Trying to recreate the day since I couldn't blog it at the time. Most of the following is based on my facebook updates during and after induction/birth. Enjoy! It's quite a roller coaster ride...
Monday, April 20th @ 6am - Made it to the hospital for my induction. Our friend, Natalie, organized an all day prayer vigil for us at the hospital. There will be people praying there every hour from 6am - 8pm. We've already been greeted by some of them. What a total blessing! Thank you everyone for loving us this much.
4/20 @ 7:38 am -
Finally got connected, here's the scoop - I am in 436 at St Francis. I love you all but please don't just pop in. I need to try to sleep some. Michael will give hourly updates to any prayer warriors joining the prayer vigil in the 4th floor lobby and we will try to keep my facebook status current. As of 7:30, I have my IV in (after 3 tries - can you say ouch?) but the pitocin hasn't been started yet.
4/20 @ 10:18 am - This is Michael updating for Susan. Rebekah is showing a little distress during contractions, so our wonderful nurse Julie is spending a lot of time watching. The dilemma is pushing labor faster to get it going, but we have to watch the stress on the baby.
4/20 @ 11:29 am - PTL! Praise the Lord!! Baby Rebekah has stabilized and seems to be handling contractions much better. The heart decelerations seem to be due to cord compression, which is better than the alternative. The Pitocin has been increased to help move things along. Susan is resting with stronger contractions. Thank you for your many prayers. God is Great! Michael
4/20 @ 2:35 pm -Well, i've been on pitocin since about 8am and I've only dilated to 1cm. The contractions are coming about every two or three minutes but I am not progressing because her head is not low enough to apply pressure to my cervix. We can't break my water yet either because there is too much risk for cord prolapse. So the plan is to keep this up for another few hours then cut off the pitocin and let me eat/sleep then try again tomorrow so Rebekah can get a break from the contractions. C-section not really necessary since Rebekah is doing well. I think maybe God is laughing at how we humans like to be in control. It just might not be best for her to be here today! My brother says he would expect Susan's daughter to be late. :-D Will update in a few hours when we hear from the doc again.
4/20 @ 5:20 pm - Susan is still only at 1 cm...due to risks they don't want to break her water. So she will probably be taken off the pitocin and start over in the morning...unless something really gets moving in the next hour or so.
4/20 @ 6:06 pm - We stopped the pitocin around 5pm to give Rebekah and me a break. We'll do a prostaglandin gel tonight and start pit again at 6am Tue. Since stopping the pitocin, Rebekah had one major drop/stop in heart rate, probably related to rolling onto her cord. The cord is 2 vessel instead of 3 (normal), so cord compression is a much more critical issue because there is less oxygen flow to the baby.
Tuesday, 4/21 @ 6:45 am - cervadil last night - didn't do too much. pit just started again. but i am not liking the way her heart rate keeps dipping this morning. shift change coming up at 7 - hoping the next nurse will take more interest in watching the heart rate.
4/21 morning - Isaiah was in tears this morning at preschool...he wants his mommy. The boys were all sad to go to school today but we wanted them to keep their normal routine until something happens.
4/21 @ 9:30 am - Waiting for doc to come out of surgery and see if anything is happening. lots of back labor (and pain) today on lower level of pitocin, so i am hoping we are making progress. Rebekah seems to be doing fine as long as i am on my side.
4/21 @ 1:52 pm - Susan has been asleep for a couple of hours (narcotic induced), while the Pitocin was raised to 22. She has progressed to 2 cm and her contractions seem to be getting worse. Rebekah will be born whenever God decides. Perhaps it will be today. Thank you for your prayers. Michael
4/21 @ 3:09 pm - Epidural: 2 to 3 cm. Will post again soon. Michael
4/21 @ 4:20 pm - Susan is 4 cm dialated. A little bit ago, Susan's blood pressure dropped (common side effect of an epidural). This caused Susan to feel nausea and light headed. She turned an interesting shade of gray. The baby's heart rate also started to drop. The staff put Susan on oxygen and gave her a shot of ephedra. Susan and the baby are back to doing great. Now we wait some more.
4/21 @ 6:14 pm - water broken, I was close to 5. Rebekah tolerating labor well. Will be rechecked at 6:30. Boy, am I hungry!
4/21 @ 8 pm - Susan was just checked and she is at 6 to 6.5 cm. So that's progress. Please pray for an acceleration in dilation. posted by Amy
4/21 @ 9:01 pm - Rebekah Faith Budd was born at 8:27 PM. She weighed 4lbs. 6oz. and is 17 inches long. Her heart and lungs are working and she is in good shape. Praise the Lord!!!!!
