The rubber meets the road...

Today at 12:39 pm I called to check on what time Evelyn's next feeding might be, as I was planning on going up to give her a bath before hand (her cord fell off on Tuesday!). The nurse asked if I had heard from the Neonatologist yet. Nope, why what's up. "She has a new plan she wants to run by you, so expect a call any time."

I hung up and my heart sank a little, I knew the plan, the doctor had been commenting about it all week, but kept saying that she didn't feel like it was necessary, "It's just going to be a few more days," is what she had been saying all week. Today, she didn't need to call me and tell me, I knew what she was going to say. I even talked to Scott at 12:53 pm and told him what she was going to say.

Evelyn is coming home...on oxygen with a pulse ox monitor :)

Finally, after waiting impatiently at home in my rocking chair at 1:50 pm she called. I was right, we have a new care plan.

Evelyn is coming home...on oxygen with a pulse ox monitor

She told me that Evelyn is doing very well and that she just needs a tiny amount of oxygen 0.02L of flow. Mathematically (not taking into account the % of oxygen), this is 100 times less than what she started out with. They can't even set the machine to give her a smaller amount of flow of oxygen. However, this small amount is still necessary and the doctor feels like Evelyn should come home, be in her natural enviornment and get into a routine. We will follow up with a pediatrician at the hospital and then transfer to our pediatrician after Evelyn is weined off of the oxygen completely. If the equipment comes in today (which it probably will), we will be trained tomorrow at the hospital, stay overnight at the hospital, and come home Sunday. If the equipment doesn't come in today, she will come home on Tuesday.

I hung up immediately called Scott, crying, of course. Once again, he was my rock :) Reassuring me that it will be ok and that we can do this together.

My mind is racing:

• am I going to be tied to her room?
• is it portable?
• how big are the machines and oxygen?
• do I need a family member to come and stay with us or is it better to be on our own?
• where are these darn ants in my house coming from? gotta get rid of them...

My mind is thankful:

• We are both CPR certified (as of last night)
• At least she is coming home on a pulse ox monitor so we will know when her pulse ox goes down and we will be able to help her
• Our Sunday School and other friends have graciously been providing meals and time to help us out
• We have prayer warriors all over the country!
• I think I have everything we need...think!

So, this is where the rubber meets the road. It's official we are going to be "real parents!" Our baby girl is going to be home for us to love on, cherrish, and support. I never dreamed or imagined this would  be my story and it definately wasn't in my "plan."

"Give thanks in everything,
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

When I am afraid,
I will trust in You.

In God, whose word I praise,

in God I trust;

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

Psalm 56:3-4



Leader of the Family

It's been a while since I've posted. After our move to "intermediate care" on Monday the 16th and being told she would go home in a few days (the 18th-19th)  and then it not happening I've struggled with what to write about. Evelyn is such a fighter and we are so proud of the progress she has made. To go from 2.0L of oxygen at 55% to 0.1L of oxygen at 21%-30% in her first 5 days of life is a total God thing! She is maintaining this amount of oxygen still, a little over a week later. I'm learning:

"knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
But let patience have its perfect work,
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

James 1:3-4

I've gone through a roller coaster of emotions and Satan has really tried hard to get the best of me. Saturday the 21st was a rough day. My mom left on Friday the 20th and I was overwhelmed with emotions that Evelyn wasn't coming home and I would be alone starting Monday. How would I get to the hospital? I'm very independent and depending on people is not one of my better traits. So having my mom here made me feel very comfortable and confident!


Friday morning April 20th
Before my mom left to go to the airport.

I contacted my Sunday School group. We are so blessed to have so many couples that love Scott and I so much and help us when we are in need. Donna (our teacher's wife) took me Friday afternoon, Kattie took me to run a few arrends on Sunday and to see Evelyn, Faith took me Monday morning, and Sarah took me to run arrends and to the hospital Monday afternoon. A true blessing, especially Monday. I didn't want to be alone so I was very thankful to have friends around me!

