Elijah James
Saturday, March 10th I cleaned the house, typical nesting stuff. We had a c-section scheduled for March 20th to welcome our little Eli into the world. I had ten days left and everything needed to be perfect. One of my greatest strengths is being prepared. My hospital bag was packed, house is always clean, snacks always in my purse for the boys. I never knew how this would help me until the night Eli was born.
We went to sleep that night like any other night. I woke up around 2:30am. I thought I had peed a little. I jumped up (because I just put new sheets on our bed and did not want to have to change them again). I went to the bathroom and peed like normal. The next thing I knew, I was bleeding but my water had also broken. There was bright red blood everywhere and I knew something was wrong. I woke up my husband and told him we needed to go to the hospital. I called my next door neighbor who happens to be one of my dearest friends and she was at our house in about two minutes to watch the boys.
I felt a lot pressure, intense shaking and continuous bleeding. I was so scared. My husband and I got into our car and took off for the hospital. ( About 10 minutes after waking up) We ran several red lights and I was just thinking how I might not ever see my baby.
When we got to the hospital, the nurses checked us in and started monitoring the baby immediately. I was shaking so much. It almost looked like I was having a seizure. Again, more blood just gushing out of my body. The nurses were all nervously calm. I thought it was bizarre but later realized this was absolutely necessary. They paged the doctors on call, and they were there within about 10 minutes. I remember holding on to my quiet husbands hand, thinking this is it. I am going to die and so is my baby. It was the worst feeling I have ever experienced. Eli's heart rate dropped and was down for a long time. They rushed us back to the OR where there were about 15 people to help perform my emergency c-section.
When they rushed me back, James had to stay behind. They threw me on the operating table (what it felt like) and Dr. Chapman started putting in my catheter. This older nurse was holding my hand with tears in her bright blue eyes, telling me everything was going to be okay. I was crying and it seemed everyone in the room were fearful. Everything happened so fast and the last thing I remember was the anesthesiologist telling me to dream about something amazing.
It sounds silly, but we had watched the new Disney movie, Coco Saturday night. James and I both loved it. It reminded us of our home town and certain traditions we had growing up in a Mexican culture. The music was lively and meaningful. When I closed my eyes on that operating table I thought about Coco. I specifically thought of the song "remember me". I really believed that was my last time closing my eyes. My biggest desire was that my boys would remember me.
I woke up in the recovery room a couple of hours later. No baby, no husband. The next thing I know, my sweet, handsome husband walks in. He comes over to me and tells me our baby is okay. He pulled out his phone and showed me our precious Eli. Again, tears, tears and more tears.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4
A little while later they wheeled me out of the recovery room to my Eli and he was perfect. There was no greater feeling. I knew in that moment, God is with me. He is with my family. He is the God of all blessings and miracles. He loves me and HE is the best father. I will forever glorify his name!
My doctor, Dr. Stickley came in and told me Eli was a miracle. She said if we had gotten to the hospital any later, he wouldn't have made it. I lost about 4 liters of blood and Eli swallowed a lot of blood and fluid. But he was perfectly healthy. God was definitely watching over us. I had a 50% placenta abruption. She told me my placenta looked like it had exploded. A total miracle!
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17
Every single detail is proof that God was in the midst of this situation.
1. We moved on base shortly after becoming pregnant with Eli. I made good friends all around me. I met my amazing next door neighbor and she became one of my closest friends. If we had lived at our old house, we would not have made it to the hospital so quickly.
2. Dr. Stickley was on call. She delivered our first born and has been the best doctor and friend. She loves the Lord and I believe God had her there for a reason that night.
3. God woke me up so quickly when my water broke. A lot of times with placenta abruptions, people do not notice until its too late. (Sometimes there water does not break, no bleeding, etc.)
During our hospital stay, I found myself so emotional. When each nurse that was there that night came into our room to check on us, I got teary eyed. I could not thank them enough. I am so impressed with Castle Hospital and their team. I could not imagine going through this experience anywhere else. I am thankful for each and every one of them.
The day we were getting discharged from the hospital, we had everything ready to go when we heard nurses running down the hall. James looked at me with shock in his eyes when we heard them saying, "The baby is coding". The entire birth center was quiet. We waited and we prayed with our little Eli in our hands. I saw my husband for the first time really lose it since we welcomed our Eli. It was this terrible, yet thankful emotion. We couldn't imagine what that family was going through and felt this overwhelming sadness for them. The reality is that these situations happen more often than we know. These amazing nurses and doctors see our biggest nightmares often and yet they are still able to sympathize with our emotions and our stories.
We left the hospital happy to go home and put the scary, traumatic story behind us. We also left sad and a little broken for that family. We still wonder every day if that baby survived.
I am so thankful for every miracle but especially ours. God is so good, his word is so true!
