Flint's Birthday - August 30!

   HE IS HERE!  It’s been a crazy week, and ended much differently than I thought it would, but all is as well as can be expected right now.  Flint is adorable, tough, and fighting hard.  He is definitely living up to his name!

                I had an appointment Tuesday morning (the 27^th) to do a biophysical profile on Flint.  Since I got back from San Antonio, they have done these once a week to check the general well-being of the baby and watch for things like amniotic fluid level, heart rate, and placental functioning and flow.  At my appointment on Tuesday, they saw the very beginnings of the placenta giving out.  It wasn’t happening frequently or seriously, but it was bad enough that my doctor had me go over to the hospital so they could do a non-stress test on Flint and monitor him better.  When they do a non-stress test, they simply watch the baby’s heart-rate and want to see him do two rounds of accelerations within about 25 minutes. Once they hooked me up, Flint did exactly what they wanted to hear him do in about 10 minutes.  WHEW!  I left happy to know that while the placenta was starting to give way, we probably still had a few more weeks and we’d just keep going to my doctor appointments as scheduled.

                On Wednesday morning though, Dr. Castillo called and said she wanted to modify our plan a little.  She decided to have me go back to the hospital Wednesday and Thursday for more monitoring, and this time she also wanted me to get a steroid shot that would help Flint’s lungs mature faster, in case he came sooner than we wanted.  In addition, she also scheduled me for another biophysical profile on Friday morning, so she could see how the placenta was holding up.  Luckily, Brock and I already had an appointment that afternoon at the hospital to meet with the neonatologist who would be responsible for Flint’s care after he was born.  We met with Dr. Haider at 2:00 and felt very at peace with our decision to deliver Flint in Amarillo.  He answered many of our questions and calmed a lot of our fears with regards to Flint’s progress after birth, as well as insurance issues we still hadn’t cleared up.  It was a blessing to have this opportunity to meet with him, especially considering the fact that two days later Flint had arrived and is now in his care!

                After we met with Dr. Haider on Wednesday afternoon, Brock went back to work and I got my steroid shot and did another non-stress test on Flint.  Once again, I was relieved that he passed beautifully in only a matter of minutes. The same thing happened on Thursday, so the fact that he was responding so well in those tests convinced me that it was a false alarm and we still had some time before things went south.

                Friday I dragged myself out of bed to go to my EIGHTH doctor’s appointment of the week.  I was the first and only car in the Texas Tech School of Medicine parking lot for my 7:40appointment.  Once inside, they immediately started the biophysical profile, and from what I could see, things looked fine (not that I know what I’m looking for, but you kind of start to get the hang of it once you’ve done these every week).  One thing they could not get Flint to do though, was his breathing exercises.  Once babies reach a certain gestational age, they start to do little breathing motions that help mature their lungs.  They like to see a baby do these or get the hiccups once during a 30 minute period.  We waited and waited, but Flint wouldn’t do it, so the nurse finally called my OB at her office. She came back and told me Dr. Castillo wanted me to drive over to her office to talk with her.  I still didn’t think anything of it and just called Brock and told him to plan on keeping the kids a little longer because I needed to go see Dr. Castillo for a bit. 

                When I walked into Dr. Castillo’s office, she met me in the waiting room and said “Well, it looks like it’s time to induce your labor and get the baby here.”  After all the other positive results from the week, I was surprised by this and asked her if we could just wait until Monday.  I wanted time for my parents to get here, plus our insurance term is September through August.  All along, I have hoped we’d make it to September so we didn’t have to pay two rounds of deductibles and all the other yucky stuff involved with paying for hospital stays and surgeries.  It still just didn’t seem like a big deal to me, but she told me she was going out of town until Tuesday and didn’t want to wait until then to get him here. She also said that the fact he had done so well on the non-stress tests indicated that he would probably tolerate labor well, ,which would just give him a good start anyway, considering all he’d have to go through once he arrived.  I asked if there was at least time to wait for my parents to arrive from San Antonio. She said that if they left right away, they’d probably still arrive in time for the delivery, since it would take awhile to get me prepped and labor started.  She said they’d monitor me first for a bit to make sure labor was really necessary and then we could decide from there if it was really time to deliver.  The nurse then took my blood pressure and chuckled when she saw the results.  “I think we have officially stressed you out” she said.  I don’t know both sets of numbers, but I know the top number was 150.  Needless to say, I was a little anxious.