On Friday night, Scott suggested I take the dart. It would pick me up 3 houses down from us and drop me off right in front of the hospital. What a perfect idea!!! I could be independent and go when I wanted to go! So, I looked up the bus schedule and was prepared to go at 11 am on Saturday morning while Scott was at Men's breakfast with our SS group. I was so nervous about catching the bus but I didn't tell anyone. Dart has been in the news repeatedly for negative events the past few months. I just kept looking at the picture above (my screen saver on my phone) and telling myself it was worth it. I patiently waited and still had an uneasy feeling about going...well the bus was on the other side of the rode and I couldn't get to it. I was so upset because I really wanted to see Evelyn, but I was also a little relieved because I will admit I was pretty scared.

Scott came home and I immediately started crying...He always does an amazing job of comforting me, letting me cry, and asking me to tell him what is wrong. So I did! I told him how scared I was, how much I missed Evelyn, and how badly I wanted her to come home. He offered to take the bus with me for the 2 o'clock feeding and that made me feel so much better! What a great idea! So, we went together and all my fears were alliviated. Then, that afternoon we went driving around town looking at old homes and enjoying the fresh air. It was so nice to get out of the house and spend time together having an adult conversation! I took the bus on my own at 7:30 and he picked me up after I fed her since it was dark. I felt much better about riding the bus! I'm so thankful for my sensitive husband who listens to me and can sense my needs! He's an amazing leader!

What I didn't tell him was that Satan was really attacking me about why she was still in the NICU. He was working on me by telling me that I didn't take my prenatal vitamins everyday and that is why things had turned out this way. I must have cried at least 5 times during the day on Friday, but I never told Scott (and still haven't ~ so he's probably learning this by reading) about what I was battling. My dad called Saturday afternoon and I cried on the phone. He told me it was ok and also told me I needed to let the guilt go. How did he know? He also told me to use this time to grow in my relationship with Christ and allow him to work in me. Thank you Lord, for giving my dad the words to say when I need them! I still didn't tell my dad what guilt I was feeling, but after I hung up I remembered that while he doesn't reply to texts, he does receive them. So, I text him and told him the guilt that I was feeling. After that, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I also told my doctor and he reassured me that was not the reason why this happened.

I decided it was important to go to Sunday School and church the next morning and wait to see Evelyn after church, even though Satan was also attacking me about not keeping on my hospital visit schedule that I had been doing all week. The verse at church was truly what I needed!

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand,
that he may lift you up in due time.
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

1 Peter 5:6-7

I'm so thankful that I listened to my intuition again, as I'm learning a lot about how I just have a "feeling" sometimes and I need to follow it. I'm also learning that it's ok to lean on others and not be so independent.

To my amazing husband: thank you for being my rock and being the strong one through this experience. Your leadership, encouragement, and constant love are more than I could ever ask for. I'm so thankful God paired us together and gave us our beautiful little girl, even though it wasn't in our "2 year plan!" God has a way of blessing us in ways we don't plan for!

Every little girl needs a dad to snuggle upto!
I'm so thankful Evelyn has you!


To my blog readers, I need a good devotion book that will keep me engaged and help me to grow stronger in my relationship with Christ. Any recommendations?

 



Eating by mouth!!!!

On Tuesday morning, we went to the hospital for another Lactation Appointment at 10:30. The best part about arriving was learning that Evelyn had eaten:
75% of her first three bottles at 11 pm Monday, 2 am and 5 am Tuesday
100% of her next bottle at 8 am
and then...she took to feeding from me like a champ and ate her entire meal!!! She was exhausted!

YEAH! After 48-72 hours of this we get to get rid of the feeding tube!!!!!!!

The rest of the day went really well. We decided to feed her through the feeding tube at 5, to give her a break. The night nurse said that Evelyn made it very clear that she did not want to be fed like that. She preferred to suck on something! Yeah, that means she will keep up the hard work!!!

Scott came at 8:00 and held her. I completely forgot to take a picture...but I have pics from the next few nights!

Thank you again for all of your love, support, and prayers! It's getting better everyday!

Incorrect Math in the NICU!

In the NICU, 35.6 means 35 weeks and 6 days

35 and 6 tenths (35.6) has a value of 35.87!

As you can see this is quite disturbing for me!
Evelyn received her first math lesson and poor Mrs. Bev got a speech
She said she would start writting 35 and 6! LOL!

