Notes on Nathanael’s Arrival – 10/19/11

Wednesday

It was so nasty and raining last Wednesday morning as we drove to the hospital. It was a serious but confident trip as we focused on God’s provision and tears came easily. I only slept about 3 1/2 hours Tuesday night but spent some time in prayer off and on through out the night. My verse that God gave me early that morning was Exodus 33:14 “For my presence will go with you and I will give you rest.” Our meeting with the Dr. in his office went well and then we headed over to the hospital. At our visit I asked if during the C-Section he would be able to get a sense of what was going on to cause our issue and he responded yes, that he would be looking for the culprit. He also asked me if anyone had mentioned that I had a misshaped uterus. I couldn’t exactly remember but it seemed like someone had mentioned that at some point but no one had ever indicated that it could present problems in having a child.

As we walked over to the hospital seemed to be the one walking out front leaving Tony and my parents behind. By God’s grace determined and confident, I was ready to get the show on the road. Plus, it was cold outside!!

After getting checked in and prepped, the waiting began. Tony and I shared some sweet moments in our little room together as we talked, cried and prayed. I even let him capture a picture of me and if you have seen our Facebook pages you will see I had gotten up, washed hair and had a full face of make up on! I had decided that I was walking into that O.R. with what I call my “game face” on!

Speaking of “walking into the O.R.” you literally walk from your pre-op room to the O.R.! Seriously! No bed, no wheel chair…you walk that walk yourself! We laughed and called it “walking your Green Mile” (you’ll get that if you have seen the movie) and walking your own “Via Delarosa”. To top it off, the operating table is in the shape of a cross!! And yes, you have to climb up on that thing all by yourself! In the words of my other sister in law that had her second baby via C-section at the end of June, “It’s takes a big girl to climb up on that table!” I’m thankful I could bank on God’s presence walking that walk with me, climbing up on that table and facing that whole procedure. And yes, He did grant me sweet rest in my soul. As Tony came in when they had me ready he sat right at my head supporting me all the way. I think he would have totally traded places with me if he could have. On a funny note…just before they began to prep me, the Doctor walks in and starts rambling off these words, “I acknowledge I have one Dana Noelle Dodd, birth date 12-24-69 on the table for a C-Section.” All the other O.R. staff begin going around the room saying, “I concur! “I Concur!” etc.… I wasn’t sure if I should have joined in saying, “I concur, too” or panic that they have to go to such extreme to make sure the right patient has been brought in for the right procedure! Scary, isn’t it??!!

Within about 20 minutes of starting the actual C-Section Nathanael was born at exactly 12:53pm. As they pulled him out Tony and I waited to hear that first cry (or should I say squeak), as we knew that would mean he was breathing on his own. Seemed like an eternity, but when that cry came, it really was the most blessed sound we had heard. I know others say, “oh, just wait…that cry will drive you crazy” and maybe so, but right now; after all we have been through to get him here, safe and healthy we’ll take that sweet cry! As they continued to work on my I listened as best I could as the team worked on Nathanael. Every minute or two I would hear one of them saying, “Oh, that is great!” or “Oh, that is good” and tears just rolled down our faces as more and more relief came with every good report. We knew our God had yet again showed off and performed a raging miracle for us and we were blessed! Tony got to cut the cord, put on Nathanael’s first diaper and later in post-op he got to feed Nathanael his first bottle.

During that time the doctor was diagnosing my issues and did say that the misshaped uterus caused the placenta and baby only to be able to grow on one side and it affected the cord which was only 1/3 the size that it should be. So our little fella was not able to get the nourishment that he needed in order to grow. He mentioned that this is also the cause of babies being still born years ago. Now they have the technology to monitor the baby and catch some of these red flags like they did with me and prevent that. The timing of being able to keep Nathanael in the womb until 37 weeks were up in order to give time for proper development of vital organs and the skeletal system and yet, get him out before he came under distress was orchestrate by Father Himself! What a miracle!!

Another miracle happened in post-op. Nathanael could not keep his blood sugar level up and that was when he was sent over to the NICU. They began working with him and got things stabilized and checked him over well for the next two days.

Also in post-op was when my body temperature bottomed out. I knew I had been cold and felt weird but I did not know all of what was going on. The nurses became focused and scurried around and suddenly wrapped me up in this thing called a “bear hugger”. It is like a huge swimming pool raft that they wrap you up in and then this machine blows hot air into it. I personally thought it was fantastic and asked if I could take it home with me. Unfortunately they would not let me bring it home and that may very well be the only time I am warm this winter! I stayed in that thing all night Wednesday night and into the day on Thursday and then slept in it Thursday night.

Wednesday night was pretty tough. I got sick just before some of our family was leaving and we only slept about three and a half hours with all the interruptions as they were keeping a close eye on my body temperature. Our nurse and her assistant were wonderful that night and really saw us through some rough spots!

I’ll pick up with Thursday tomorrow!

Dana

2 comments

  1. We wanted to be there with you SO badly. All day while we waited for the news we were with you now that you shared this account so well I feel so much better. Now waiting for the rest of it, so get it down moment by moment for all of us out here who are rejoicing over Father’s gift to you guys!

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