God's Greatest Blessings (A Blog from Daddy)

SADIE ELIZABETH IS FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!!! After all of the waiting and anticipation, Sadie Elizabeth made her entrance into this world at 6:54 pm weighing 6 lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long. Although Mom and Dad were hoping for a normal, uneventful, natural childbirth, Sadie had other plans. Let me start at the beginning...

As you all know, Alice has been contracting for almost 2 weeks. Finally we awoke this morning with Alice having fairly regular contractions spaced about 10-12 minutes apart. We did not get our hopes up, though, based on experiences of the past 2 weeks. So I went in to work and finished a couple of important experiments while Alice rested at home. By the time I returned home again, Alice's contractions were 4-5 minutes apart and becoming a little more intense. We were like two kids on Christmas Day :))))). We rushed around and got Mili ready, called the doctor and started on our way to drop Mili off at a friend' house. By the time we made it to the friend's house, Alice's contractions were 3 minutes apart and strong enough to interrupt conversation. So off we went driving at near the speed of light towards the hospital. Once we made it into Labor and Delivery, we quickly realized this was going to be no ordinary delivery. Almost immediately, the nurses noticed that Sadie's heartbeat was decelerating every time Alice had a contraction. They immediately gave meds to stop the contractions, broke Alice's water and put a monitor in-utero to keep a closer eye on Sadie. Sadie seemed to perk up for a while but when Alice started contracting again, our little Sadie was going to have none of it. At one point the heart rate dropped so low that the doctor had to jostle Alice and Sadie around quite a lot to try and relieve whatever pressure on the cord that was causing the problem. When the baby didn't respond very quickly, everyone went into emergency mode, and before we knew it they were throwing me a pair of scrubs and prepping Alice for surgery. I went into the bathroom to put my scrubs on and immediately realized that they had given me the smallest pair of scrubs humanly imaginable (for those of you who don't know...I am a pretty "substantial" guy). I wanted to be with Alice so I tried with all my might to fit all of this into that. If it wasn't such a scary situation, it would have been very comical. ( Imagine Chris Farley and his "Fat Man in a Little Coat" dance). Anyway, I finally yielded to the laws of physics and asked for larger scrubs. By the time I was dressed, everyone was gone from the room. Although, they had told me they would come back for me, it is not a very comforting feeling to see the room, where your lovely pregnant wife once was, now so empty.

They were able to stabilize Sadie's heart beat and give Alice a spinal so that she could remain conscious. That meant I was able to sit by her side and calm her down as they rushed to remove Sadie. She came out screaming and yelling, showing her strong will and determination. Tonight she is resting calmly and has already had her first meal.

This was by far the scariest event that Alice and I have ever experienced. Having said that, it is just another example of God's fingerprints in our lives. He worked everything out so that we would be at the hospital with the right doctors and nurses at the right time so that Sadie might be born healthy. We sit tonight more thankful than I think we have ever been. Thankful for God's gentle guiding, for family, for friends, but most of all for a new beautiful baby girl.