A Baby Story

November 5th, 2007

It was a dark and stormy night . . .

Wait, it was a beautiful Autumn day in the Ozarks. Courtney had a doctor's appointment scheduled for 1:30 with the intent to monitor Katelee and get another ultrasound. However, she started experiencing 1-sided contractions around noon. Medication seemed to stop them a little bit though.
We arrived at the doctor's office on time and Courtney was hooked up to the monitor. They noticed Katelee's heart rate kept dropping with each contraction. So, they decided to do a bio-physical profile ultrasound to evaluate her stress level. A keen ultrasound tech spotted a mass, which turned out to be a blood clot. The doctor said, "Prepare for a baby!" He said a C-section was likely today.
So, we were whisked off to Labor & Delivery for some more monitoring about 2:00 p.m. They hooked up heart monitors again to Courtney's belly and immediately witnessed a severe deceleration. In seconds, Ninjas jumped from every closet to poke and prod Courtney and prep her for operation. The baby was going to be delivered NOW.
After being prepped, she was taken to the Operating Room, given a spinal block, and waited for Mark to arrive. Meanwhile, Mark waited patiently in a room wearing scrubs like a second string quarterback waiting for his number to be called. When the moment arrived, he entered the OR to see the docs scalpel-happy and starting without him. Meanwhile, Courtney was lying on her back with a curtain wall over her chest just smiling. Good thing she couldn't see beyond the curtain!
The operation didn't take long, and Katelee was pulled out at 1531. She was handed off to the pediatrician, who wiped her clean, sucked out gunk from her mouth, and then used a respirator bag to get her breathing. It was a nice cry to hear after about a minute. Meanwhile, Courtney continued to smile behind the curtain as they started stitching her belly back together. Mark bounced between Courtney and Katelee, and he showed off his Proud Papa skills by cutting the umbilical chord.
Finally, Courtney was put back together, and she was able to hold Katelee briefly. Then, Katelee was taken quickly to the NICU to help with her breathing. We were out of the OR by 4:15 p.m.

Katelee continued to have labored breathing throughout the day. They placed her under an oxygen hood and gave her up to 60% oxygen. They also had to give her a blood transfusion due to a loss of blood (refer back to the blood clot observed by the ultrasound tech) from the placenta abruption. Finally, around 7:00 p.m., they decided she needed to be placed on a ventilator. They also gave her Surfactin to help her lung development. This seemed to help her relax and sleep.

November 6th
Katelee is still on the ventilator, but she is breathing normal oxygen levels. They say she may come off of the ventilator today. Her parents had their first diaper change today. Have you ever seen black tar? Our baby is pooping black tar. Momma is recovering nicely, but she sure is loopy from the drugs! Olivia can't wait to get her hands on Katelee, but the NICU has a no-kids policy. So, for now, she observes through the window. As for Daddy, he's just glad he was here.