I wanted to start a blog for Eli, not only to update our concerned public on his status, but also to document his birth and life hereto for posterity's sake...plus we did it for his brother and as we all know life has to be fair when siblings are concerned.
Here's his birth story...
It was an unassuming Sunday night/Monday morning (2/7) around 1am when Adrienne came out to the kitchen to sternly encourage me to go to bed and quit playing games on the computer. I "cheerfully" agreed and we got into bed where I promptly fell asleep and Adrienne lay there awake brooding because I can fall asleep in an instant where it takes her an hour or two. Well, about an hour later Adrienne wakes me up and tells me that she just had a few contractions. Thus ensues a panic attack where flashbacks from Caleb's birth story flooded her mind. She immediately starts a bath and drinking water like crazy, which are two things that help slow labor she learned from nurse friends during Caleb's pregnancy. She urges me to call the doctor, so I did and the initial response was to "just wait and see." I somehow got Adrienne to calm down a bit and we both went back to bed.
Once again, I am dead to the world when Adrienne tells me she just had another one. Now I'm a little scared too. I get a little notebook and began to track the contractions. At first they are fairly regular (7-8 mins apart) and then move further apart (every 10-15 mins). Finally we fell asleep after several hours being up and the contractions only came about every 30 mins. Once daylight came, the contractions also increased. We then called the Evergreen Maternity Center and talked to the on-call nurse and she said that we should probably come in and get checked out even though the on-call doctor seemed indifferent.
We made the decision to come in and made the phone calls to the grandparents to tell them what's up. Bruce and Dede said they could come up and watch Caleb while we went to get it checked out. Since they are an hour away, our neighbors, the Brooks' agreed to take Caleb until the grandparents arrived (thank you!). Even though we thought we were just going to get a shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions and come home, we packed our overnight bag in the event of a worst-case scenario where we would be admitted. And it was a good thing we did...
At about 10:30am we went to the triage maternity center at Evergreen Hospital where they ran tests and monitored Adrienne and baby. At this point the contractions were coming pretty regularly and the pain was getting worse. The nurses and doctor thought that maybe Adrienne had the flu because she had some nausea and vomiting during her aforementioned panic attack, but upon a cervix check it turned out she was actually in labor - 2-3cm dilated. What!? It was hard to hear and even harder to believe. So much for just a couple hour trip to the hospital.
We were promptly admitted and transferred to a labor/delivery room. Adrienne received a shot of steroids for the baby's lungs in case it came as well as a heavy dose of Magnesium to help slow the labor process and for the most part it did it's job. About five or six hours later the doctor did another check and Adrienne had only progressed to about 3.5cm dilated so we kept with Magnesium and thought maybe we had bought a day or two of time before the baby came.
Only a couple hours later (about 9pm) everything seemed to change. The contractions were much stronger, much more painful and much closer together. Adrienne was entering active labor. Our wise nurse saw this change immediately and called the doctor back in and did another check: 5cm dilated and increasing rapidly. "Take her off the Magnesium and up to the OR because we're having this baby!," the doctor proclaimed.
I called Bruce and Dede at our house and quickly apprised them of the situation and asked Dede to come right away so she could be in the OR with Adrienne while I stayed with the baby. After a few minor traffic law violations Dede arrived just in time as we were ready to wheel Adrienne into the OR.
Dede and I donned our attractive HAZMAT suits and met Adrienne in the OR. I was definitely excited and nervous to meet my new child, for one, I wanted to know what the gender was, and two, I wanted it to be healthy (not necessarily in that order). At this point after about 20 hours of labor Adrienne was pretty uncomfortable and was ready to have the baby. Once the Anesthesiologist did the spinal and the meds started working she was as relaxed as one might be in this situation. All of the doctors and nurses in the OR were so great and super nice. Everyone was pretty lighthearted, making jokes and making us feel a little better in a tense situation, but when it came down to it they all did there jobs flawlessly.
At 10:10pm, just 20 hours of labor later, our son Elijah Leighton Howell was born at 4lb 9oz. and 17.32 inches long via c-section (he was still breach). We call him Eli for short. At first he didn't cry, but once the doctors suctioned his nose and mouth, he let us hear it. And man can that tiny kid scream. He is healthy, ten fingers and toes and no visible signs of trauma from the early birth. Thank the Lord!!
Seeing that he was healthy, the doctors gave Adrienne and I a few minutes to hold Eli before he was whisked upstairs to the NICU, which is something we didn't get with Caleb. After we snapped a few pictures, I got to carry Eli up to the NICU while Dede stayed with Adrienne to get patched back up.
Side note: The doctor performing the C-section made a special note to look at Adrienne's heart-shaped uterus to see the mysterious septum we found in earlier ultrasounds. She said that there was no way any kid could flip around out of the breach position in her uterus, so good to know if there are any future children traveling through there.
In the NICU, Eli was given excellent care by a team of wonderful nurses and doctors. He was placed in an isolet (basically an incubator), given fluids via IV, had a myriad of tests run on him, and then determined to be a very healthy boy inside and out. The doctor came in and told me that he looked great, was breathing well, and said that the standard length of stay for someone of his gestational age is about 2-3 weeks. I thought that that was better than the 6 weeks Caleb had to stay in there.
Thankfully, the rooms for the recovering mothers is on the same floor so it was only a short walk back to report on our beautiful boy to the beautiful momma. Adrienne seemed to be talkative and in good spirits, especially after I showed her all of the pictures of Eli. She was definitely anxious to get over there and see him herself, but she had to wait until the anesthesia left her body and she was able to sit in a wheelchair, which wasn't until the next morning.
While Dede was still with Adrienne, I went back over to Eli's room and by that time everyone had left and it was just him and me. I prayed over my little boy and asked God to bring a speedy recovery so he can come home, but more than that I asked that he meet Jesus early on his life and do great things for the Kingdom. I prayed that Adrienne and I would be a part in that.
This whole experience was very surreal and we had a strong sense of deja vu because after all, we had done this before. Caleb's birth experience was actually a blessing and definitely helped us to remain calm, know what to expect, and be much more familiar with the care that Eli will receive.
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support as we continue on the journey home.
We love you all!
Ryanade, Caleb & Eli
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