Happy new year!

Birth story part two.

Ok, I left off where we had just heard Reese’s first baby sounds. The story continues below. I will write this from my point of view first, and then from David’s his is a bit different than mine.

In the days leading up to Reese’s birth I had known that the only thing that I would be looking for in the delivery room, or operating room in our situation is a loud cry. I figured that would be the only way we would know that he was ok, the only way that we would know that his lungs were mature enough for him to survive outside of the womb. We did not hear those cries. The dr. said look up here he is! David could see, but I could not, the stupid screen was too high up. So I watched David’s face as he looked at his son for the first time. David snapped some pictures. I did not really care about seeing him, that is not what I had been waiting for. I wanted to hear that cry. That first strong breath of air. I held my breath waiting, but all that came were little mewing sounds. David jumped up and ran over to the warmer. The OR I was in, is very very frustrating in it’s set up. All I could see was the anesthesiologist and his work station. The baby warming station is at the end of the room, on the other side. I lay there holding my breath waiting, waiting, waiting, that cry never came. The dr. then walked up holding the baby swaddled in a white blanket. I knew something was up, since this was supposed to be daddy’s first moment with the new baby. Why was the dr. holding him?

Then I saw his little face. Perfect. But the problem was it looked like it was carved out of marble. Purple and white marble. The only words I could get out was “Why is he purple???!” Why is he not moving?” “Is he even breathing??” The pediatrician then said “KISS HIM!” and held him up to my face. I will never forget that moment. He held that little perfect creature’s face up to mine and the first thing that struck me was how absolutely warm he was.  Like the warmest most perfect thing. The second thing was how soft he was. A perfect little soft warm creature that belonged to me. Then he was gone. Just like that.

From across the room I heard David say “I am going with Reese.”

I must have started crying at some point, the spinal dr. was wiping my tears, telling me it was going to be ok. That taking the baby to the nursery was normal. I knew he was just saying stuff to make me feel better, as I knew that the normal policy is to allow the family some time together. And we had all heard the deafening silence of the pathetic little whimpers that had come from Reese.
It took them a while to stitch me up. Dr. B congratulated me on my new responsibility, Dr. Diekman left as he was only there to help get that baby out I guess. And the spinal dr. went though the post op care with me. He said that I could not stand up or even sit up more than degrees for  hours. That I should request pain medication as soon as I could move my toes and not wait for the pain to show up. He said that there would be no lasting affects. At this point dr. B put his head over the sheet and said that they had just put my womb back in. I yelled “WHAT??” I could feel the stitches going in and out. There was no pain though. Spinal dr. leaned over and told me the next drug is not going to be pleasant but it is supposed to help my uterus contract,  I needed this because of the meds I was on before that were supposed to stop the uterus from contracting.  The moment this drug entered my system my head started to pound, my heart rate had gone up to 120 when I saw that purple baby, and it had stayed up. Now I could feel every beat pulsing through my head. It was strange. Then it was over. They were pulling the screens down, and putting their things away. Notice that no one had mentioned anything to me about Reese. The nurse started to pull my hospital gown off when the dr. yelled at her to wait since the OR door was open. They closed the door and then pulled the gown off. I noticed that the gown was soaked through in blood. My blood. It is strange to explain the emotions I felt. It was like I was numb. Like everything around me went quiet. I was still waiting for that cry. Waiting to hold my baby in the OR, and nuzzle his neck, I was waiting for that new family picture. You know the one with the proud dad, the exhausted mom and the brand new squished baby. They pulled me over onto my bed, off of the operating table. I looked back at the table and saw my body print in blood. I guess I never knew how much blood one loses during a c-section. They wrapped me in hot blankets since I had begun to shake and shiver. Then they wheeled me into the hallway. I sat in that stupid hallway for an hour. The nurses were talking about the dr’s and who they liked, and then they all left. I lay there alone, I lay there staring at my heart rate monitor willing my heart rate to go down. After the hour I was wheeled to my room. Reese was born at 5:41 I was wheeled to my room right after 7:15. Keep in mind no one had mentioned anything to me about a baby, or where he was or whether he was even alive. As I was being wheeled down the corridor we went by the nursery, I looked back and saw David standing next to an incubator. He caught my eye and gave a thumb’s up. Finally some news!

