Lillian was born at home after what turned out to be a very short labor of only 6 hours! This was a planned homebirth as our goal was to achieve a gentle, unmedicated, natural birth in the comfort of our own home with as few medical procedures as possible. And by the grace of God, we did achieve that--at least for the actual birth. It was a truly beautiful birth until my placenta just refused to come out and my blood pressure dropped. The midwives made the wise decision to go ahead and transport to the hospital, which we did, and the problem was resolved quickly, though not painlessly, that's for sure!
Though Lillian's initial exams all showed she was perfectly healthy, we did choose to have her admitted to the hospital with me so that she could stay with me and we could have the help of the nurses during my short stay. Unfortunately, Lillian soon began to appear "dusky," which indicated respiratory problems. The doctors admitted her to the NICU and treated her with oxygen and antibiotics. She had to stay in the hospital for a whole week, but thank God they let me stay with her the whole time. It was so hard for us to see her like this:
But she got better quickly and we were able to take her home.
After a week of being at home, Lillian ran a high fever and we had to take her back to the hospital. She was treated with antivirals for an apparent virus and had to stay for a whole week again. Thank God I again got to stay with her!
Having a sick baby was so hard on our family, but by the grace of God (her middle name ended up being quite meaningful), we all made it through and are finally home and happy and healthy! We are forever grateful for our new friends at VA Beach General Hospital. They were amazing to us in every way. However, we hope to never stay longer than a quick visit there again!
We can't thank everyone enough who prayed for us during this ordeal, too!
Don't forget to check out the new photo album and the new video over there to the left!!!
