Lily Kristine Nielson

Lily Kristine Nielson was born 08/09/10 at 4:36 pm, weighing 7 lbs 9 oz, 20 inches long. 

The doctor broke my water at 8 am yesterday morning.  It took him awhile to break it but he finally got it.  They started the pitocin drip at 8:30am.  I was having good contractions almost immediately.  About 11 am I asked for the epidural and got it about an hour later.  The entire time I was having contractions, Lily's heartrate would drop down into the 60s-70s, when it should be between 130-150s.  They put me on oxygen to see if that would help.  Nope.  We kept on switching sides for me to lay on to see if that would help.  Nope.  They inserted an internal heartrate and contraction monitor.  Then they decided to put fluid back INTO my cervix to act like my water hadn't broken.  That didn't work either.  In fact, there wasn't anything coming back out, so they were just filling my uterus up which is a problem.  My blood pressure at this time was 80/40.  So they came into my room and gave me a shot to STOP the contractions.  They also gave me a shot for my blood pressure.  Soon after, my doctor showed up and threatened me with an emergency c-section.  They decided to stop the contractions for 10 minutes to see if Lily's heart would go back up.  It did.  So they started the pitocin drip again.  They only wanted to try it for 10 minutes to see what would happen.  When they started the drip again I was only dilated to a 4 1/2.  As soon as they walked out of the room, I told Zac that I hurt like crazy!  I was afraid the epidural wore off.  I told him to get the nurse.  He didn't believe me, but I told him again.  She came in, and I was at a 10.  The doctor came in and was in disbelief.  They even had gotten out the gown for Zac for the c-section and were prepping the O.R. to monitor me in there.  It only took 1 push and she was out!  She swallowed A LOT of fluid.  They had to pump 8 cc of fluid from her stomach immediately, and they pumped her again in the nursery.  We found out that I had a partial placenta abruption, and that is why she was having such a hard time.  (That is when the placenta detaches itself away from the uterine wall before delivery.) 

She had a really hard time breathing.  They told me it was because she swallowed so much fluid.  Her lungs were retracting, her nostrils were flaring, and she was grunting like crazy.  They took her away after I got a brief moment to hold her.  Zac went with them while they were monitoring her.  I finally got to see her again 4 hours later.  As soon as I had her though, she started grunting again, lungs retracting and nostrils flaring.  So they came and took her away again for another hour.  They said they were going to have to CPAP her (?).  When they brought her back, she finally seemed to have gotten the hang of breathing.  I was able to finally nurse her for the first time this morning at 1 am.  She is doing MUCH better today, and hasn't had any issues this morning.

The kids were able meet their new baby sister this morning.  They were more excited about the presents Lily got them than meeting her.  I am so grateful she is doing so well this morning and pray she continues.  She was by far my hardest pregnancy and labor.  I'm glad she's finally here, and that she completes our family.