In my room I was given a sponge bath, sexy right! And then they hooked up some pain medication. I still could not move my feet. David came in the room saying that Reese was under observation, he was not breathing correctly and they were giving him 30 minutes before putting him on a machine. I made David go back to the nursery, then Marye came in. When I saw her my emotions finally broke and a sound came from me that I did not recognize, then the tears came. Marye stayed for an hour and then had to leave. Over the next few hours David would come in for a couple minutes at a time with some updates and pictures from the NICU. Reese did not start breathing correctly on his own so he had to be put on the CPAPP machine.
We had a list of people that we were going to call and text to share the good news with, but with things going the way they had that had gone out the window. We turned on cell phones and I had 26 missed calls from my parents. We called them back and got yelled at for taking so long to call them back. I understand how scary it was for them. Then we skyped David’s family. They were all smiles and Congratulations we also got some congrats tgext messages, it was a strange moment for me. I could not understand celebration and congratulations when Reese was in the NICU, I was still waiting to hear him cry. After that David had to leave. I slept fitfully until 1am. I woke up in pain and then waited until 6 am for the nurses to come around and do their rounds. In those five hours I sang some worship songs softly and thought about that brief moment when I had felt his warm fuzzy little nose. I will be forever in debt to that dr. for making me kiss Reese. It was only when the nurses came in for my morning sponge bath that I broke down completely. I cried so hard I could not breath. It had been over 8 hours since the last update. David showed up soon after that, I sent to check on Reese immediately. He came back with news that Reese was still on the CPAPP, but he was doing well. For the next 4 hours David would run between my room and the NICU to check up on Reese. At 10 am I decided that I felt well enough to go see my son. There was no way I was going to wait until 6 pm that night before seeing him again. I also had an awesome nurse who helped me into a wheelchair. So I went with the I.V meds in a wheelchair. In the NICU you have to scrub really well first and then put on a mask. I walked in an saw my little guy laying in an isolette. I walked over and touched his skin. So soft and perfect. First thing I noticed was that he was off of the CPAPP, in the morning hours, since David had last seen him they had taken him off of the machine. He still had an oxygen cannula and a feeding tube, but he was there, pink and breathing! The nurse came up, gave me a chair and then handed me my son. I was finally holding him, 17 hours after they cut him out of me. He was soft and warm and so perfect. Looking back now I am thankful that I never had to see him on that CPAPP machine. To this day he still has red marks under his nose where that machine was. I could only be up for a while before I had to go back to bed, but we returned at lunch time, and he had been moved out of the NICU into the high care nursery.

The NICU only had 3 babies at a time, and the High care only had 5 at a time. We met a lady who had had her baby in October, and she had been in high care ever since, but was set to go home within the next week! Around 5 pm, we went back so I could try to breastfeed Reese. We were sitting in the High care nursing room when I heard a sound like someone hitting a piece of wood really hard. I looked up at David and he peeked out the door. The October baby had aspirated on her milk and was not breathing! The nurses started to go crazy. They were screaming and running around. The head nurse was crying and yelling at the top of her voice: ” CALL THE DR. CALL DR CALL DR!! NOT THIS CHILD GOD, OH GOD NOT THIS CHILD!” BREATH” CALL THE DR” GIVE ME A TUBE” BIGGER TUBE!!” BIGGER TUBE” slap slap slap!!! This went on for a while. We thought that baby had died. I sat there stunned holding on to Reese with everything in side of me. We were praying out loud for God to save this baby. Then she coughed. The baby coughed and then cried. The head nurse had given the baby, a 1.8kg baby mouth to mouth and saved her life. This was one of the most terrifying things I have ever experienced. After that I could not imagine leaving Reese there. But we had to. It was so difficult. We returned a few hours later and we were told that after they give him a bath they are going to test his vitals and if they stay stable he would be released to us.

The cry I had been waiting for finally came when they gave him a bath. He screamed and turned bright red! He HATED it, but when they nurse was done she put him in my arms and he calmed down immediately. He rocked his vitals test and was released to us. So just over 24 hours after his birth we got to take him to our room. His feeding tube was taken out after the bath, and since then he has latched really well, and he loves to be breast fed. He is doing great at home. We have had to take him back to the hospital for jaundice we were in for 3 days, but his lungs are doing great! We do still jump up if he makes a weird sound to make sure that he is still breathing, and the scariest thing for me is burping him after he eats. I think that experience in the NICU will be with me for a while.