She will always remember me everytime she has to write one of those stickers!

Saying Goodbye to Mrs. Bev

Monday was a crazy day!!!! Scott went back to work, sadly! Luckly, my mom was here to help me all week as I would be discharged from the hospital and would now need to be driven back and forth to see Evelyn.
They asked me if I could be out of my room by 2:00 pm and I thought that wouldn't be a problem because I typically so see Evelyn at 2. My mom could load up the car, we could see her and then we could head home.
At 10:30, I had a appointment with the lactation consultant. That was extremely unsuccessful, as I thought my child was choking the whole time and I decided this could get frustrating. However, I complied with trying again the next day, thinking in my mind about that saying "Third times a charm!" Maybe we just needed to try again and again.
When we came back my mom began taking small loads of stuff to the car and I took a shower. Everything was barely loaded just in time, so I headed to the NICU to see Evelyn and my mom took the last load down to the car.
When I walked in, Mrs. Bev was leaving to go to lunch. I looked at her with a funny look and she did the same to me. I was thinking to myself how am I suppose to do all this by myself? She said, "you know you are an hour early?!" Wow, she was right I had loaded the car and checked out of my room at 1:00 pm instead of 2:00 pm. CRAZY! Now what was I going to do? I try not to bother Evelyn in between the touch times so she takes a good nap and continues her development. My mom reminded me I hadn't had lunch, so we went downstairs to have lunch and shopped in the little gift shop.
When we went back up, Mrs. Bev said that Evelyn gets to put clothes on! I was so excited!

A few minutes later someone (I think the charge nurse) came by and told Mrs. Bev they needed to talk to her about moving Evelyn to "Intermediate Care!" Mrs. Bev was shocked. Not that she wasn't ready to go, but that this was Mrs. Bev's 4th day in a row to work a 12 hour shift and in the last 4 hours they were going to move Evelyn and give her a new baby to assess and begin care on. I was not happy, so I kindly said something! After the nurse left, Mrs. Bev told me thank you, because they were going to wait until shift change to move Evelyn! Yeah, Mrs. Bev gets to finish her shift with her and Evelyn is going to a step down NICU!
It was time for Kangaroo time, my favorite! I sat in the chair and Mrs. Bev quickly said, "I don't know what you are doing, your moving to Intermediate care which means she won't be here long. You need to figure this out and do it yourself. Get up and put her in the kangaroo pouch!" LOL! I just love her! She was very right, I can't be afraid to pickup my own baby!!!!

After Kangaroo time we had our last group pep talk and Mrs. Bev told her she would not be there on Friday when she came back for her next shift. She told her she needed to start breathing on her own and eating by mouth to get ready to go home!!!

I'll never forget the love, care, education and counseling Mrs. Bev provided for Evelyn and me! I requested the Evelyn get her back this weekend but my request was unsuccessful, as they needed her in with the "sick babies."

That's Love...

Sunday was a super exciting day!!!

Here's our first family picture! Isn't my husband handsome?!
We were so excited about her getting the CPAP mask off!



When I went in at 11 am, the CPAP had been removed!!!
However, when a tech tried to take it away, Mrs. Bev quickly said
"NO, come back at 2 and get it. She needs to know that we can give it
back to heri if she doesn't keep fighting!"
So, at 2 pm we gave Evelyn another pep talk and wheeled the CPAP
machine away! She hasn't had to have it back either!!!





Kangaroo time today was even better without the CPAP mask!
I had her head sitting in the center of my chest and she
picked it up and moved it over so she could look at me when I was
talking to her! SO COOL!

While I was holding Evelyn, her monitor went off because her
Pulse Ox was 100. I haven't understood much about that number,
but I knew that it had been getting better because it was staying above 92
and the alarm was only going off when it was above 98.
I asked Mrs. Bev (who is standing in the picture) what the blue 100
meant...she said "oh, that happens with love, it's just love!"
What it really meant was that her oxygen could be turned down
which is awesome, but it was pretty special that everytime I hold her
that number shoots to 100 :)



My mom flew in from St. Louis on Sunday night!
She got to be the first person other than Scott and I to hold her!
Pretty Special!
Scott had to go back to work on Monday and I was getting
discharged from the hospital, so she came to help me finish
getting the house ready and transport me back and forth to the
hospital for feedings

I'd say today was a pretty exciting day, lots of changes and fun times.
She also had lots of visitors today, too! All of them got to see her, but since it wasn't a "touch time" Scott and I pretty much just let them look and maybe get one little touch in!

