The Beginning

It all began September 4th of this year. I went into work just like any other day. All day my hips hurt and I really didn't have any idea why. By the afternoon I found myself leaving my brother-in-law's surprise party and heading for the hospital. I was not at all sure what was wrong, but I did not want to take the chance that something was wrong with the baby I was carrying. After about a 30 minute wait the hospital staff put me in a room and hooked me up to all those baby monitors. The look of relief on my husband's face when he heard our little baby's heartbeat could have melted a hardened criminal. She was alive and seemed to be well. At that point I fully expected the nurse to come in and say all was well and we could go home. Instead, she came in and looked pointedly at me and said, "We're having a baby tonight!". To say the least, I was quite confused. At only 38 weeks along, I was not quite ready to meet my little bundle of joy. There were lots of things planned in the coming week and I had already set up a time to have a C-Section for the following Monday. Why the hasty surprise, I wondered. She then told my husband and I that our doctor said the baby's heart rate was elevated and I was contracting sooo...he was coming in and we were having a baby!
The C-Section went well (I even got into trouble from the anesthesiologist for talking too much!). Around 9:30 that night baby Rachel was born. She was beautiful. My next thought was about how little she was. It took her a while to cry but when she did it was music to my ears. That night I noticed what appeared to be seizures. I mentioned it to the nursing staff and she told me not to worry and that it was normal newborn behavior. I noticed that night that Rachel didn't sleep all night long. She cat napped a coupled times while I was holding her, but she just didn't rest well. The next morning the doctor came in and they took her to the newborn nursery for him to look her over. About and hour later I sent my husband to see about her and he came in and said they were admitting her to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). While I wasn't totally shocked, I was concerned so I went to the nursery to see what was going on. When I got there, they were whisking her away and I barely got to touch her face before they took her. I asked the nurse why they were sending her to NICU and she said her color wasn't good and that they witnessed what they thought were seizures. I got a little anxious but knew at that point I had to hand my precious baby to Jesus because I knew I could do nothing for her. I had to put my total trust in the One that made her.
Later that morning we got report that they were calling in a specialist to look at Rachel. Her SAT levels were low and she was on oxygen. Her little body seemed taken over by the seizures and she still could get no rest. It was heartbreaking looking at my precious newborn knowing how tired she looked and how her body must have been aching from the seizures. There were so many tears and so many prayers for Rachel that day. God had her in His arms and was beginning to work a miracle in her life that even we could not comprehend. Praise God for all things...this is what we learned that fateful day.