Hallie's Arrival

My water broke on Friday evening about 7:00 p.m. (complete shocker!) and Neal and I made our way to the hospital. At first, we weren't sure if they were going to induce me since I still had 5 weeks to go or if they were going to see how things progressed naturally. At this point I was only dilated 1 cm and my cervix was very thick. On Saturday morning my doc decided to begin Pitocin to get labor started. I was feeling really great still and I was having contractions, but they weren't close together.

Neal and I started playing cards not knowing how long we'd be waiting on our sweetpea to arrive. Around noon Hallie's heart rate was dropping whenever I was having a contraction. After lying down and trying to find a new position that Hallie liked better, the nurse came in within 5 minutes because she was not improving. She checked me only to find that it wasn't Hallie's head, but her umbilical cord that she was feeling. Basically the nurse never let go from holding the umbilical cord and quickly called for nurses to rush us to the OR for an emergency c-section. This all happened really fast. They did put me all the way out and got Hallie out just in time. As they began the surgery they realized that the umbilical cord was attached "by a thread" and instead of being attached to the placenta the cord was exposed and attached to the bag of water. (I'm sure I'll understand that later when I get a full explanation, I might not be 100% accurate with how the cord was attached.) The cord could have torn easily had I continued with labor which could have been fatal. Very scary to hear that, but I am so thankful the nurse caught things and didn't waste any time.

Hallie is in the NICU since she is early. She weighed 4 lbs and 12 oz and is 18 inches long, so she is small but not too tiny. To us she seems itty bitty since Clayton was almost double her weight at birth. The pain is getting so much better for me today! Today I will get to spend a lot of time in the NICU with Hallie. She isn't eating well yet...she is being fed from a tube and spitting up a little too much so we'll see how she does today. As of last night she is still dealing with Respiratory distress so they put her back on the C-PAP (a tiny little mask like thing to help her breathe). She was just having to work way too hard with only the nose canula. I'll keep you posted, but the doctor thinks today she'll be doing much better.

She is precious and a miracle. We are so thankful my water broke and she is here with us. Pictures to come!


Love,
Kate, Neal, Peyton, Clayton, & Hallie