He Is Here!

Jethro Storms Dole
February 26, 2010
3pm
9lb 1oz, 22 inches long

Jethro did not do well on the bio-physical today, and so it was decided to induce. When we got to the hospital, and they hooked me up to the monitor, his heart rate did not fluctuate, except to decelerate during contractions. I was at a stretchy 4, so Dr. Meline said that he thought it was worth it to break my water, and see if that would put me into labor. He thought that if things went quickly enough that baby should do fine. They placed one IV, and then, because I was hoping to VBAC, they had to place a 2d line in case of emergency. The nurse couldn't get the IV placed, so they called anethesiology to come and put it in. He wanted to know how many sticks he got, I told him one and then he would have to deal with my husband, who is a football player. :-) While he was sticking me (he did get it in one), Jethro's heart-rate started to drop. They had me change position, but it didn't recover. (They didn't really tell me what was going on). Suddenly, the room was full of folks, and Dr.Meline was telling me that we were going to have to do a c-sec. They started prepping me in the L&D room, and then practically ran to the OR. I was put under general and Jethro was delivered. He crashed almost immediately, but they did get him stabilized.

He was born at 3pm. Two of my dearest friends came up and were here when I got into my room from recovery. Our pastor spent the day here with us, and Will came as quickly as he could (his boss drove over an hour to come and cover for him so that he could be here). Levi brought Logan and Si up this evening. I've only been up to the NICU once so far...it was so hard to sit next to him and not be able to hold him. I couldn't even stand up to give him a kiss. :'-( They have him on meds that paralize him and morphine. He has lines into his umbilical cord, and he's vented, but the tubes and wires are at a minimum.

Because I was out, I haven't talked to any of the drs., only a few nurses, so I don't really have much information at this point. These first two days are critical, and then it'll be time to start making decisions.

I would appreciate prayers for a good recovery. Last time, it took quite a long time to recover, but today, I didn't labor or push, and, praise the Lord, I didn't hemorrage, so hopefully, I'll have a better recovery as well.

Just Like Big Brother

Here's Will. He's a thinker ~ often contem-
plating deep things.





Here's Jethro. Apparently, he's going to be a deep thinker as
well. Right now he's contemplating when to be born. :-)


Well, I obviously was not in labor this morning. My power cord did come in the mail, so I will update as soon as I can from the hospital. Hopefully, the next post will be an announcement!

Middle of the Night Madness...

Hmmmm. It's 2 am, and I'm up. I wish this meant that I am in labor, but I just don't know. With the exception of yesterday (when I actually slept until almost 10! :-O), I have been awake at about 3 am every morning ~ for at least a couple of hours. I normally have this "sureness" about being in labor, but dealing with dr.s and this being my first VBAC, I'm just unsure about my body this time around. :-/

I've been praying that God would just give me a "knowing", and I was thinking I had it when I woke up, but I was drifting in and out of sleep, so I don't know if I dreamed it, or it is real. So, I decided to get up for a while, to see if I can figure it out.

I am having contractions, but I don't know if they've got that "bite" of labor contractions yet. This baby has been laying on the diagonal at least since Tuesday. He'll go head-down and into my pelvis, and then he backs out and goes diagonal again. It's getting very frustrating. Wednesday, I went to my chiropractor to get my hips adjusted, thinking if they are out, it just may be uncomfortable for him to be settled down. But yesterday, he was pulled back out again. :-/ I did have the u/s tech check on his cord, to make sure that wasn't an issue, and it's not. So, I guess he's just showing us all that he's already got a mind of his own! :-)

If I'm not in labor, I have a perinatologist appt this morning, and I'll try to remember to update when I get home. Other than positioning, he's looking good, scoring high on the bio-physical profile each time, so that is reassuring. If I am laboring, I'm not sure when I'll be able to update. My laptop is back up and running, but my power cord is dead ~ hopefully the one I ordered will be here this afternoon or tomorrow, but that is dependent on the post office.

Tomorrow is "D" day, so it could be anytime. Prayers for his positioning and a good delivery ~ particularly that Jethro will tolerate labor well are appreciated!

