Our Hope (the Labor and Delivery Story)

The past three weeks since Ashlyn has been born, we have been reminded how fragile life is, and we are so grateful for a healthy baby and that I am here to tell about it. I know there are more serious and/or life-threatening labor and delivery stories out there, but this is my story…

I was admitted to the hospital on Thursday, June 17 for high blood pressure, which can be dangerous to me and the baby. I was expecting to be put on bed rest. After multiple tests and the realization that my blood pressure was not dropping, the doctors decided to induce me in the middle of the night on Friday (or early Saturday morning).

Labor was long and I was pretty groggy all day on Saturday.

On Saturday, June 19 at 9:41pm, Ashlyn Hope arrived.

I began to hemorrhage after Ashlyn was delivered and more doctors got called into my room.

The prayer chain was started (and Jerry began to pace).

My placenta could not be delivered because it was lodged inside of me.

I continued to hemorrhage.

Finally after a half hour of the doctors trying to remove the placenta, they had to manually go in and remove it. (Mind you, this was VERY painful and I was screaming my head off).

After this point, I do not remember much. My blood pressure dropped (which is ironic because it was so high in the first place) and I began to lose consciousness.

More prayers (more pacing from Jerry as he called my parents and his parents)

More doctors and nurses were called in and I was given oxygen and more IV’s. (I had four IV’s in one arm, one IV in the other, my epidural, a blood pressure cuff, and oxygen).

I continued to lose more blood.

More prayers (tears and fear from Jerry).

I can remember one doctor asking me to talk to her, squeeze her hand, blink, and/or nod my head.

At some point, the bleeding stopped, and they did an ultrasound to make sure all of the placenta was removed, and I started to regain consciousness.

Prayers of praise and thanksgiving

As I started to come around, I was very weak. I remember looking at Ashlyn and trying to smile. I wanted to hold her so badly, but I wasn’t strong enough (to hold even 5 pounds), and it broke my heart that I couldn’t hold her. (We propped her on some pillows on my lap so I could be close to her).

I had yet to realize what just happened. All I really knew was that Ashlyn had arrived and was healthy.

This whole story seems to be a metaphor for the larger picture of the last few years of our life...pain, trauma, moments of touch and go...and ultimately new birth and new beginnings.

We have been told various times that if this happened 50 years ago, chances are, I would not be around to tell the story. We are so thankful for the doctors, nurses, and technology, but more importantly, the prayers and God’s grace. Welcome to the world Ashlyn Hope…we truly have a Hope.