The Play By Play - Not for the faint of heart...or stomach!

The morning started very early for me.

2 AM I woke up to use the bathroom, as I usually did 2-3 times a night, and noticed that my mom, brother, and sister had just gotten in, so I spent some time with them...then I tried to find something decent to watch on tv because I couldn't sleep. :( By 4 am, I was back asleep, unaware that I had set my alarm wrong. I was supposed to get up at 5. But thankfully my uncle called at 5:15 (thinking we'd be in the hospital), and woke us up! Can you tell it's the third kid when you oversleep the morning you are to have him?!

We still made it to the hospital by about 6 AM and by 6:45 I had an IV going and was ready to get the party started. But my doctor wasn't there yet, and they couldn't start the pitocin until she came in. So Chuck and I actually took naps until 8:30! (Once again, can you tell it was kid #3?!).

8:30 Pitocin started
9:30 Epidural started
10:30 MIRACLE #1 - My doctor (Dr Arya) was checking me before breaking my water - which was just about to happen on it's own - when she noticed that his hands were above his head. If my water broke then, we'd have to do an emergency c-section because his hands can't come first. Dr Arya did a sonogram to see that both hands were above his head, like he was in a diving position. She somehow managed to get him to pull his hands down before breaking my water. That was a scary moment where we knew God was protecting Chandler.

And about the water that broke...it amazed the doctor and nurses how much there was! They said he was in a swimming pool! So we may have a little water bug. hehe.

Oh, I was 3 cm before we broke that water, and instantly a 4-5 afterwards. My body doesn't usually dilate until the water is broken, so I'm willing to bet I was a 3 before we came in that morning.

By 2:30 PM I was fully dilated, and we noticed his heartbeat dropping with contractions, which indicated that the cord was being squeezed. Thankfully it wasn't too bad, that would've been another reason for an emergency c-section. Just before we started pushing, Dr. Arya noticed Chandler was not in the right position. He was facing up instead of down, which means lots of pushing unless he turned. So Dr. Arya got out the suction, and attempted to turn him as I pushed. Unfortunately the suction wasn't working very well, so it popped off 3 times. At that point she didn't want to use it anymore, and it was up to me to get him out. It was a good epidural - I could feel contractions and tell how to push.

By 3:23 PM he was born (less than an hour, yippee!), not facing down, but sideways, with the cord pretty tight around his neck. Dr. Arya cut the cord and handed him over to the NICU team. They were there because his heart rate had been dropping with the contractions. They immediately gave him oxygen to get him breathing, at which point he would breathe and moan instead of scream. That was a bit worrisome. Somewhere between the cutting of the cord and his first few breaths he had breathed in too much, causing a small hole in his left lung, which leaked a large pocket of air into his chest.

Chuck stayed with him as he was taken to the NICU and put on oxygen to help with the air bubble (it's called a "pneuma thorax" (sp?).

We had a wonderful crowd of family in the waiting room...in fact they were moved to a different waiting room for being too loud...makes me so proud! :) LOL That's my family!! Unfortunately, most of them didn't even get to see Chandler because he was in NICU. Chuck was able to bring the grandparents in one-by-one to see him.

At 8:30 PM I finally got to see Chandler in the NICU. I was told that he couldn't nurse until the air bubble was gone...and he may even have to have a feeding tube until then :( The doctors were thinking it'd take a week.

At midnight they xrayed him, seeing that the air bubble was large, but thankfully not enough to collapse his left lung.

MIRACLE #2 - At 4 AM I went to see him, and afterwards pumped for the first time...and got a large amount of colostrum. So I brought it back to the NICU, and the doctor was nearby when Chandler started fussing, so he told the nurse to try dropping the colostrum in his mouth by drops. Chandler drank the whole thing down, then passed right out. So the doctor looked at me and said, "Why don't you come back in 3 hours and we'll try nursing."

8 AM he nursed for the first time, and did great! The nurse said that it was amazing that the bubble didn't seem to interfere with his breathing. What I loved about it was that I got to hold him for the first time!

11:30 Another feeding, and this time Chuck was allowed to hold him as well.

MIRACLE #3 - Noon - they re-xrayed him, and amazingly: NO MORE AIR BUBBLE!!

10 PM They xray again just to confirm that the bubble is gone...then allow him to join us in our room! Out of the NICU, woohoo!

The next day, Monday, we had lots of family visit, and the boys got to hold Chandler for the first time. It was definitely a moment I'll treasure forever.

Tuesday, 4 AM he was tested for jaundice...and it was high, so he went back into the NICU to go under the lights. And there he stayed until 6 PM Wednesday, at which point we were allowed to go back home.

Wednesday- Friday we were at home and Charlie and Chance were in Austin.

Thursday we retested his jaundice - it had come up 2 points.

Friday we retested again - it had come up 2 more points, to 17.4 - so it was back to the NICU.
He was under lights from Friday afternoon - Sunday morning. He left the NICU with a level of 9.6.

We were so excited to return home and finally have all 3 boys under one roof! :) And I have to brag on Chuck here. This time has been very draining on him, yet he's never complained, and has stuck by my side. The futon in the hospital was not very comfortable, and I often offered that he could sleep at home, but he always stayed with me. And there was no internet in the hospital, so he spent a lot of time in complete boredom. He's my rock, that's for sure.

Anyhow, since we've been home, we retested the jaundice Tuesday, it was 13.6
We retested Wednesday, it was down to 11.
We retested today, but haven't heard yet what the results are.

So there ya have it, "the rest of the story." Things definitely could've been much worse, and I SO appreciate the many friends and family who've let us know they're praying for us. As you can see, we've needed and seen God's healing hand at work in Chandler's precious life!