I Will Carry You, Jethro

I wanted to share a song that I discovered recently from one of my favorite groups, Selah. One of the members, Todd, and his wife, Angie, had a baby that they knew from about 18 or 20 weeks gestation was not going to live. This is a song that they wrote for their little girl, Audrey. Carrying a baby who has a serious heart defect, and not knowing what the outcome will be, is sobering ~ partly because we've walked through the grief of losing a child ~ and I know just how dark things can get. But with that perspective, I can *so* relate to this song. It is my prayer that whatever path God has us walk, that I will always give Him praise, because He has chosen me to be the vessel to carry these precious lives.

I hope it touches you as it does me.

I Will Carry You (Audrey's Song)

There were photographs I wanted to take
Things I wanted to show you
Sing sweet lullabies, wipe your teary eyes
Who could love you like this?

People say that I am brave but I'm not
Truth is I'm barely hanging on
But there's a greater story
Written long before me
Because He loves you like this

[Chorus]
I will carry you
While your heart beats here
Long beyond the empty cradle
Through the coming years
I will carry you
All my life
And I will praise the One Who's chosen me
To carry you

Such a short time
Such a long road
All this madness
But I know
That the silence
Has brought me to His voice
And He says ...

I've shown her photographs of time beginning
Walked her through the parted seas
Angel lullabies, no more teary eyes
Who could love her like this?

[Chorus] (Todd Smith, Angie Smith, Christa Wells) © 2009 Curb Congregation Songs (SESAC) / Five Crowns Music (adm. by Curb Congregation Songs) (SESAC)/ _ / Shoecrazy Publishing (admin. by Curb Congregation Songs) (SESAC)/ Kiss Me Not Publishing (admin. by Curb Congregation Songs) (SESAC) All rights reserved. Used by permission. International copyright secured.

On the Final Countdown

39 weeks today. So, really, just any day this little man could decide to make his appearance. I told Mike last night that I hadn't reached that "I'm going to be pregnant forever" feeling, so I wasn't sure it would be very soon. But I don't think I've reached that point for the last couple or three pregnancies. I really made an effort to be content and wait on God's timing for Tucker's birth, and then when we lost him...well, I just learned a lot. One of the things I learned was to enjoy even the last days of a pregnancy, because it may be all we have. So, I am content to wait until Jethro decides he's ready.

This week's appointments were pretty uneventful. Monday we had a cardiologist appt. The cardiologist was hung up at the hospital, so I didn't get to see her, but she called me after looking at the echo of Jethro's heart. She said there really wasn't any change ~ although the fluid around his heart may actually be less than it was. Which was good news! So many have been praying about that fluid, that I believe even though it was slight, the decrease was an answer to prayer!

Tuesday we had an OB appt and a perinatologist appt. When we got into the room for the OB appt., the nurse said, "At this point, we have you undress, and he'll do an exam." I said, "We don't do those." She gave me this incredulous look and said, "Uh, you...won't get undressed?" I said, "No." LOL She had apparently never had anyone say they weren't going to allow a pelvic exam. I had told the OB several appts ago that we would not be doing them, and while he would prefer to have a "baseline", he seems to be fine with it. However, it seems to knock his nurses totally off kilter. After the OB, we went to the perinatologist. Everything looked good. Jethro was settled down into my pelvis far enough that the u/s tech couldn't even get a good look at his face. My fluid levels were good. He was practicing breathing, and all the other things they look at to determine how baby is doing.

Yesterday, I had another perinatologist appt. Once again, everything looked good. Although Jethro was laying transverse. :-/ I told the U/S tech, "That may be an answer to prayer. They can't induce if he's sideways." So, when I got home, I emailed my group of ladies and asked them to pray that he would once again go head down. Mike had called me to see how the appt went and I told him that the baby is sideways, but other than that everything was looking good. At the boy's game, he leaned over and told Jethro, "You need to get head down, boy." When I went to bed last night, I felt him turn head down once again! Such a good baby, already listening to his Daddy! :-)

I have OB and perinatologist appts on Tuesday and another perinatologist appt on Friday ~ if he hasn't arrived by then.

Our prayer requests remain the same. And I do want to say 'thank you' to all of you who are praying! We appreciate it so much, and I have such a peace about this birth and whatever may follow ~ I know it's because of all the prayers being said on our behalf.

