GRACE'S DRAMATIC ENTRANCE

Tuesday night I went over to help Anya. She was having a rough day because she hadn't felt Grace move anytime after 2:00 pm. We made the decision, for peace of mind, to head to the hospital. Her husband, Tyler, was at work and she didn't want to upset him too. This was at 9:00 pm.

Once hooked up to the monitors, Grace was moving like crazy, but Anya still couldn't feel her. The nurses noticed that she was having regular contractions, and though most likely braxton hicks because she couldn't feel them, and needed to be checked. (around 10:30 pm)

Talked to Tyler, but since we knew that we were going to be leaving in a half an hour, we asked him to pick up Bryleigh and put her to bed. It was all cool. He was cool, we were cool.

Only dilated to a 1 (around 11:00 pm), the nurse and resident, continued the history (around 11:30) and thought that the itching without rash most likely wasn't pupps, but something else instead. They asked to do a blood panel to find out if they could tell why she was itching. (blood taken around midnight)

1:15 and we are still talking about how we wished that they would just hurry and discharge us. 1:30, resident says that they need to run one more panel on her blood work because nothing was definite from first panel. This might give us more answers, may or may not need more blood to do this.

2:01. Nurse comes walking in and pulls open curtain. "You're going to have a birth day today." Anya, "Seriously?" She says, "Yes. Within the hour."

2:02. Call Tyler. Tell Tyler that he has to hurry his butt up there so that they can have the baby. His response? "Whatever." (He thought that we were joking and going to be pulling into the driveway in the next minute.) I tell him that we are serious and make him believe that this is happening ... tonight ... within the hour.

Madness in the room. Doctor, resident, 3 nurses, 1 anesthesiologist, 1 operating nurse, Anya and me. We find out that Anya had HELLP syndrome, a variant of pre-eclampsia, and stands for the main findings: Hemolytic anemia, Elevate Liver enzymes, and Low Platelet count. It can be very serious of not caught early.

Tyler arrives. Gets dressed. 5 minutes later, they take Anya to the operating room. 2:38 am.

Arrive home right before 3:00 am. 3:05 am, Grace comes into this world. Weighed in at 6 Lbs. 13 Oz. 20 inches long.

The girls!!!

I know that there was a reason that Anya did not feel Grace that day and why we were prompted to head to the hospital. Miracles do happen. Tender mercies remind us that the Lord knows us and He loves us. Happy birthday Grace!