Lena in the NICU
We had to place Lena in the NICU the morning after she was born. While she was small at four pounds, three ounces, she was well developed. We were able to breastfeed and supplement with formula in the first hour of her life and she took to both really well. She just had trouble maintaining her body temperature. The doctor said that Lena had the cord wrapped around her neck when they took her out during my c-section. That would explain why she wouldn't drop during the labor process. Also, her cord was unusually short and "scrawny" both indicators that I had been secretly struggling with pre-eclampsia for awhile before I was actually induced. I have been able to pump colostrum and deliver it to the NICU several times a day for Lena. They said she has already gained back her birth weight in 48 hours when it usually takes babies 7 days to accomplish that. The NICU is hoping she can go home with us Monday night. Having her in the NICU has allowed us to be able to work on getting some extra rest before taking Lena home. They are having trouble keeping my blood pressure down and most likely I will have to go home on blood pressure medication.
Lena's Labor
On Monday when the doctor decided to induce it was our wish that we give our best effort to have a vaginal birth unless my life or Lena's life was in danger. From my previous posts you learned that the first several days of induction were spent trying to open my cervix. It never did open on it's own. One doctor "popped" it open to 1 cm. The next day another doctor used a cathiter balloon to force it open to 4 cm which was quite painful to say the least. My water broke shortly after that procedure. Then another doctor forced me open to 5 cm. I had 9 doses of gel and pills to soften the cervix and I was on the maximum dosage of pitocin. At 4 cm I asked for an epidural to deal with the labor pains. It worked for about an hour or two and then it deadened my legs but not anything else including my abdominal area where the labor contractions were. I labored for about 14 hours (induced for a four days at that point) when the doctor on duty finally suggested we turn to a c-section. Baby Lena's heart rate had weakened slightly due to all the induction drugs and we were out of time to get my body to cooperate. I was exhausted from four days of this and quickly agreed to the surgery. Once we were in the OR things moved quite quickly and thank goodness because it had been really difficult to experience active labor for so long without being able to move around because of IVs, cathiters, and the not so helpful epidural.
It has been awesome to celebrate the arrival of Lena Joyce with everyone who has prayed so long and hard for her over the years. I am so thankful for her. Dan and I are so excited that we get to be her parents and take her home with us soon. I love her to pieces already!
