Mark's arrival

This is the long version, just a heads up.

Mark Edward’s Birth and Journey Home…

We arrived at the hospital to register at 6:30 Monday morning on the 22nd of December. Less than a week away from our due date, we were scheduled for an induction due to the estimated size of baby and potential strain on my previous c-section scar in the laboring process.

We had a very slow start even though we arrived so early. After 1000 questions of family health history, blood work, two IV attempts (oh my!), and then the first bag of saline solution going, we were finally underway. My water wasn’t broken until about 8:50 am and it’s from here that I’d consider “in labor”. After my water was broken – and let me tell you—I was laying at a near 45 degree angle upside down for this. Very very weird. After my water was broken, they started the pitocin drip. I started feeling intense contractions within the first hour. However sadly, at noon I was only progressed to a 2. (Some point in there my dad brought up Matthew to see me. They stayed in the waiting room until it was time for his nap and went back home) At four I was still a 2, and at five-thirty still only a 2.

This was very discouraging to my midwife and we discussed what our options were at that time since it was clear I was not progressing, even with the aid of the pitocin. And worse of all, I was having back labor. Each contraction sent me a little further over the edge of insanity as I thought my back was being clawed out… I did ten hours with no pain meds, yet at seven-thirty, I was only barely a 3. At that point I did get a small dose of something (don’t remember what!) in my IV. And painstakingly, I agreed to do the Epidural. I had to at that point, in all that pain, watch the stupid Epidural video I’d refused to watch at the start. (They can’t administer the drug without you watching the video). I have to say I didn’t hear it all as I was crying through the contractions during the video watching. Oh well. Anyhow, the Epidural was done at eight pm. I then fell into a sleepy state of stupor and have no idea what happened in the next four hours. Thank you medicine. I was then checked at a 4 and then a 5 and then BAM! (Hi, I’m Dori…) I started feeling the pains again. Each one was low in my back and worse each time. They tried to give me a second dose of meds but, my Epidural catheter had come out, they’d have to redo it. I mustered up all the strength I could and sat through the torture of the Epidural being re-administered. I remember chanting in my head “do not move. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Do not move.” Again and again so to only be stuck once, instead of what I think was three times the first Epidural try…

After that… WOOOSH! We were off! At one am I was a 6 and then an 8 and then a 9 and then we started practicing pushing. Somewhere in that time span I had to have an oxygen mask on. Baby wasn’t getting enough oxygen and the heart rate was dropping some with the contractions, trying to avoid that exact reason we went into a C-section with Matthew, they upped my oxygen levels and rolled me from one side to the other when necessary. I can say that the mask was the devil himself to me. It was so distracting and so frustrating. As if all that wasn’t enough to complain about, I also started shaking-shivering. I was so so cold after that second IV that my lips were literally shivering the whole time. They’d pile on the blankets and I’d still shiver. Ugh. Anyhow, back to pushing!!!… We practiced for an hour in two thirty minute sets. Jamie went to get my mom (Chuck, Sandy, Kimby and my mom were all in the waiting room and had been all that time). Mom came in at about 3am and took up a place in the corner, and we started pushing. I pushed for 45 mintues. My midwife had to use a vacuum, she says non-aggressively. There was a point when I remember my midwife saying "Kate it's do or die time, we've got to get the baby out or we'll have to go to surgery" (this was after he'd crowned) and buddy, I just didn't feel pain anymore. I just cried to God and repeated Phil 4:13 over and over and over and I pushed out that baby!

Jamie was able to tell me that Mark was here.

(MANNA WAS A BOY!!!)

It was beautiful... My mom was in the room with us and she cut Mark's cord. Jamie says I was smiling through my pain. I did it!

Tuesday morning, December 23rd 3:56 Mark Edward Hobbs was born!

Mark weighed 8.3 and was 19.5 inches. Matthew was 6.13 and 19 inches, so on just a half an inch of length more, there was another 1.6 pounds to look at... Mark is a chub! I love his chin rolls and chubby cheeks and thigh rolls....

Sadly though, we both ended up with a fever at delivery and Mark had to have a culture taken because of it. (More about that later) Also, though he wasn't breathing well, gulping but not taking a full breath, so he had to go straight to the NICU after only about ten minutes from arrival. After only an hour there though, he was released to the regular nursery for observation... and we finally got him back to our room 4 hours later. He was a trooper. I was in and out most of the morning and afternoon and he was so content. He started nursing well right away and knew just what to do!

We thought all was well and were expecting to go home Wed sometime. ... however (remember the fever and culture taken)... Wed morning when the pediatrician came in to let us know about the morning’s assessment, we were told that we couldn't leave until the culture results came back. Ooops. We'd forgotten about that. If it was negative, we'd go home. If it was positive, we'd have to stay. She was expecting that it was probably just a false positive or a contaminant of some kind, and that we’d be fine to go Thursday morning after the results were in, that they’d take 48 hours from the blood draw to be processed. Slightly bummed about not being able to go home FOR Christmas we made the calls to family about the potential of Mark being sick and us waiting to find out more in the morning. I was cleared to go at that point but the doc was waiting to discharge me until we found out the results.

However, later that evening, a nurse came in and said she’d need to get the baby to take him to get an IV. WHAT?!?!? They still don’t know what yet. The conclusive results wouldn’t be ready until tomorrow morning. But, it was positive. Mark was taken from us to start an IV port and he was given antibiotics. He'd have to have them every 12 hours until we knew for sure what it was or until the doc said he didn't need them anymore. A repeat culture was taken and we were again waiting on the results. All we knew was that some kind of bacteria had show up in the first culture, we didn't know what though. After being gone for two hours, he came back to uswith his whole left arm wrapped up and taped so he (or we) couldn’t move the IV port. He came back into the room with his eyes open, looking around. Content as could be. God is so good…

We did well through the night.

Thursday, Christmas day, Mom and Dad and Matthew came to see us in the morning. We had a great visit. We kept waiting and waiting for the doc to come in and tell us about the culture but when she came in, she said the lab still didn’t have the results back. (pout) She promised us that we’d know *something* today. Mom, Dad and Matthew all left so Matthew could take a nap. About 3pm my nurse came in and said that we should know something within the hour. I prepared for the worst and prayed to God Mark was okay. Just before 4pm the charge nurse in the nursery came in our room and said "I'll be taking the baby now" (MY HEART STOPPED) "to get his IV removed. The second culture came back negative" (PRAISE JESUS!) She even said they all thought we'd be staying on and that Mark would be moving to the NICU again which is what we were told could happen... that if it was positive, he'd need additional testing in the NICU... but it wasn't! Praise God for His GREATNESS!!!! What a Christmas present. We willingly and tearfully (of joy) sent Mark down the hall to the nursery yet again. As he was gone, we called the folks and started packing our bags. The nurses came and went to get all the discharge papers in order. We took Mark’s sweet pictures when he came back to us and right at six pm, we were all three in the car heading home to be rejoined with Matthew as a family of four at home on Christmas night.

Merry Christmas!