Change 2- Baby!

Wow what a night! At the end of the day, Alex is here, Lauren's doing much better, and now there's 3 to our family. But the journey wasn't easy.

We had a really boring start. From 1-5cm, there was minimal pain and minimal action. By 5cm though, Lauren and I both felt it was time to start the pain meds. It was about 5pm. The doc told us we'd be about 1cm an hour and we'd have him by the end of the day. He failed to realize that Lauren is a champ and that things would progress much more rapidly.

So at 7:30, Lauren and I decide to take a quick nap before we rounded the final stretch. At 8:00, we were both awakened to a panicked technician checking our baby's heartbeat that had dropped below 90bpm. Doc follows him in, infuriated that the check didn't come sooner. "We have to get this baby outta there," barked the doc.

The whirlwind of blue cloth tore through the room as urgency overtook serenity. More commands. More action. The sounds of equipment rolling across the floor, the bang of the bed's edge collapsing, and the snapping of latex gloves consumed us.

For both of us, reality blurred and focus waned. Long story short, Lauren had 2 hours of pushing to do in a few short minutes. My heart swelled as I saw the dark hair of our baby's head, yet the joy wouldn't last. Alex's heart monitor echoed fewer and fewer beeps. Our spirits hit rock bottom as we heard it from the doc, "C Section."

They raced us from delivery room to operating room. I gowned up only to be denied access to the room. Lauren had full access and then full anesthesia. Our family waited to hear good news but only heard the clock ticking.

I sat like a refugee alone in the warzone that was our delivery room. At last, the nurse broke the silence, "Your baby is healthy, and they're slowly waking her up."

Collecting myself, I dropped the good news off with our families and longed for the moment when we could hold our boy. It hasn't come yet. He's recovering well from his pneumothorax, but the professionals are keeping him in the "special" nursery room.

At the end of the day, we're extremely hopeful. By early this afternoon, he should be able to feed, and by the end of the night, he should be in the room with us! Lauren's slowly bouncing back from her surgery, both physically and emotionally. I'm not sure how long we're going to be here, but I am sure we won't be travelling on Monday. :)

We'll let you know more as the saga unfolds, but that's been our life for the past 24 hours. At times last night I truly felt like we were walking through the valley of the shadow of death, but in that, God has certainly been with us. Our souls are restored, and we are finding rest as God continues to lead us through this. Thanks so much from both of us, and we'd love to have you call to come see us! :)