Life as a Luther: Neeli is here!!

First Family Picture

Tuesday March 22, 2011 was a day I will never forget! Like so many of you who have entered into parenthood know it is the greatest, scariest, most exciting, and yet most surreal experience one can have! The love that you feel for your child is a love that you don't understand until you see this little person who is fully reliant on you, and your guidance. (A little intimidating, yet exciting too). It's a love that I thought I understood when I got to see Neeli and feel her as she grew throughout the pregnancy, but had no idea how it would be magnifide when she was here in our arms. Throughout my whole pregnancy there were so many times that Phillip and I were reminded that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made....the way God designed us is so amazing, how everything just fits together in a way that we will never fully understand. It reminded me how important it is to fully trust in God in everything. Which as a wife, teacher, and now mother is something that is hard for me to do. Totally trust God in every situation and know that He has complete control. We know that every birth is a true miracle and I want to share our story from Tuesday with everyone. I want to show everyone God's hand in the birth of our daughter Cornelia Ruth.(I'll spare the goory details) :) My pregnancy had been a pretty uneventful, normal, run of the mill pregnancy all the way up to the last couple months. During the last couple of months I began to swell pretty signifigantly. Finally on March 10th my doctor decided to pull me out of work and see if the swelling would better itself. (This was a little over 2 weeks before my due date.) The next week when I went back she decided to do another ultrasound to make sure the baby was not gargantuan (the Dr's encouraging word). So we had one done during week 38 and found that Neeli was around 8lbs. In the meantime my week 37 and 38 visits led to the discovery that my blood pressure was beginning to go up, so inducing became more of a reality. I went in on the 21st with the understanding that if nothing had changed she was wanting to induce that night. On the 21st, Phillip and I got up and and enjoyed our "last meal" (or so we thought), went to Wal-mart and hung out for the day. At 3:15 we went to our doctor's appt. She found that my blood pressure was still elevated and my swelling was only getting worse. She wanted to induce. She told us that she would put me in Monday night and start a pill that helps you dialate, if your body is ready. She said she would then come in Tuesday morning and if it was working we would start pitosin and the actual induction. She told us the hospital would contact us and give us a time to be there, but explained it may not be till late b/c the baby floor had been busy. We were excited and resonably nervous as we headed home. We were planning on getting a few things done and maybe even having the time to attend the 2nd night of missions conference at church (if the hospital didn't want us till later). However, they called on our way home and told us to eat dinner and head straight up there when we were done. So, we ran home and grabbed our bags, went to dinner, and went to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 6:00 and were put into our room about 6:45. About 11:00 the nurse showed up and administered the first round of the "c" medicine (I can't remember the name...cyto something). Within the next couple of hours, I began having some pretty significant contractions. Not unbearable, but I could tell they had to be doing something. At this point the nurse came in and gave me a sleeping pill to help me rest. They continued to get stronger and by the time she came in at 3:00 with the second dose of the "C" medicine, I was in pain. So she checked the monitor and gave me a pain pill. (We didn't realize at the time the band that was measuring contractions was on wrong, and so it was showing very small, minor contractions even though mine were not small.) I asked about when I could possibly get the epidural and she told me I wasn't far enough along and that the pain pill should take care of the contractions I was having. About thirty mins later she returned to make sure I was confortable and the pain pill was working. I told her the contractions were now 3 mins apart and they were getting worse. (Come to find out, I was dialated to a five). This was also the point when my water broke. The nurse then called my Dr who headed to the hospital. I was told that since Neeli had moved back up, the epidural was going to have to wait b/c there was a risk of the cord coming out before the baby, so they wanted to see if she would drop...as you can imagine I was very sad about this news. By the time my Dr arrived, I was having HUGE contractions, which she showed the nurses when she fixed my band. She told them to give me the epidural and she got things rolling. By the time I had my epidural I was dialated to an 8. Within the first few minutes of my doctor being there she was watching Neeli, and found that her heart rate was dropping between contractions, which isn't supposed to happen. Because I had dialated from a 1 to an 8 in such a short time Neeli was under stress. We also found that Neeli had had bowl movements in the womb, which is also dangerous to the newborn. My doctor came in and told me that if her heart rate didn't change with the next couple of contractions, we might be looking at a C-section. Neeli's continued showing signs of stress and the doctor told me we were going to have to do a c-section (which even though I had said I never wanted, I felt at peace with that decision). Little did Phillip and I know how serious the situation was. They took me back for the c-section and numbed me up. Phillip got dressed and came back also. Our families were allowed to watch from the viewing room. I was pretty much out of it during the entire operation and only vaguely remember seeing Neeli before they took her out of the room. The c-section was completed and were back in our room when we finally learned what had happened. When Neeli was born, she didn't breath for the first 2 mins and they had to work with her. We also found out that if the labor had been even an hour longer, most likely, Neeli would not have made it. I loved seeing how our daughter's birth was orchestrated through God's plans and timing, not our own. Neeli is completely healthy, no side effects, and we are loving every minute with her... our God is good and His ways are perfect.

Phillip was reminded of the verse found in James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gft is from above..." We thank the Lord for this little gift. Pray for us that we will be great parents and "train up this child in the way she should go". And also that "Baby Neeli" will be saved in the Lord's perfect timing.

Wide awake and alert!