If you made it this far you are a champion and you should go eat a cookie. Thank you so much for all the hours of prayers and hundreds of messages that we received. We are so in love with this little miracle, and every time he cries now I thank God for the strong pair of lungs that he has. We have been blessed far above our wildest dreams and hopes. From the start of this baby’s life, he has been a testimony to the wonders that God can do. We had less than one percent chance of conceiving when we did conceive him. And at 7 whole weeks early he spent such a small amount of time in the NICU and was sent home with us at the end of my regular hospital stay. God is so good, and must have a great plan for this little guy.

According to David it was after I questioned why Reese was so purple that they took him to the table and the dr. started to use some kind of oxygen bag on him. After that they rushed him to the nursery and put an oxygen cannula on him. David said that Reese was making a grunting sound with each exhale, and his chest was contracting sharply with each breath. This showed the DR. that his lungs were not opening fully with each breath. He was given 60 minutes on the cannula, to see if he would begin to breath properly, before being moved over to the CPAPP in the NICU. The dr. said that he expected Reese to be on it for 48 hours.

Birth Story… part one.

I have gone back and forth on how much of this I want to write down, about how much of this I really want to remember. But then I am reminded that this is Reese’s birth story, and in the end it gives glory to God’s perfect plan. It will be part of this little boy’s testimony, his very first minutes on earth! Also this is going to be a very long post, and may contain some pregnancy related gore;)

So last Sunday I was just past 33 weeks pregnant, 33weeks and 1 day to be exact when we decided to go for a walk to the local shop. On the way back I stumbled and tripped over my own feet. I fell hard. I turned so most of the impact was taken by my left knee and shoulder, but my bump did absorb some of the blow. I started crying immediately thinking that I may have hurt the baby, but David was reassuring that nothing was wrong and that we would just keep an eye on me. A few hours later we were sitting in the living room and I started to feel contractions. I had been having braxton hicks for several weeks but these were stronger and I was able to time them. Marye came over and we watched a movie, during it the contractions stayed consistent and were coming at 7 minutes apart. We went to bed and by the next morning I had begun to bleed. We went over to our Dr. he was out for the day so we saw his colleague. He did a scan on Reese and said that he could not find anything wrong on the screen but he could also not determine the source of the blood, and the contractions were not making any difference but were staying consistent. He decided to admit me to the hospital for 24 observation and he put me on medication that is used to lower blood pressure, apparently this med would cause my uterus to relax.

We showed up at the hospital at 11 am and I was hooked up to the monitors. Within minutes the machine was picking up strong but short contractions and the bleeding had increased. I was moved to a private room and given my first course of hospital food. Mmmmm! I was monitored every 6 hours with a non-stress test (a test that measures the baby’s heart rate and movements, and the contractions) and by the next morning I was ready to go home! But the dr. came in and said that a further 24 hours may be in order even though the contrax had become weaker thanks to the blood pressure medication. At noon my dr. showed up. He decided to give me steroid shots to mature the baby’s lungs. I knew this meant that the dr. thought that maybe perhaps there would be a slight chance that maybe the baby would come early, but I don’t think I totally got it. We were then sent for an in depth ultrasound to make sure that there was no tear in the placenta and to get an estimate on the baby’s size. It was a great ultrasound, we got to see the beautiful face and the dr. could not see any obvious sign of any trauma that could be causing the labor. We were pretty sure we would be sent home soon.
That night I started having strong contractions every 4-5 minutes. I was put on an I.V to stop the contractions to give the steroids a chance to work. Still in my mind I was waiting for my second 24 hour period to end so I could go home. It was scary though. When the first contraction woke me up that night I did not think much of it, but I wrote down what time it started, when the second one woke me up exactly five minutes later I raised my eye brows but by the time they had the IV in the contractions were constant. The drugs seemed to have no affect on my uterus, it kept contracting throughout the night. Luckily the stress test only showed some minor stress on the baby. The head nurse for the night came in and sat by me, she chatted with me for over 2 hours. We spoke about random things like Christmas traditions and serious things like race relations in Africa and the state of Namibian politics. I think I would have lost my  mind had she not come in. My regular night nurse was a special person too. As in I think there had to be some kind of special circumstances that allowed the hospital to hire her. She seemed bored with patients and not really sure of what she was doing. I did get to know her well while there, but would advise against getting her as a nurse 😉 By the morning time the contrax had once again faded and become sporadic, but I was still bleeding. The dr. came in in the morning and gave me the second steroid shot. These take 24 hours to take full effect. So the dr. explained that he stopped the contractions the previous night for the meds, but that the labor signs were worrying him, and that if I were to go into labor after the second 24 hour period he was not going to stop it. I think I said Ok. But who knows where my head was at this point.