                I immediately called my parents and told them “today is the day” and they grabbed their stuff and headed out the door, knowing it would still take at least 8 hours for them to get here.  Once they knew, I called Brock and told him it looked like they were going to start me on labor, but that they would monitor me first to make sure it was really necessary.  He had a meeting to go to and I told him to just take the kids and go, that it would be awhile before he would be needed, even if they did indeed decide to induce me.  I went over to the hospital and got checked in and set up in a labor room.  They immediately put the heart rate monitors on me and I laid in bed, answering the typical check-in questions while I listened to Flint’s heart beating at a nice, rapid pace. It took forever to get through all the check-in questions, so I still hadn’t had a chance to get back with Brock and let him know what was going on.  He was in his meeting and I was figuring out what we would do with our kids until my parents arrived when they finally decided to start me on Pitocin. I hadn’t seen Dr. Castillo since I got to the hospital, but the fact that they decided to start me on Pitocin obviously meant that for whatever reason, she had decided it was definitely time.  When I finally got to really talk with Brock on the phone, I told him they were indeed starting labor and he needed to get up to the hospital.  We arranged for our friend Denise Carver to take the kids and were talking about other plans for our hospital stay. 

                While I was on the phone with Brock, I all of a sudden heard Flint’s heart rate drop.  It was beating at a nice, strong, rapid rate when all of a sudden it plummeted.  The nurse wasn’t in the room with me at the time, but I told Brock he’d better hurry because I knew that wasn’t a good sign.  About a minute later, his heart rate was back to normal and a nurse came walking into the room.  I asked her if Flint was okay and she said “Well, he wasn’t there a minute ago.  He’s fine again now, but that’s not a good sign.  I’m just waiting on Dr. Castillo, but my guess is that she’s going to decide that we just need to do an emergency c-section to get him here safely.”  About 2 minutes later, Dr. Castillo showed up and confirmed that the fact that his heart rate dropped so badly indicated he was not going to do well in labor and they wanted to get me prepped for a c-section.  I told them my husband was about 20 minutes away and she said that would be just about right, but she didn’t want to see the heart rate drop like that again.  She also said she had been watching his heart rate from her office since they very first hooked me up that morning and that Flint looked like a completely different baby at that point than he had the rest of the week.  She knew it was definitely time to get him here…NOW!

                The nurses were in the middle of getting me all prepped when Brock walked into the room.  I saw him and burst into tears.  I was scared but it was so wonderful to have him there with me.  He gave me a quick hug, the nurse handed him some scrubs and said “Put those on now.”  He put them on just in time to help wheel me out the door and down the hall to the OR.  By the time we got to the OR, it was all I could do to hold myself still long enough to get the epidural for the c-section.  I was shaking all over - whether through shock or fear, I don’t know - but it was definitely the hardest point of the experience for me.  I was just so afraid of all that was coming in the next several minutes.  I just laid on the OR bed with my eyes closed, silently praying and crying. Brock was a wonderful support, and after several minutes they told him he could stand up to see Flint.  Brock said Dr. Castillo started pulling Flint out but met some resistance and couldn’t do it.  It was then that they realized the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice.  It was very thin, which was exactly what was expected, given the growth restriction, but it was definitely wrapped in a way that would have been detrimental had we progressed with a vaginal delivery.  While I couldn’t see anything, I finally heard a small, weak cry coming from Flint.  It wasn’t strong, but it was enough to let me know he was here and alive. 