 Kattie (who also ran arrends and saved me from not having any clothes to wear when the chemicals on an ice pack covered my clothes. She went home and got me some more clothes to wear).
Some of our Sunday School class came and delivered a ton of muffins for us to give to the nurses (what a great idea, as I knew I wanted to do something, but didn't know what to do or how
to get it done) They also went and got me a pizza from Campisi's to share with my mom when she came!

Alex and Greg from Scott's work.

Roy Sparkman from our Sunday School teacher.

We are so thankful for all of our friends and family for supporting us during this time in our life! We couldn't do it without your support, prayers and love!

Kangaroo Time

Saturday was another great day. Mrs Bev was back as Evelyn's nurse and I felt peace knowing everytime I went in she would have teach me something new or coach me on being a mom :) The best part of the day was kangaroo time. Scott was with me and I will never forget the time we had together as a family. He sat in the black chair behind me and proped himself up on the back of the chair. A few times he asked me "why are you rocking?" I thought it was because he didn't want her to get used to being rocked, but it was because he was falling asleep on the back of the chair. When I realized this I knew I too could really relax. So we all took a little nap together! When I woke up Scott was humming Amazing Grace. It was so sweet and I will never forget that moment.

Man, I Feel Like a Mom!

Remember that old Shania Twain song, "Man, I Feel Like a Woman?" Well, after an emotional Friday morning, I spent the rest of my day learning to be a mom with my baby girl! A big thanks to Mrs. Bev for the extra effort she made to make me a part of Evelyn's entire day! So here's the story...

After calling my family with the updates, Scott left to take care of the dogs. Dr. Gaitonde and his assistant both came over to check on me. Remember, Dr. Gaitonde had already been over to see me earlier in the morning, but he got a break, called to check on Evelyn and he and his nurse decided to walk across the street to check on me. We sat for about 20 minutes and they just let me share my heart, my concerns, and he explained a few things to me in more detail so I could have a better understanding. Once again, I can not express the sincerity of my doctor and my thankfulness for him. What I can do is recommend him to everyone I know. Here's his information:

OBGYN Associates of Dallas

214-823-9630

He has an office in Frisco
and an office in Downtown Dallas, right across from the hospital.

http://obgynassociatesofdallas.com/dr_ashwin_gaitonde.html

Right before he left, my sister in law, Rhonda came to see me. A big thanks to Rhonda for recommending Dr. Gaitonde to me. I hadn't seen Evelyn since they put the C-pap mask on her, so I was a little nervous. I was so thankful Rhonda came by and could go with me to see her.

We walked into the NICU and much to my surprise Mrs. Bev said, "Oh, I thought you might be coming by, so I saved you something...a diaper to change!" So, some would think are you kidding a diaper? I was actually super excited! I had been told earlier that day I couldn't hold my baby girl, so changing a diaper was the next best thing in my mind! Plus, I had a Rhonda to document the event!

Then came a really, really special moment!!! They had tried to suction out her nose and it bled a little bit and their was blood on her blanket by her head. I asked if the blanket could be changed out. Mrs. Bev complied and I asked how I could help. Mrs. Bev said well someone will have to hold Evelyn and someone will have to change out the blanket. "Ok, what would you like for me to do?" She leaned in real close and said, "Why don't you sneak a little hold in?" I was so excited, I think my heart did just as many summer saults as when I see Scott after a long day at work :)

Then we settled back in our new blanket and had our pep talk, always accompanied by a finger hold!

At 5:00 on Friday, Scott and I came down and I got another surprise! Evelyn was going to have her first "meal" 5 ml of colostrum through the feeding tube that goes down her throat into her stomach. I was just in time. Mrs. Bev said "You get to feed Miss Evelyn for the first time!" I think I almost hopped across the room to her bed ready for action!!!! About half way through the feeding, Scott walked in. So, we completed the task together!