After the dr left they gave me my second dose of antibiotics in the I.V, the dr. had found a slight elevation in my white blood count and wanted to be on the safe side. When the nurse put the meds in I could feel a tingling in my hand. She then left the room, within minuted my wrist was on fire, I looked down and could see my skin turning purple and then and angry red. I yelped for David to get the nurse back in there. By the time she was back in I was in tears with the pain spreading. She went over to the I.V and turned it to a slower flow. This stopped the burn for a minute and then it felt like all hell broke loose on my arm. I could watch a red and purple line race across my arm as the meds spread, the more it moved up the angrier and more painful it became. The nurse RAN out of the room to go and call the dr. in case I was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic. If you know me  then you know that this antibiotic is the only only only one I can take, as I am allergic to all the other ones. She turned the meds off before returning. The dr. ordered the I.V be removed. David had some ice and was icing my arm as they pulled the needle out. Even now a week later I can still see the medicine trail of doom up  my arm. OUCH! Turns out it was not an allergic reaction, but when they but the new med in they “flushed the line” when they did that the needle moved and pierced the vein thus the medicine was pumped into my tissue. Antibiotics in the flesh is not fun!

Marye came in at dinner time to bring some food for David, and after David and I realized that we may be meeting our baby sooner rather than later we had Marye take some of the Maternity pictures we still wanted to do. They are extra cheesy, but now special to us.
Marye also gave me a pedicure, you know so my nails could look fabulous. Marye thought it would be nice for the first thing that Reese sees to be freshly painted toes. Marye and David then went out and bought the things that I had been planning on putting in my hospital bag when it was time to have the baby. Both of them are rockstars for doing that!  So now we are on Wednesday I think. That night the dr. gave me some sleeping aids and I slept well for the first time all week. The next morning David was out getting our car fixed, since the breaks decided it was a fine and dandy time to stop breaking, when dr. Burmeister came in and told me : “We do not know why you are bleeding and why you are contracting. But at this point it is a risk leaving the baby in there. You could have a placental tear that we cannot see, and in Obstetrics it is always a risk as we don’t know for sure what is going on inside of the uterus. We have been playing it safe up to now, but your cervix is not changing and the contractions are getting worse. Then there is also the question of the bleeding. All of this leads me to suggest that we take the baby out now. You are fine but our concern now is for the baby.” I said ok, yeah I agree… then  he said I have booked a C-Section for 5 pm TONIGHT. I sat in that room alone for a few moments before calling David. I would have a baby by 5 pm, my life would change forever at 5 pm. It was a strange moment. A calm came over me. I cannot explain it other than it being the prayers of all of you. I have been known to have anxiety problems. But not last Thursday.