Busy Week Ahead

We are now at 38 weeks.

Tomorrow I have an appt with the cardiologist, Tuesday I have an OB and perinatologist appt, and Friday we have another perinatologist appt. 3 days in Spokane is not my idea of a good week! I'm going to be glad when this baby is born if for no other reason than it means I get to stay put for a little while!

We had a perinatologist appt on Thursday, and Mike asked at that point if it was really necessary for us to be coming in twice a week, but they feel that because we're nearly at term, my BP, the baby's heart, etc., that it is. Of course, the perinatologist is recommending that we induce at 39 weeks. Which may or may not happen. Unless it's medically necessary, we really are not in favor of induction. I like to be able to be up and moving around and working with the contractions, and if they are inducing, I'm stuck in the bed. :-P And so far, Jethro looks like he's doing fine where he's at.

I have prayed and prayed for wisdom and it seems like every time I turn around there is an article about how beneficial it is to just let babies go through the process of labor, and how so often inducing ~ which is often done to "prevent" or "avoid" problems ~ leads to the very problems the drs are trying to avoid. So, I really believe that we just need to wait for labor to start on it's own. Of course, if things start to go downhill, and it doesn't look like Jethro is doing well, then we will agree to induce.

So, I don't know how much I'll post this week, I may wait until the end of the week to update since there are so many appts.

Friday is also the boys' last regular season game, and Senior night, and I promised Levi that I would be there...unless I'm in labor.

If I go into labor and have the baby, I'm not sure how long it will be before I can update. At the moment, my laptop is dead and we need to take it in. I'm hoping we can get that done this week or next so that I am not without it at all, or for just a very short time.

Prayer requests would just be continued wisdom for the drs and Mike and I. And, traveling mercies going back and forth to Spokane. Poor Mike! Working in Spokane 5 days a week, and then having to go in on at least one of his days off as well ~ but he's a trooper and never complains. I have the best husband in the world, and my children have the best Daddy! I am so thankful for him.

37 Weeks

Yesterday we had a long day in town, with 3 dr. appts. We started out at the cardiologist, where they did another echo of Jethro's heart. There is still fluid around his heart, but it has not grown at all since last week. So, that was a good thing. We go back on Monday to see how his heart is doing.

Because the Cardiologist appt was early, we didn't have breakfast, so after we were done there, we went to the Rockwood Bakery. It was very nice. I've driven by there a few times, and thought that it looked like a neat place to have coffee, but had never had time to stop there. They've got lots of antique tables, and it's just a neat atmosphere there.

After we ate, we headed over to the OB's office. Everything is looking good, and it looks like maybe finally, he's willing to just let me go into labor on my own.

Then we had a perinatologist appt. They did an u/s there, and we got some great pictures of Jethro! Isn't he just so cute and chubby? :-) Of course, I'm slightly prejudiced, but I think he's adorable. Definitely looks like a Dole baby. After the tech was done with the u/s, she went to look for the dr., who was in a meeting. We decided we could wait for a while, and when the perinatologist came in, she talked like she thought overall Jethro is doing well. She did want to take a look herself, so we did a 3d u/s. She wants to see us 2x a week until Jethro is born. So, we go back in on Thursday...have I mentioned this is an hour drive ~ one way? It's a *little* inconvenient! Oh, and by the way, pack a bag, because they may decide that I need to be induced. :-P We'll see. Mike and I are both advocating for this baby to come in his own time ~ unless there is a real medical reason why he should need to be delivered before that.

The u/s estimate on his weight was a little over 8lbs, but u/s are notoriously wrong on weight estimates, so I'm not putting too much stock in that. And I honestly think that is why she was thinking he may need to be delivered.

I am just continuing to pray for wisdom, and right now I have a real peace about just leaving him be and letting labor start on it's own. I believe that if it's *necessary* for him to be born a little sooner, that God will give me a peace about induction as well. He's pretty good about that! :-)

No real additions to our prayer requests. Just continued wisdom for Mike and I. And, for healing for Jethro. I guess you could add travel mercies to that. This week, my appts are on Mike's days off, so I don't have to drive, but next week, I'll have to drive myself in, and I am a little leary of being on the road by myself this close to my due date.