What an amazing day!

Learning to trust in God more and more!

After my meltdown I got some rest, but Friday morning I anxiously got up to go see Miss Evelyn at 8:00 am sharp. The night nurse had also told me I could ask for kangaroo time, it was going to be the perfect birthday present for me! Yep, that's right our birthday's are a day apart!

Scott was passed out, so I walked down that football field length hallway (I know 2 trips in less than 28 hours after a c-section, but I was determined!!) and much to my surprise, as I was walking into the NICU, my doctor was walking out. I thought to myself, I thought he only took care of me, why is he down here? Not that I minded, I was just surprised to learn that he had gone to see Evelyn. So we chatted in the hallway, he asked me how I was feeling and explained how important it is to him that he always see his patients baby before he sees them if they are separated so he has a picture of where the mom is emotionally. The entire pregnancy Dr. Gaitonde had been amazing, but this was just icing on the cake for me! Plus, it gave me an opportunity to share how emotional I was and how frustrated I was that my daughters oxygen level had increased by 20% but that they didn't find that significant enough to contact me. He said he understood and encouraged me to share my frustration with Evelyn's day nurse and ask her to contact me with any changes that happened. He also mentioned that Mrs. Bev was going to be a great nurse for Evelyn today! HE WAS RIGHT!

I met Mrs. Bev with my doctor by my side and told her my frustration and then asked to kangoroo with her, and she was so sweet in the way she basically said no. I don't remember exactly what she said, but she told me that it was important for the Neonatologist to check Evelyn out before she made that decision. She also checked to make sure she had the right phone number for me and assured me that she would contact me if anything changed and that the Neonatologist would be down to see me as soon as his assessment was over "this morning." I held Evelyn's hand watching her stomach move up and down really fast and also noticed the oxygen was now at 55%, I got a little emotional and she reassured me that Evelyn was going to be just fine and that she would take good care of her. So, I walked back to my room with my doctor by my side. He was able to explain some of what was happening and the good things he knew based on Evelyn's chart. As I got back in bed he stood at the end and reminded me of how thankful he was that I had called and immediately come in to the hospital on Wednesday night and he promised me that Evelyn was being better served in the NICU than she would have been inside of me and that she was going to be just fine with time. Once again, I'm so thankful for a doctor that cares about my family, not just his job!

So I rested and patiently waited for the Neonatologist. FINALLY around 11 he came in. He sat down and explained that Evelyn has a form of Premature Lung Diesese and that she is going to need a lot of support to help her lungs develop. He warned us that it was probably going to get worse over the next 48-72 hours before it got better. She was going to go from having the 2-pronged oxygen tube (like you and I get when we go in for surgery) to a c-pap mask which would concentrate the oxygen directly to her rather than allow some of it to escape out. He also said he doubted it but that she may end up with a tube down her throat if necessary.

As you an imagine, I started crying, but tried to contain myself in front of the doctor. My mind was racing wondering what I had done wrong to cause her to have to be born early and what I had done that caused her lungs not to be fully developed. It was an awful feeling. He reassured me that she was going to be just fine, she just needed time to work things out. In fact, she needed so much time that he would "be surprised if she came home before her due date!" Ok, wow, that meant she was going to be in the NICU for 5 weeks, or until at least May 15th!

He left and Scott kicked into super husband mode as I had a complete and all out meltdown like never before in my life! I scooted over in the bed and he laid down next to me and let me cry on his shoulder. He was so strong for me! I cried and cried and he just kept saying it's going to be ok. "Remember Captain (my nickname), I was born at 29 weeks and I'm here by you today. She's got 7 extra weeks on me and she's made of you and me, she is going to fight this and be home in no time!" I don't think those were his exact words, but it's pretty close. I told him how what was going on in my mind (like I posted above) and how I wondered what I had done wrong. So he said it...

"Cass, she needs to be 40 weeks to be fully developed. She couldn't make it the next 5 weeks in your tummy, so she came to be with us here on earth and she will just spend the next 5 weeks in the NICU finishing her development! I promise she is going to be ok!"