                The NICU staff took him to a corner of the room and got him stabilized. It was a huge blessing to us that this happened quite quickly.  All along, we have not known how Flint would do once he was on his own and not attached to me anymore.  It was a relief and miracle that he stabilized well enough, relatively quickly.  Once he got to a stable point, they brought him over to me and I got one quick look at his face before they took him away.  He looked beautiful, and while I was still afraid, I was so very grateful for all the miracles that had occurred already to this point, so we could have him alive with us in that moment.   Brock followed him to the NICU, and I fell asleep while they sewed me back up.  Again, I don’t know if that was a response to the drugs they gave me, or just my body’s way of handling the stress, but I had a nice little nap on the OR table until they wheeled me into the recovery room.      

                Once in the recovery room, Brock showed up again with a few more pictures.   We continued to talk with Dr. Castillo, and she said a couple of things that I thought were quite interesting.  First, she’s pretty confident that he would not have even made it to the end of the day if we had tried to wait.  She said from Thursday to Friday it was like he’d gone through a complete transformation and was a totally different baby who needed to come now.  She just kept saying “I can’t believe how perfect the timing worked out for all this.  Really, 34 weeks is good with this kind of growth restriction, his weight is pretty stable, and we got the steroid injections for his lungs at just the right time.  It’s like it was meant to be!”  One of the nurses said “I think the angels were really looking out for this one.”  Can I get an “AMEN” to that one?  I absolutely agree!  Again, this was not the “perfect” labor story we had hoped for when we decided to have another baby, but at the same time, it is so easy to see the many miracles Heavenly Father has placed in our path to remind us that this is all part of His plan and He is intimately aware and in control of this situation. 

                Once we were done in the recovery room, they wheeled me to my actual hospital room where I have been since then.  We spent the rest of the day waiting for the drugs to wear off so I could get in a wheel chair and go visit Flint.  My mom and dad walked in about 5:00.  It’s funny how in a scary situation, no matter how brave or in control you may be, you instantly become a little child again the instant you see your parents.  They walked into the room and just held me and Brock while we all shared a little cry.  Our parents, whether here with us or not, have been an amazing source of support and strength to us, and we’re so grateful for all they do to help us stay strong!

                Finally, at 8:00, my drugs had worn off enough and the NICU was ready for me to get to go see Flint.  I was so excited to finally get a good look at my sweet little man, but didn’t think I’d get to touch him or anything.  Right when I walked in though, the nurse said “OK Mom, you want to touch him?”  Uh…YA! He was all hooked up and in his warmer, but they told me to talk to him and reach my fingers in.  He was kind of fussy and when I first touched his sweet little hand, he yanked it back away from me.  I kept talking to him though and tried again.  This time he calmed down and held my finger in his hand.  I was in HEAVEN!  The same thing happened when Brock got his turn. After the fears and craziness of the day, it was wonderful to feel so peaceful there at his bedside, and to be reminded of why we’ve gone through the last several months.  It’s all about this sweet, tough little Flint and I am SO grateful he is mine! Other than the fact that he is so skinny and his head is a little too big for his body, he looks like a perfectly healthy, normal baby.  He’s got dark hair, probably more than any of my other kids have had, and he just looks beautiful.  He looks like he’s mine!  He’s 16 inches long and weighs 3 lbs. 1 oz.  He’s actually a lot sturdier than I had imagined he would be, so I am very grateful that we made it to 34 weeks with him!

                We’ve still got a lot to figure out with this little guy, but I feel very peaceful and calm about his future.  It is very easy to love him and to fight for his success. He’s doing well, but will have a long, uphill journey to get there.  I can’t wait to see what his future holds and to know what my part in his future will be.  Overall though, Brock and I are feeling very blessed. There are many miracles occurring now, and I have no doubt that there will be many more throughout the next several months and years!