Original Text of an E-mail from Douglas to Family/Friends
So Kim tells me about 3:30pm that she’s “feeling pressure.” I remembered those words from Ethan’s birth last August, which I interpreted to mean things are rolling fast. I asked her, “Do you feel the urge to push?” “No, just pressure.” We wait for the next contraction, sure enough, more pressure. I called our nurse who came and checked Kim and she was fully dilated… time to start. I call pastor Rob and he’s on the way. I call our house to tell Gretta and Harry (Kim’s parents) to get the boys ready, phones busy. Try again, still busy. Try her cell phone, no answer. Try the neighbor’s cell phones, no answer at either of them. (panic sets in) I try Gretta’s cell phone one more time and get her, let her know the situation.
While getting things ready Kim tells me she hasn’t felt her (Alexandria) move in a while. I check and think I feel her move, but am not sure. I speculated to her that things had become cramped enough that she was comfortable, as if swaddled in a warm blanket. Kim’s nurse gets everything ready, but tells us that “Whispers” has no one on-call tonight. (Whispers is the photography place) She then leaves to try calling them again. We wait for a while, Kim continues to contract, and we begin to get a little worried. She’s almost to pushing and there’s no one in the room… Our nurse returns and lets us know that our doctor is just finishing up a C-section. (panic sets in) I’m thinking in the back of my mind, “This baby is not going to wait…” A few minutes later Pastor arrives, we let him know what’s going on, and he heads to the waiting room. Just after that our doctor shows up and gets Kim ready for delivery. By the time her legs were in the stirrups, Alexandria was “right there.” It only took one push. The moment her head was out she opened her beautiful blue eyes and looked at me. She was born at 4:26pm. She was very still. They laid her on Kimberly, she moved very slightly. It did not appear that she was breathing, and the doctor confirmed that she wasn’t when I asked. She did have a heartbeat though, we could feel it on her. She seemed so weak, so purple. I could tell from the looks on the nurses, NICU staff, and others that they did not expect her to live long. I asked them to go get pastor quickly, and he came into the room. He asked for a little water and it seemed like an eternity before someone had water in a cup for us. He baptized her, we prayed, and said the Lord’s Prayer. Immediately after we were done praying she let out a big cough and began to cry so quietly… but breathe. It was awesome, just an absolutely awesome experience. It was as if we were granted a “yes” right then and there. Our nurse later said, “There isn’t much we can do for her, but obviously prayer works, because I think your pastor prayed her to life.” She began to move, and take breaths. Slowly at first, then more regular. She finally began to get color into her face, her chest, her arms and hands. We kept her close to Kim and I, and I cleaned her a little. The NICU staff retreated, saying there wasn’t anything they could do and that she was in the best place she could be, with us.
She weighs 4lbs 12oz and 17 inches long. It was two hours before we were willing and comfortable enough to let them take her out of our arms to weigh and get her footprints/fingerprints.
Alexandria being weighed
We finally were able to get a photographer (who was a part of Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, not Whispers) and the boys here and take pictures with everyone. We gave her her cross, her baby ring, and all our other gifts. A few moments ago I fed her for the first time, she was able to eat out of a bottle which is practically unheard of in this situation. She has begun to have some respiratory distress, but it comes and goes. We have her hooked up to a pulsoxs machine to see how well her blood oxygenation is coming, which sometimes alarms. Right now she seems to be doing ok.
We will keep people updated. Thank you all so much for the thoughts and prayers, to all our doctors and staff, to pastor, our family, and friends.
Alexandria wearing her cross and baby ring