That was all I needed to hear, that he to believed in me and that I hadn't done anything to harm our daughter. So, everytime I called a family member or told a friend what was going on I just told them, She had to fully develop somewhere and she chose to do it here in the NICU instead of my belly! It became my way of coping! It was perfect!

So, here she is developing in the NICU.



A Mother's Intuition

Wednesday was a whirl wind, so many wonderful friends and family came to visit us and it felt really awkward being in a room a football field away from my daughter. My sister in law, Rhonda, brought me a 8 1/2 x 11 picture of Evelyn to hang below my board. It's actually the picture from my "Amazing Grace" post. All day I stayed in bed waiting to get complete feeling back from the epideral. Finally, we went to see Evelyn and I held her but other than that I didn't really know what I was suppose to be doing to help other than pump my "liquid gold," which she was not yet receiving. She was just on IV fluids for the time being.

After the epideral feeling wore off, I felt great and wasn't in much pain at all so I told Scott I would be fine and to just stay home and sleep when he let the dogs out. So around 10pm he said good night and promised to have his phone on.

About 1:30 am I woke up thinking about Evelyn and wanting to see her. So, I pumped and decided to wheel myself down to the NICU and deliver my "liquid gold", wondering what they did in the middle of the night in that special room a football field away from me.

Much to my surprise, the wheel chair was fancy and you can't wheel yourself because it doesn't have big wheels on the sides. Determined to go, I walked the football field length hallway and scrubbed my arms down to see Miss Evelyn.

I was greeted by a sweet nurse. She told me that Evelyn's oxygen support had been raised from 30% to 50% and talked to me about her fast paced breathing. (I don't know anything about the medical world, but mathematically this was almost double the support in my mind!) I was in shock, felt hopeless, I had no idea what to do to help and quite honestly, it took my breath away. So, I asked for a chair and sat quietly next to her holding her finger. Then, I lost it. I tried to hold back the tears, but it was impossible. In my brain I said be strong for her and don't let her sense that your upset. Quickly, I decided I needed to leave for her sake. So, I snuck out without letting the nurse see the tears flowing down my face. Slowly, I walked back down that long football field hallway with tears streaming down my face. When I reached my room, I fell into my bed and let the tears really flow. I wasn't in pain physically, but my heart ached. I sent a text message to my mom and my husband "Evelyn's oxegen support has been raised from 30% to 50%, I'm so anxious." Who was I kidding, I wasn't anxious I was a wreck!

My mom text me back and I told her I couldn't talk on the phone because I was too emotional, so we text back and forth for about 30 minutes and I felt a little better. In the mean time, Scott also text and told me he was headed back to the hospital.

When he got to the room, the emotions started all over again. Scott has been the best support system and this experience has truly strengthened our relationship. He has been an amazing leader, spiritually, emotionally, and physically through this whole experience. I can't imagine any other man that would do what he has done to support me!

I called this post "A Mother's Intuition" because I found it absolutely amazing that I could be a football field away from my 5 lb daughter and get the feeling that I needed to go see her at 1:30 in the morning! It totally blows my mind that I could feel something wrong.

Remember, I'm trying to catch up on posts, so Evelyn is doing much better, but I really want to document the whole story!!!

She's Here! Thursday, April 12th 1:08 AM

As soon as the decision was made to deliver, we called our families and several friends. Local family came right away, so Scott's parents (Coco and Hatty) brought Scott some granola bars for a quick snack and Scott's brother and Sister in Law (Tommy and Rhonda) brought a camera that we could take back into the operating room. One of the nurses job was to be our photographer and I am SO thankful!
Getting an epidural was quite the experience, not really painful, but I never imagined feeling like I was floating in the air for a long period of time and having no control over the movement of my body from the chest down.
Through the birthing experience I'm so thankful for Dr. Gaitonde who told me what was going to happen every step of the way and prepared me for after Evelyn was born. "95% of premies go to the NICU, even if it's just for observation, she will probably go, but I promise you will get to see her before she goes!" I'm also thankful for my husband who prayed over us and supported me through each tear and each uneasy moment. I'm so thankful for the man he is and that God put us together!
The drs and the nurses kept saying "Ok are you ready?" everytime I said ready or not here we go! It's not like I really had time to "get ready"
Right before we headed to the operating room they asked me if I had music I wanted playing. Of course we didn't because we hadn't gotten to the "music" step in our plan of action before birth! All of you that know me well, know that I had a plan in place. This is about the tenth time in the last 8 months that I have learned a perfect plan is not God's master plan. I guess I still haven't learned that enough and God is still trying to grow me to trust in his plans for us at all times! The operating team saved the day and used I Heart Radio. We played Adele and had a few sing alongs during the surgery, it was a fun and exciting atmosphere. The nurses kept saying "let's go have a birthday party for Miss Evelyn!"
 Surgery began at 12:35 am  and I went to recovery at 1:45 am. I was in absolutely no pain, all I felt was tugging every once in a while.

