This is the amazing journey of our two miracles. John Craig was born on November 30, 2005 at 24 weeks and 5 days gestation. He weighed 1 pound 8 ounces and was 12 inches long. John is a true miracle and an inspiration to all that meet him! Hope Amanda, our perfect little girl, is currently recovering from two brain surgeries to remove a 6cm mass from the center of her brain. Hope represents everything good in this world and she too is an inspiration to all.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29.11

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Hope's Birth Story

I REALLY should be writing my thank you notes and addressing Hope's announcements but since my sweet little girl will be 2 months old next week I figured I needed to document her amazing birth story.

Sooooooooo, here it goes...

On July 29, 2009 our precious daughter made her entrance into this world. Life hasn't been the same since!!!!!

On the morning of the 29th I went in for my weekly doctors appointment. As mentioned previously, I had not been feeling well....my blood pressure was high (Preeclampsia was ruled out by my 24 hour urine test the Friday before) and I had been having stomach pains earlier that morning. Well, when the nurse took my blood pressure that morning it was the highest it had ever been so my doctor and I discussed doing another 24 hour urine test but we both felt that I needed to be admitted to the hospital ASAP.......even if the test came back negative but my blood pressure remained high we were going to deliver Hope the next morning.

Thankfully I had packed my hospital bag the night before....how's that for perfect timing? So I ran home quickly to get my stuff (and my husband) and headed to the hospital for the birth of our daughter.

Once admitted, the nurse took my blood pressure and it was GREAT....crazy, I know. However, I still wasn't feeling well and the monitor was picking up a significant amount of contractions. I was given a shot of Terbutaline....which did nothing (the 2 other times I had been given it my contractions stopped immediately) so the doctor checked my cervix and sure enough, I was 1cm dilated and she could feel her head. Remember, I could not go into labor because of my classical incision.....I HAD to have a C-section. So, the Doctor calmly said....this is an emergency (nothing compared to John's birth) and we are delivering her tonight.

Now the prepping began. Grammy and Papa arrived and Grams (thank God she flew home early from her vacation. I guess her Mom instinct knew best) put John to bed and headed to the hospital too. Our doctor was so sweet....she knew I wanted my mom to put John to bed (I was having a hard time leaving him and didn't want his routine to be messed up) so she held the delivery off until she arrived.

I was wheeled back sometime around 7:45pm and at 8:08pm I heard my baby girl let out the most beautiful cry. My eyes filled with tears as the amazing Dr. Abrahms (John's Neo for the 110 days he spent in the NICU) held her up for me to see. My response was...She's HUGE!!!! I guess it's all relative though. The doctors assumed she would be somewhere around 4 pounds so when the scale flashed 5 pounds 3 ounces we were definitely shocked.

Now, the scary part....first, the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck 2 times AND my uterus HAD begun to rupture (2 inches)....exactly what we didn't want to happen.

I thank God daily for my amazing doctors because if I had not gone to the hospital that day my baby girl would not be here with us. How awesome is our God?


















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7 comments:

Unknown said...

She is so beautiful! I have been following your blog for almost two years, since my twins were born at 25.3 weeks we lost Preston but we have our miracle Jonathan! I just wanted to say what a beautiful family you have!

I teach . . . said...

Jill, all of these shots are beautiful. You are so very blessed. Get some rest and enjoy your new family of four.

Amanda

Anonymous said...

Whoever the photographer was, he took some wonderful pictures of Hope's arrival into this world. Thanks for sharing.
Love you all,
Aunt Holly

Anonymous said...

Jill, I had no idea what you went through! God was working another miricle. So thrilled to hear how both Hope and John are thriving. Your latest news on Johns' walking and talking is incredible. Everytime I think about it I get goose bumps.
love to all,
Aunt Holly

Anonymous said...

As usual, I sit and dry the tears of joy. We were lucky enough to be there, and still feel amazed!

You are all so blessed, as we are. The pictures cannot begin to show the miracles we have received. We appreciate every day with our miracle boy, and Hope's arrival just made things more amazing. (Papa and Grams are going to flip when they see how big Hope is, and John sings the Monkey song)
We love you all
Grammy and Papa

JaBLes Mommy said...

What a beautiful and amazing story. Hope is precious and I know John is a great big brother. You have been blessed with such a beautiful family. Love you!

Ben & Michelle said...

Make me cry like a baby...my heart aches at how happy I am for you all! We love you!