And The Gift Goes On...

Wow.

What a week.

Today, Chloe Mae Keck is exactly 1 week old. I've been quite overwhelmed with everything that has happened in the last week, let alone the weeks leading up to her birth. They say everything will change, but until it happens, you don't know what that means. Now I know, and I have no way to descibe it other than the best thing I've ever done.

I've written before about my thoughts on God's will. Despite my lack of faith, and though I won't say I saw God's will, I can certainly say I felt His hand and saw His providence. Let me fill you in on the details a bit:

On August 13th, the girl with the green eyes went in for a normal doc appointment. We were getting close to the final month, so these would become more and more frequent. Everything was going fine until the very end, the doc said, "Ya know, I just can't tell for sure if the baby's head is down. I want you to have an ultrasound before you leave just to make sure."

So, we head down the hall and wait for the ultrasound tech. She finally has an opening and goes to work. Sure enough, the baby's head is down, but the tech says she wants to check a few more things. Then she says she needs to show something to the doctor. Turns out, the amniotic fluid is low. They tells us we need to see a specialist.

That Friday, we go to the specialist. They confirm the earlier diagnosis. Low fluid. The order Candice to bedrest and to drink as much water as a human can possible imbibe. Turns out it's about 2 gallons. So, after doing nothing but peeing for 24 hours, we head to the hospital to get checked again. A doctor we've never met checks her again and says everything is fine. We are a bit skeptical. So, we decide to go back to the specialists on Monday. They check her again and unknown doc was wrong.

She's a quart low.

Same prognosis. Bedrest and water and come back in 48 hours.

That Wednesday, August 20th, when we headed out to the doctor's appointment, we had no idea that we wouldn't come back home without a baby. They did the same check ups and despite drinking the equivilant of Lake Mead, there was no change to her fluid level. We told the ultrasound tech that Candice had also had a harder time doing the "kick counts" (how long it takes the baby to kick inside the stomach). She goes to get our specialist doctor. He says, "Well, take it easy and we'll see you in 48 hours." Then the tech decides to chip in and say, "Oh, by the way, her kick counts are taking longer." The doctor leaves the room for a bit then comes back to tell us to head straight to the hospital for 24 hour monitoring.

Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

Once at the hospital, they monitored her. And monitored her. And did it some more. And a few more times. And a little longer. Nothing was happening. Low fluid but baby was fine. Finally, they said, "you know what, you are full term, let's just induce and get that sucker out of there."

So, at 9 am on Tuesday August 26th, they began the induction. Everything was going fine. The first go round lasts 12 hours and then they put in the "pushing" medicine.

I had decided that during the 12 hours I would try to get some work done. I finished up about 1 and started to head back to the hospital. I was kinda hungry since I hadn't eaten all day. But, instead of stopping to get something to eat, I decided to head to the hospital first, just to make sure everything was okay.

As I walked into the room, I was followed by two nurses. I walked in to see two other nurses staring at the monitoring maching.

"Maybe the machine's broke," one says.

"Or it's registering it twice," the other says.

I look at the baby's heart rate and it's off the charts. A safe heartbeat for a baby is anywhere between 120-180 bpm. Chloe's was 250-260. Not good.

"Turn it off and turn it back on," chimes in one of the nurses that followed me in.

The ol' Nintendo trick. Doesn't work.

They get an ultrasound in there to confirm what the machine was saying. Yup, my baby's heart was in hyperdrive.

"Who's your doctor?" they ask us.

"Our primary is Tyre and our specialist is Bolnick." Candice says.

"Hang on." They say.

Turns out, our specialist doctor, was next door. I don't mean like in the medical office next to the hospital, I mean he was in the room next door checking on another patient of the specialist clinic. They grabbed him and he came in and took a look.

"Let's go get her," He says.

That was at 1:30 pm. Chloe was born at 2:00 pm. It was fast.

So, if our original doctor hadn't thought to check for the baby's head position, we wouldn't have found out about her low fluid. If the tech hadn't mentioned her long kick counts, we wouldn't have went to the hospital. If we wouldn't have been monitored, we wouldn't have known about her heart rate. If Dr. Bolnick wasn't next door, I don't want to think about what would've happened.

Yes, I believe in God and in His providence.

We did good.