Finally . . .I can share her with y'all!

Our daughter and granddaughter #3 are going to have a story to tell. Wow! I think that Easter Saturday is a good day to write about them! I just couldn't write earlier. There was too much of the unknown.

I shared with y'all (and y'all prayed - thank you!) that our daughter was in the hospital with pre-eclampsia. She was admitted through the ER on the evening of March 10th.

The doctor had told her that his goal was to get her to 37 weeks. When he rounded on Friday, the 15th, he told Laura that he hoped she would still be in that bed pregnant on Monday when he returned. She was. He then adjusted his time table and said that if she could make it to 35 weeks, that would be really good.

The 35th week arrived on Wednesday, March 20th and at 10:30 p.m. my phone rang. Mark was out of town. I had just worked a very long day and finished a paper for school and turned it in and I was out cold. I woke up enough to answer the phone and to hear Laura say, "My water just broke." Is that TMI?

I didn't text Mark until 5:30 the next morning because I knew he would have to put the boat up, etc. and would have to wait for daylight. I was frantically getting ready, texting the office, etc. At 5:30 a.m., she had progressed very little over night so we felt like we had time.

Before either of us could drive from different parts of the state to the hospital, we got a text that it was time. The text literally said, "It. Is. Time." Twelve minutes later we received a text that she had arrived.

The next text said, "They had to take her to the NICU. She's not wanting to breathe on her own right now."

I had clothes for Mark so I dropped those off at Laura's house and headed to the hospital. I was able to see Laura for just a little bit and her BP was ALL over the place. I went to the waiting room so they could see if they could get her pressure down. Here is an excerpt from the Sunday School lesson I taught on Sunday. I've removed location and baby's name for now. The portion in quotes below gives some of the back story, too.

"Our daughter has been at the Hospital in her town for several weeks now. About 10 days ago, Mark and I took turns driving back and forth and spending the day in the hospital room with Laura and then spending the night on the crinkly plastic sofa in her room. A week ago Friday, I went out to my car at 6:30 a.m. to take a load of stuff and when I came back, the women and children’s center portion of the hospital was locked. You can exit through that portion of the hospital, but you can’t re-enter until later. I had to walk around to the end of the hospital (not far) and sign in again and get a new badge and then the security guard had to walk me to the women’s/baby’s side of the hospital. There were two young men signing in at the same time and so we all walked together. One of the young men looked like any of our kids might look. Of course, y’all know me - I talk to everyone. He told me that his wife had pre-eclampsia just like our daughter, Laura. His wife was only 32 weeks pregnant, and they were doing a C-section that day.  The other young man was very tall and very thin and had some shiny gold teeth and really cool dreads. His wife also had pre-eclampsia and they had done a c-section a day or so earlier and his baby boy was in the NICU. We all wished each other well and went our separate ways. Wednesday night at 10:30, Laura called and said her water had broken and since she was 35 weeks, they were going to allow labor to proceed. I was already asleep when she called and Mark was at the farm so I told her I would see her bright and early the next morning. Before Mark or I could make it to the hospital, baby made her arrival into the world. I got to the hospital before Mark so I was able to see Laura but her blood pressure kept rising so I moved to the waiting room. Mark arrived and there we sat. I texted Scott, our son-in-law, a few times but he said they still wouldn’t let him into the NICU to see baby girl. The text from Laura right after she was born said, “They had to take her to the NICU. She’s not wanting to breathe on her own right now.” Mark and I sat there for hours and finally at 1:25, Scott got into the NICU and sent us a couple of photos. I’m not going to lie. Those hours were torture because we had no idea whether our daughter or our new granddaughter were ok or not. We were beginning to get worried that something bad had happened. We thought if it had, Laura’s blood pressure was SO INCREDIBLY high, that maybe they didn’t want to give them bad news. Why is it our minds go to the worst places?

Back to my friends I met the prior week as we were escorted through the ER. I had gone out into the hall and was literally walking fast up and down the hall and was headed back into the waiting room. At the same exact moment, I looked up and there was my friend with the dreads from the week before. We started talking and he told me that he and his wife were there to take their baby boy home after a 10 day stay in the NICU. I opened my mouth to tell him about Laura and got about a sentence out and got very emotional. He looked me in the eye and said, “God is going to work it out.” “God’s got this.” Now put this picture in your mind – very tall, very thin, gold teeth, guy with dreads and me – short, round, wearing a skort. He was being the body of Christ to me. I actually sat down at the table and had to close my eyes and take deep breaths because I was about to totally fall apart. Still no news. In a little while, the doors opened again and out strolls my new friend with the car seat in his hand and his baby boy in the seat. He came over to our table in the waiting room to show us his baby boy. He wanted us to have hope. He told us again, “God has got this. God is going to take care of it.” Y’all – that tall skinny man was Jesus with skin on. He was the body of Christ. He was representing Christ to us."

Back to the story . . .she arrived. She is getter better every day. Laura was finally able to go home from the hospital last night after a 19 day stay in the hospital. They had a rough time finding the right combo of meds to get her BP under control.

Mark nor I have been able to hold sweet baby girl yet, but that is coming! I did get to rub her arm and I sang Jesus Loves Me and Horsey Horsey (family song) through the porthole. This morning, we heard that she pulled out the nasal canula and the doctor decided to see how she would do without it. When her parents went to visit, she was sleeping soundly without it. Hopefully, that is one more step closer to going home.

Here she is in all her glory. She was 35 weeks and 1 day and she came in at a full term weight. When we've been in the NICU visiting her, we've been amazed at how tiny some of those babies are.

She's been on a feeding tube (donor breast milk which is AMAZING and such A GIFT!). She has been on oxygen and cpap and every machine you can imagine measuring her oxygen and heart rate, etc. etc. She was under two bilirubin lights at one point but is totally out from under those now.

Here is how her big sister got to meet her! Thank God for technology.

I told her she was getting a suntan. I also had them adjust her sunglasses because one of her eyes wasn't fully covered.

 

We are progressing! As soon as I find out when she is going home, Mark and I will arrange our schedules so that we can go back to help. I took Sunday, Monday, and half a day Tuesday to stay with Laura in the hospital and Mark took the second half of Tuesday, Wednesday, and part of Thursday to stay with Laura. She may be grown, but she needed her parents this week. Her hubby and his parents have also been amazing. They have had granddaughter #2 all of this time!

This Gran can't wait to hold this new baby girl. I think Pops is feeling the same way!

We now have three granddaughters -- an 8 year old, a 4 1/2 year old, and a brand new baby girl!

If you've been praying for us, please continue to do so! We are so close to getting her home.