After I called David he rushed back to the room. We spent the day pacing and taking cheesy pictures and worrying that Reese may not be mature enough. One of the reasons we picked Rhino Park private hospital is their policy on the mom and baby after birth. The mother can choose to have two hours with the baby before they will take him to weigh and wash and all that stuff. Even the C-section babies have this choice. I was never set on one method of birth over another, I just wanted to be awake to hear his first cry and to hold him as soon as he was out. My dr. assured me with a spinal C section this would be possible. Of course I dreamt of having a normal delivery, I was getting quite excited of the prospect of going through that experience, but the stress and danger to the baby had put that out of the question. So David and I had our plan, he would go over as soon as Reese was out, take some pictures and then bring him over to me. There we would get our first family photo taken and then spend some time together while the Dr’s stitched me up. Five pm came around and after all the prep for the CS they wheeled me into the OR. Once again the peace that came over me was more than I could explain. The people in the operating room were friendly and were mostly in the middle of a conversation about where they would spend their Christmas holidays. Dr. Diekman was there. The very friendly dr. who had sent me to the hospital on Monday, and the anesthesiologist, another very friendly man, but no Dr. Bermeister. This made me nervous. They had me get on the table and they went to work immediately getting the spinal going. The dr. explained everything to me as they went. Honestly the spinal was not too bad. The I.V in the arm was way worse than the foot long needle in the back. The needle entering my spine was a strange sensation, kind of like if you were to take a nail file and run it slowly over your teeth.
While he was putting the spinal needle in he asked me if there were any pins and neeldes, I said no, and then it felt like lighting hit my leg. I jumped while the needle was in my back. Everyone in the room froze and gasped. David, who was just outside waiting to be let in, said he heard that gasp and it scared him. I guess he did not hit a major leg nerve seeing that I cans till walk tough. After the spinal was in they let me lay down quickly. I could feel warmth traveling down my legs. They became more and more heavy. I touched my belly for the last time, knowing that soon I would not carry Reese inside of me any more. And then the feeling was gone. I tried with all my might to wiggle my toes, but it was to no avail. During all of this dr. B showed up. He came in wearing a big set of water proof boots. I asked him what that was all about, he said he did not feel like swimming…

After an eternity they let David in. He sat down and took my hand. This was it! I was strangely silent. They began to cut. Then pull and tug. I could feel no pain, but it seemed like the pulling and tugging was more violent than I expected. I squeezed David’s hand as hard as I could. David thought he would be brave, so he took one peek over the sheet. When he did he says a spray of blood squirted out of me across the room like a super soaker water gun. Yikes! Dr. Diekman then looked at me and said that what I was about to feel may be very uncomfortable, then he put both his hands on my abdomen and pushed as hard as he could. Then we heard Reese’s first baby sounds.

Ok, I am going to finish this post here for now. The next part is the part that is hard to think about or relive, will write that out later. If you made it this far “Yay for you!” We are currently back in the hospital for Reese’s jaundice. His levels reached 291, 300 is dangerous so they sent us in. Please pray for us and him, so his levels go down and we can go home soon. This last picture is of the sky. It is what it looked like right before Reese was born. Rainy and overcast. The perfect weather in Namibia.

Much Love, David and Sandy and little Reese Echols

So what did you do this week?

We had a baby! Reese Livingstone Echols, born at 33 weeks and 4 days, 6.37 pounds and 18 inches.

Something amazing happened last week.

Last week two students in David’s discipleship class decided that they wanted to become Christians. Actually seven of the students decided this, but only two of them were able to get permission from their parents to be baptized, and others were told that that they are not mature enough to make such a big decision. It is a huge victory for us, and for the kids! It was surreal to stand next to the swimming pool and see them be buried in Christ, and then raised up again to live new lives. God is great! Please pray for these kids as we are now going into the Christmas break period where they will be out of school and away from the influence there. AND praise Jesus for their decisions! Their names are Steven and Angelika!

Week 32/33

I figured I should get on this and get this post done, seeing that I don’t know if I have hours, days or weeks left! Things sure are getting interesting around these parts. This post is probably going to be ridiculously long. A lot has happened in the last few weeks.


How far along? : Right now 33 weeks and 4 days. 

Total weight gain:  Let’s say 35 pounds for fun. There is no scale here in the hospital so I am guestimating. 

How big is baby?: Yesterday the specialist guessed that he is about 2.7 kg, which is about 6 pounds.

Sleep?: I was sleeping really well at home. I was getting a kind of dead sleep, with no dreaming, just sweet oblivion. Now in the hospital I realize that the people who work here have sleep sensors. Whenever you fall asleep they come ask you weird questions. This morning at 5 am someone came in to ask me if I wanted coffee. They woke me up to ask me that. After letting me go to sleep at 4am. Then when I said in a disgusted voice that I did not want coffee at five in the morning I was asked if I wanted juice. Yes lady, that is the issue, it is in fact a cold beverage that I require at the crack of dawn….

Movement?: He has been moving a whole lot. I have been getting non-stress tests around the clock, and sometimes they just don’t work because he moves way too much. He is a busy little buddy.
 
Food cravings?: Not that I can think of. 

