Last Tuesday Tess went into the doctor for another checkup. I came home from work to be with Lanie, who was coughing and running a low fever and just generally feeling miserable. The morning was starting to drag on when I got a text from Tess. Her blood pressure was high, so she was going to have to stay longer while the nurse practitioner ran some more tests. Tess didn't come home and didn't come home and finally told me she was being kept overnight at the hospital. On Tuesday and Wednesday Tess received a couple shots to help baby's lungs develop, just in case. Wednesday she was released on bed rest and told to come back on Friday for a non-stress test.
Tess's mom came out to Iowa on Wednesday to help us adjust to Tess being on bed rest and to enable me to get some work done again. Wednesday and Thursday passed by pretty quietly.
Friday I took Tess back to the doctor. She was feeling fine. Howeer, her blood pressure was high again, so after the non-stress test, the doctor told Tess she would be staying overnight once again and ordered an ultrasound. Baby girl only met about half the standards there, so Tess and I were told to wait while the doctor planned next steps. Suddenly Tess's nurse rushed back into the room with a hospital gown. "Doctor says you're having an emergency c-section now. Take your clothes off and put this on." Tess immediately started crying, and before long I was crying, too. We tried to comfort each other as doctors and nurses rushed back and forth getting Tess and everything else ready. Before long they took Tess back to the operating room, and a nurse brought me some scrubs. Everything slowed down for me as I waited to be brought back to the OR, fighting desperately not to give in to panic and fear. Soon I joined Tess and held her hand during surgery. At 2:09 we heard, "Baby's out," and held our breath for a few excruciating moments, waiting for a cry. Then Mia cried, and Tess and I both teared up. Mia was here and okay for now, but what was next?
After the doctors finished Tess's operation, a nurse led me to Mia. She was little, only 3 lb, 5 oz, but doing very well. She was breathing on her own and had good color. I held Mia's hand and waited for the team from Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines to arrive to transport her to the NICU. Once the team finished Mia's preparations, Tess got to see Mia for a few brief moments. Then Mia left. I said goodbye to Tess, swung home to see Lanie and grab a few things, and headed out after Mia….
Mia's been in the NICU since Friday, and there's more story to tell there, but I think this is enough for now. Mia's birth certainly did not go the way Tess and I would've planned, but we've seen God's goodness to us in a number of ways. First, as brutal as staying overnight in the hospital on Tuesday night was for Tess, God knew Mia needed those shots so she would be ready for birth on Friday, seven weeks before her due date. Second, Tess felt fine on Friday. She wouldn't have gone in if she wasn't told to come back, so God made sure Tess was already in the hospital when she needed to have the emergency c-section. Third and most of all, Mia was born in really good health. Even beyond her breathing, she just seemed ready to come into the world. Tess and I were scared, but God answered our desperate prayers for a healthy baby. Tess and I picked the name Mia Grace before all this excitement, but we've definitely seen God's grace through Mia's birth.
Grace and peace,
BMH
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