 Evelyn Faye Hatfield

Born April 12th at 1:08 AM

5 pounds 4 ounces

19 inches long

 Dr Gaitonde making sure I got to see my sweet baby girl before she was whisked away



After about 15 minutes of working on her. They decided to take her to the NICU.
I gave her a kiss and told her I loved her!

Little did I know the events that would unfold over the next 48 hours were going to
challenge me more than I've ever been challenged in my entire life!

"So, you are going to have a baby tonight!"

Wednesday, April 11th started out a normal day...wake up at 3:30 am to go to the bathroom, get back in bed, Evie has a party in my belly and about the time I fall asleep, the alarm goes off!
I worked all day and had a sweet shower hosted by the math teachers at Davis Elementary after school. I came home and made a new recipe that Scott and I really enjoyed "Cajun Stuffed Bell Peppers!" I'll have to post the recipe later.
 Around 8:15 pm - 8:30 pm I realized I hadn't had much movement from Evie, in fact, I couldn't remember any other than at lunch a few flutters. This was NOT normal. So, I went in our bedroom to tell Scott (who was peacefully reading a book) and we decided to call the Dr. When he called back I told him about the 3:30 am party in my belly and the few flutters at lunch. He very calmly said something like..."Ok, what I want you and Scott to do is get in the car and head to the hospital. I'm going to meet you there. About how long will it take you to get there? (less than 30 minutes) Ok, what street will you turn on if you are coming like you go to my office? (I have no idea, here's Scott)."

So, we got dressed, grabbed our phones, a charger and headed to the hospital, as the doctor told Scott not to take the time to pack a bag. When we got to the hospital I was greeted by the nurses who were ready to begin monitoring as Dr. Gaitonde had called them and given them directives. I was immediately put on a monitor and to my relief her heartbeat was great! So, I figured false alarm, we are going home! About that time Dr. G walked in calm, but clearly out of breath, he had ran in from his car, concerned! He said the heart rate is great but I'm really concerned that you haven't felt her like you normally would so we are going to do a sonogram and really check things out.

The sonogram showed great development and a 6 lb baby lots of positive things. Then, he started measuring the fluid around her and determined it was about a 4.7, which is low. He told me that I would be kept overnight and monitored to see if we could get the fluid levels to go back up, but that based on this alone he would not deliver her this early. However, he then looked at the blood flowing through the umbilical cord. Each different place he looked at showed an abnormal flow of blood. Indicating the cord was not just caught but that the flow from the placenta to the cord was not working as it should. "So, you are going to have a baby tonight!" wait what? are you serious? We talked a few more minutes and determined there was no way around it, Evelyn Faye Hatfield would be safer in the world than in my belly at this point. So, excited and nervous we made phone calls to our families and friends and Scott got ready to go into surgery with me.

Amazing Grace

Tonight, Scott took me by the hand and turned on that great old song, Amazing Grace. I closed my eyes singing, praising, and enjoying this precious time together, feeling so broken and challenged by the events of the last 48 hours. I opened my eyes, and gazed through the tears at this picture of our beautiful daughter and said "Oh wow, she's praising God!" 

A moment that made Scott and I's bond stronger than ever!

We are determined more than ever to be strong through this experience and seek God every step of the way together! As I have time, I will be sharing the experience of the birth of our daughter Miss Evelyn Faye Hatfield through an emergency C Section and the challenges we are now facing as a family.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.

When we've been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.