by morning I was still 2 cm dilated.  So no change there.

I was given pitocin to speed up my contractions.  Still no change.

She broke my water.  No change. 

Okaaay.

The hours inched by and the pain increased.  The anesthesiologist was called in three times because my epidural continued to wear off throughout the day.  This was a much different experience than the last time.  After 16 hours of labor I made the difficult decision to surrender to a c-section.  I never made it past 6 cm (and held there for 4 hours) and never fully effaced.  Part of me felt like a failure, but when Dr. Jones looked at me and asked me "if I was ready to meet my son," I knew it was time.  My blood pressure had thankfully stayed in the normal range all day but around hour 16 of labor it started to spike.  This was getting to be too much.  I knew that the goal was a healthy baby and a healthy mama, even if things didn't go according to my plan.  

I was prepped and taken back to the operating room where Travis and I laid eyes on 

Robert McClain Mason 

for the very first time. 

I know c-sections are a pretty common practice these days, but my experience was not very kind.  My preeclampsia had totally stressed out my liver and kidneys, and as we later found out my heart.  Therefore I bled entirely too much during the surgery.  Ten hours after McClain was born, I was doing cardiograms, heart ultrasounds, and finding out that a cardiologist had been called into see me.  Apparently my heart rate sky rocketed while my hemoglobin levels dropped, leaving me borderline risk for cardiac arrest.  Add severe dehydration to the mix meant things were pretty scary.  My third night in the hospital I had a blood transfusion which seemed to do the trick.  I felt much better afterwards and everything seemed to correct itself. 

Seeing this little bundle lifted my spirits entirely.

I only share the details of this pregnancy and delivery as a reminder that God is sovereign and totally in control.  I am grateful that He brought me through the suffering and now I am enjoying such a sweet reward.  Lucy Mills and McClain are the joys of my life and I see them as the gifts that they are. 

 

                                  How blessed am I that the Lord chose me to influence their little souls?