The arrival of our Miracle....

Forgive me for not posting more since January. The last few weeks of my pregnancy were quite difficult and long, and I pretty much came home and crashed each evening...However, pregnancy is behind me as our son has arrived!!!

It has been a WHIRLWIND of a week!!! Sammy made an early appearance at 38wks...First the important stuff:

Samuel Russell MacIntosh
Born 2/25/11 at 2:01pm
7 lbs 10 oz, 20 in long

I went in last Thursday 2/24 to my doc as usual. Was excited to make it my last day of work on Friday b/c I was BURNT!~ He did all the normal stuff, non-stress test was fine, biophysical profile u/s was perfect, BP was up a bit 130/90 but outside of a headache, felt like a normal day. Baby was high still, only started effacing, no dilation, but seeing as I had 2 weeks to go, I had plenty of time to make progress. Then they checked my urine. 2+ protein. Well that grounded me, no more work, and he was worried b/c I was showing signs of pre-eclampsia. He drew labs and if they were funky, baby would come on Fri by C-Section (CS), if OK, then we'd see about starting an induction on Monday or Tuesday.

Yea, didn't make it to Monday...

Cried all the way home, didn't want the CS, scared of the CS, wanted something NORMAL for once. Stinkin' IF made everything cold and medical, wanted something to be natural, but also want healthy baby...Just was hard. Thankfully mom came to the rescue as always! Gave me an outlet to cry it out, discuss my fears, and just come to the acceptance that a CS may be what we need, but whatever gets Sammy here safe is what is important. So we went to our final birth class which ironically was about CS's...And went home for the night to hydrate and put my footsies up. (I swelled quite a bit my last 4 weeks)

About 10pm I noticed my head was really hurting, just laying on the couch on my side, not feeling quite right. So silly nurse me too my BP. Yea I went through 3 different cuffs b/c I wasn't believing what I was seeing. Unfortunately i was getting 170-180/100's. Um, not good. Called my OB and of course they told us to go to the hospital. Poor Matt was just getting a cold and had only gone to bed an hour before, had to wake him up and tell him we had to get a move on!! I was NOT prepared, didn't have a bag packed or anything. I figured I'd have another week of chillin' at home to get ready for Sammy. HA, NOT.

We arrived at the hospital just before midnight, my admitting BP was 230/110, they immediately turned off all lights, laid me on my side, drew boat loads of labs and wouldn't let me up to do anything. Scary stuff. OB was called and came in and we made the decision to go ahead and delivery Sammy on that day (Friday)...I have to tell you, my OB is fabulous, he knew what to say and how to get me ready to go and I knew that God would keep us in His hands. (My OB is a christian and just outstretched hand of God!) God blessed us with the perfect staff member for every situation we went through. Our nurses just ROCKED!!

I digress. Anyway they put me on a magnesium drip and prepped for surgery, and at 2:01pm on Friday, Sammy was born. His head got STUCK in my belly and took a vacuum and another doctor laying across my belly to push him out the CS opening. Good heavens, I think they were moving furniture! He had a lot of respiratory difficulty when he was born and was taken to the nursery right away. All though I did get to see him for a moment and take a picture of our new family of 3. Matt went with him and got to cut the cord and all that fun daddy stuff.

He stayed in the nursery for several hours to get his lungs under control needed a lot of o2 and stimulation to get him going, but then he perked right up. I was left on the Mag til 24 hrs post CS. Oh my awful drug. I was not allowed up, I couldn't get up, I couldn't feed, I couldn't change him, he wasn't allowed to stay in the room with us, couldn't do anything you are supposed to do when your little one arrives. Thankfully the nurses would literally just come and latch him so he could do breast feeding (BF). It was a ROUGH 24 hrs post CS. I melted down on Saturday morning, but my hubby and mom stepped up and have been just taking care of me and caring for everything I needed. The mag did exactly what it was supposed to do, kept me healthy, prevent seizures and strokes, but oh its a hard road!! Its amazing w/in an hour of coming off the mag, the smoke faded, I could think clear, my grip and muscle strength came back! It was like the song "i can see clearly now the rain is gone".

Thankfully Sam got better respiratory wise and Saturday I went off the Mag, so it slowly got better after that. He was finally allowed to stay with us all day on Sunday. I was up and moving around and everything was just better. I finally got to snuggle and love on my little man all I wanted.

We were finally able to come home on Monday, my BP settled and the pre-eclampsia went away. Phew. My doctor told me later that he was scared to death, b/c I was so hypertensive he thought I'd have a seizure or a stroke...And lemme say how happy I am that I have a proactive doc that saw me twice a week! Probably saved my life! i wouldn't have been diagnosed until this past Monday if I saw him only weekly b/c the Monday before I'd been fine. God is good! He has definitely guided us through this journey every step of the way.

So we are getting used to our routine (ha, as if that exists yet). And sleep deprivation is a way of life. But oh he is so precious and beautiful and I'm just humbled by this gift! I can not believe he is HERE! And in my arms, healthy and precious. So sorry this was long. Who knew this day would come? Seven years, 7 months, countless tests, surgeries, procedures, hormones, heartache, tears, devastation, hope and prayer. Our God has given us this blessing. What a miracle! Samuel: Asked of God. Is that not the truth??? God has heard my prayer and answered with a miracle!!! I'm so humbled.

Thank you for all of you who have stood by us through this journey. We may have come to the end of this journey, but I believe we are now just starting a new one! The road OF parenthood! I can only continue to praise God in all things, and thank Him. What an overwhelming amount of emotion that is just bursting from inside me!!!

So with that, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of our precious new addition. Have a blessed day in the Lord!