Baby Ben has Arrived!

New Contact Info (I'll probably be here until Tuesday)
St. Luke's Rm. 2535
832-355-4668

Wow...yesterday was a whirlwind. I woke up at 3:15 a.m. with a really strong contraction lasting about 10 minutes. That settled into an hour of the sharp pain in my lower left side, followed by 1.5 hours of regular contractions. Then it all stopped! My perinatologist did an ultrasound and said that Ben was fine, and there was still no sign of the source of the original bleeding. I was told to lay still and avoid contractions (of course!). :)

A little later, the contractions started again--intermittent and not very painful. But since Ben was breech and delicate, my docs decided that letting me go into full labor would be a bad idea. So they scheduled me for an immediate c-section.

Benjamin Allen Adkins was born at 10:49 a.m., 2 lbs. 15 oz., 15.5 inches long. He did not breathe immediately, but once they took him to the little NICU area next to the operating room, he cried, kicked, and peed on a nurse. They said he almost kicked himself right off the table! I was able to see him for a few seconds before he was whisked off to the NICU. He has dark, curly hair (like Bryant's), a round face like Jack's, and long limbs. I haven't seen him since, but I've seen some pics.

My surgery experience was less than fun. My spinal/epidural combo wasn't placed quite right, so I felt way too much of the surgery. I received 6 injections of pain meds during the surgery, to no avail. Because Ben was breech, and because the placenta covered the entire front part of my uterus, my doc had to do a long U incision through the placenta, and I lost a lot of blood. Yesterday was pretty painful, but thanks to the miracle of medicine, I'm in a lot less pain this morning!

Ben is doing well. At first, he only needed a nasal c-pap to push a little air into his nostrils and keep his breathing passages open. Then yesterday afternoon, they decided that he needed a respirator, and before long, he required 80% oxygen. (Fairly normal for a preemie his age.) Praise God, he's down to 21% oxygen (same as room air) and less pressure on the respirator. This bodes very well for his ability to get off the respirator altogether. He's also been given artificial surfactant for his lungs, dopamine to raise his blood pressure, and antibiotics to fight infection. All-in-all his prognosis is good. We'll know more today.

I'm enjoying real food again and will spend the day trying to move around so that I can get to the NICU to see Ben as soon as possible. We probably don't have the energy for visitors today, since Bryant is running back and forth to the NICU--perhaps tomorrow. Calls are welcome!

Keep praying! I'll post pics of Ben ASAP.