What I’m looking forward to: Right now, I cannot even say.

Best moment of the week: Ok there were so many best moments this week. Let me begin with last Sunday. David was acting really weird like he just had to get out of the house or he would lose his mind. So he said we needed to go out and see a movie, even though there was nothing to see. So out we went to go and see Johnny English. It was an awful  movie, but I thought that David must really need it so I sat through it… Afterwards I had a coupon to spend and we needed some groceries. As soon as we walked into the shop he started acting like his stomach was killing him and that he needed to get home ASAP. Very weird indeed. So I grabbed some pacifiers with the coupon and enough groceries for one meal. When we were almost to our house I noticed someone parked in our driveway, and I got really annoyed, then David mentioned that someone must be having a party as so many cars were in the street. I looked over and noticed familiar cars. Then it hit me, A SURPRISE BABY SHOWER! So I did what was natural and turned to David and started yelling “NO!!!!” I walked up to the house and an invitation was stuck to the door, when I opened the door I was surprised by a group of wonderful women. Marye had engineered the whole thing behind my back! And of course David was in on it. I thought it was weird when he was cleaning the house obsessively. Marye had balloons up all over the house, and a cake covered in jelly beans. My secret pregnancy craving! We played a game where people had to take a piece of string and guess how big the baby belly is. I think everyone, including myself guessed way bigger. Only Meke was close, she measured her own baby belly, and there was only about an inch difference. The funny thing is that she was 39 weeks and I was 31. Marye also had the ladies pray for me. And the mothers in the room give me encouragement. It was a great night! Sara made me a diaper cake, I hope we have enough diapers now! Meke made a t-shirt that says “under this shirt is the best kid.” I don’t have it with me here now, so I may be off on what it says. Will post a picture when I have a chance! And some of the other ladies went in together and got me a Modi wrap. Here it is called a UbbaBubba wrap. I love love love it. It is going to be great to carry him so close to my heart. It was a great day to celebrate his life. I was so touched and blessed by Marye going to all the trouble, I know she has been very very busy at school.
During the week after that we watched one of the birthing videos that we have. They are about how the husband can coach the wife through labor pains. This specific episode was about breathing techniques. So the exercise was that the wife had to go Hie Hie Hie while the husband clamps down on my leg with his hand. Then he is supposed to squeeze as hard as he can, and try to hurt the wife. This would show how effective the breathing is. This is filmed in a class setting so we can watch the other students doing it while we go along with it. David was horrified but agreed to be a good husband and squeeze the snap out of my leg. So I started breathing going Hie Hie Hie and David started squeezing. And then it happened I went HiehiehiehieheiheheeheheheeeeehahahahhahhaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! David started laughing too, so we failed that. By the end we were both in tears and holding our sides. Hilarious.



Dr’s Appointment?: Yeah well, I fell on Sunday skinned my knee and started having contractions. Then some more signs the next morning, I will spare you the gory details. We went to the dr, and he sent us to the hospital for a 24 hour monitoring. That has turned into a three night stay, and now there is no sign as to when I will be allowed to go home. So here I am coming to you straight from Rhino Park Private Hospital. The dr. is concerned as he cannot seem to find a reason for the symptoms. Reese is at almost 6 pounds though so he should be ok if he comes now. This means we either have hours, days or weeks. Will just have to wait and see. They also found an infection and tried to treat it but the second round of IV antibiotics gave me a horrible reaction. I was  in tears as the drug was burning as it traveled through my veins. I had a red rash appear and move up my vein, and it burned. It just really really burned. They decided to pull the IV completely as they think it is either an allergic reaction to the meds, or an irritation caused by the needle that had been in for over 17 hours. So now the meds that were suppressing the contractions have been stopped too. So now we wait. Pray they stop tonight. Please take a moment right now and pray that these contractions top right now. I am scared to tell the truth. He is still really young. I have been given the steroid shots. The pastor also showed up today to pray and spend some time with us. It was really nice. That is all I can think of right now. But please keep us in your prayers as we go though this time right now.

Thankful for: The people in our life who are praying for us, and pulling together right now to help with scrambling to get things together for the baby, or driving David around while our car is in the shop, washing our laundry, bringing David meals in here, and just all the love and comments we have gotten on faebook. I will add pictures to this post tomorrow!