The Grand Update

((another post by Will))

I know that you have all had to wait, but it has been unavoidable (I will explain below). To all those that we wished we could have called with the stats / updates -- I'm sure you will understand after reading.

As you can tell by my prior posts, Thurs looked really promising. Labor started due to the "preparatory" work done, even before the pitocin. Friday, they started the pitocin and eveything still went well. She got up to a "5+", but then did not progress any further (even after the doctor broke her water). 6 or 7 hours later -- still no progress. Worst yet, Nancy's epidural started to be "not effective" on her left side (still working on her right).

The doctor came in and gave us a couple of options: he could check to see if there was progress (he didn't think there was) or we could just do a c-section. The "risk" of checking again is that if there was a slight change, it might end up that we would labor for several more hours and still eneded in c-section. ... We opted for c-section at that moment as Nancy was really tired and in pain with every contraction.

The c-section was "text-book" according to our OB. In fact, Nancy is doing great and is already moving around quite a bit. The doctor found out, by doing the c-section, that Nancy's pelvis is tilted just enough to make it difficult / impossible to deliver a large baby (something he could not have known any sooner).

Eva Marie Hale was born at 8:06pm, Fri 3/13/09. She was 8lbs 0 oz, 19.5 inches long. When she came out, she had quite a bit of fluid on her lungs and the had to give her oxygen to turn from blue to pink. Nancy was shown Eva for a brief moment, and then I went with Eva to the nursury where they began testing.

Eva's blood oxygen levels were low. The put her on a CPAP machine for a while, and it helped quite a bit -- but she still needed to breath "28% oxygen" (regular air we breathe is 21% oxygen) to be where she was supposed to be. Also, they wanted to give her anitbiotics for 2 days as a precautionary measure. So, she was admitted to the "Level 2 Nursury" (basically like a low-grade NICU) and not allowed to be taken to our room. They were going to "wean" her off of the Oxygen during the night.

This was hard on Nancy. She only got a few brief moments to see her after birth and then would not be able to go to the nursury until the next morning. ... I talked to the nurse, who "stretched" several rules and brought Eva (on an oxygen tank) to Nancy in her room for several minutes. During that time, Nancy was able to hold Eva and even attempted to nurse. It was exactly what both mother & baby needed.

That was all last night (Friday). This morning (Saturday), I went to see Eva and they had completely weaned her off of the Oxygen. She was breathing fine, and now only has to stay in the nursury because of the antibiotics. The doctor disconnected Nancy from all of her IV's, etc and she was free to be taken via wheel-chair to the Nursury.

We have taken Nancy over for 2 feedings so far, and have loved every minute of it. Things are looking up and the Pediatrician said that the baby will definately go home when we do (probably Tuesday night).

Things have been difficult, both emotionally and physically, but is fine now. Both mother and baby are truly doing fine and we are all getting to know each other. She is a wonderful, beautiful baby that is very pleasant (so far).

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We are eternally grateful for all the support that has been shown to us through this whole process. Eva is that much more special because of all we have been through, together.

We might try to post a picture or two .... But Nancy's Sisters Melissa & Robin took plenty of pictures and will also try to get them up on the Blog-iverse.