4/21 @ 11:03 pm - Rebekah is experiencing some episodes of apnea. She simply forgets to breath unless she is stimulated. This is causing Susan Michael to have to think about some difficult decisions regarding how much medical intervention is appropriate. Please pray for Susan and Michael's discernment and the wisdom of the medical staff. Posted by Amy
4/21 @ 11:05 pm - Rebekah is simply beautiful. She continues to touch everyone here at the hospital who meets her. She is currently having her first bottle and getting her picture taken. Posted by Amy
4/21 @ 11:14 pm - Rebekah is experiencing bouts of apnea. She simply forgets to breath unless stimulated. This is causing Susan and Michael to have to consider some difficult decisions about how much medical intervention is appropriate. Please pray for their discernment and for the medical staff's wisdom and that God's hand be on them all. Susan and Michael would like to at least allow Rebekah to meet her brothers in the AM
Wed 4/22 @ 12:36 am - Rebekah has a long road ahead. Her apnea is pretty bad and she turns purple when she sleeps. Tonight she'll be in the nursery being monitored on an apnea machine and stimulated to breathe if she stops. We will not do resuscitation. We very much want the boys to meet her in the morning. On the positive side, she is gets plenty of oxygen when she is breathing, and she is actually managing to take a bottle.
4/22 @ 8 am - Rebekah made it through the night! She breathed on her own and fed several times. Her
heart rate did drop after one of the feedings, but the apnea monitor has not gone off - PTL! We will keep her in the NICU nursery for a few days, so we need to limit visitors until she hopefully recovers from 2 days of labor and gets stronger. Keep praying! Love, The
Budds
4/22 update from a friend for me - When she goes home they will be sending her with an apnea machine. She ate more than was expected today. Her apgar scores were higher than normal
for a child with T18 (4/7). Michael said...for a child with T18, physiologically she is all there!
That means that a lot of the physical problems they were expecting aren't evident.
The neonatologist said he could hear no evidence of a heart murmur.
...
Our God is SO GOOD! Keep praying, her road ahead is still a long one...
but be sure to rejoice and thank God for the miracle He has already provided!
4/22 @ 10:20 pm - Rebekah had a GREAT day today! She managed to take an adequate amount of formula by bottle every 3 hours. This alone for T-18 is AMAZING! She has also managed to put out dirty diapers all day, so all the 'plumbing' is working. Tomorrow we go to apnea machine and cpr training. She made her first hurdle - the first 24 hours!
Wed, 4/23 @ 6:45 am - I am crying tears of joy this morning. I checked on Rebekah in NICU and she had such a great night. She regulated her temp all night, had no bouts of apnea, and managed 3 feedings over 20cc by bottle. This is unbelievable! Most t-18 babies need feeding tubes to supplement, but she is managing to get it down on her own. Now I just need to learn the
NICU nurses' technique to feeding so I can do this at home!
4/23 @ 3:56 pm - It has been a roller coaster day for me emotionally between hormones, pent up emotions, and alarm scares with the heart beat/apnea machine. But Rebekah is doing better than anyone here ever expected. I just want everyone to know that we are deeply humbled and thankful for the support and prayers. We have some rough days ahead, but I know our prayer
warriors are behind us. Rebekah isn't just our baby anymore. :-) ♥
4/23 @ 6 pm - I was discharged from the hospital and the boys are anxious to see mommy after being gone from home for 4 days! We went to NICU to feed Rebekah and say goodbye. It was very tough leaving our baby there, but we think it will give her the best chance of thriving. So we left the hospital last night glum also because we couldn't get her to take her 20cc of formula and she is supposed to increase to 30cc per feeding by tonight. Her heart also kept decelerating during feeding which makes us nervous. They are starting her on bili-lights to to counteract the beginning of jaundice before it gets too bad.
4/23 @ 9:31 pm - This evening was one of the hardest in my life. I had to leave my baby girl at the hospital and go home. Michael and I left in tears after one last kiss. But we know that her staying in NICU through the weekend will help strengthen her AND give me time to recuperate so I can take care of her. Two days of labor then a whirlwind of doctors, visitors, etc has caught up and I am physically and emotionally spent.But I believe in the promise of Isa 41:10 -
fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Can't wait to see my baby again tomorrow! She will be under bili-lights tonight for jaundice and must increase her formula intake by 10cc per feeding to avoid a feeding tube. So pray hard!
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