An Unexpected Delivery

(Disclosure: Husband as ghost writer, so please excuse the lack of style and creativity.)

Last night, after deciding to take an Ambien at the suggestion of her nurse, Brandy was fast asleep on monitors when she was suddenly awoken at 3:40 am by five nurses. Apparently Claire had shown heart tone decelerations over the past 6 minutes, and the nurses immediately started inserting IVs, checking the baby, and had Brandy get on her hands and knees to try to get the baby away from the cord. Claire stabilized at this point, and they did an ultrasound. The doctor then came in, checked her monitor readings, and said if this deceleration occurred again that they would do an emergency c-section. The doctor laid Brandy back down, and started another ultrasound... at which point Claire had another deceleration.

They immediately started prepping Brandy for the c-section. Brandy called me at 4:08 am (which unfortunately did not wake me), put under general anesthesia, and Claire was delivered at 4:17 am apparently kicking and screaming. There was meconium in the amniotic fluid, which further validated that she had indeed been under distress. A nurse was nice enough to keep calling me and get through a few minutes after the c-section had occurred. (An amazing friend was nice enough to rush over to our house to take over babysitting Benjamin, and I was able to get to the hospital before Brandy was awake. We also have another friend watching Benjamin ALL day today before his grandparents arrive... so a HUGE thank you there as well.)

Claire weighed in at 6lbs 1oz (not bad for a baby just a few hours into her 36th week), is 18.5 inches long, has blonde hair, and a dimple on her chin (and we are trying to figure out what side of the family that came from). She is now stable in the NICU (on oxygen, not unexpected, and antibiotics as a precaution given meconium in the fluid) and appears to be doing well. (Note: The NICU has undergone a major upgrade since Benjamin was here, and now babies get their own really nice private rooms.)

Brandy is extremely tired, but ultimately relieved... and looking to catch up on a bit of sleep if possible. Between all the drugs and lack of sleep, she was not in a condition to write this blog post... but wanted to get this update out to her many amazing friends and family members who she knows are anxious for an update.

Here are a few photos of our beautiful addition, and her amazing mother:

On behalf of myself, Brandy, Benjamin, and Claire... thank you all for your countless thoughts, prayers, support, and love.