YIPPEEEE!!!

Lachlan Julia Hess arrived last evening at 10:33. She was 8 lbs. 3 oz.--our biggest--and 20 1/2 inches long.

At church, as I spoke with people, I told them how much we wanted Lachlan to arrive that day, so G could see her before leaving town. Many people said they'd pray for it.

During church, I got light-headed and short of breath, so I got up, got a drink of water and wandered the hallways for awhile. The light headedness never really went away. At about 1pm, as I was lying down, I realized that I was working hard to breathe and my heart was racing. I'd been laying there for about five minutes when I realized this, so I decided to call and get some advice. Of course, they asked me to go in to the hospital.

After I arrived, they said I should have gone to the E.R. as this was my issue, not the baby's. I almost decided to just go home at this point, but they told me they would monitor the baby first and then send me to the E.R. if necessary.

Lachlan looked great on the monitor, but I already knew that. She'd been kicking like crazy all day. They also had a blood pressure cuff and a little contraption they put on my finger to measure my blood oxygen level and my pulse.

So, here's what we found. The baby's heart rate was strong the entire time, but when it would go up above the ideal marks on the chart, my pulse would race. I could feel my shoulders go slack and lose all energy. I was glad to see that this wasn't me causing her problems, but her causing them for me.

As time went on, they talked about me wearing a heart monitor at some point in the future. I really think this is a pregnancy-induced problem, but when the doctor came in to talk to me, she asked what we thought about having this baby a couple days early. As G was leaving at 4:45 the next morning, we were thrilled! From then on, the entire thing was absolutely surreal.

They got me into a regular room shortly after 5pm. I got two small I.V.'s of antibiotics, some fluids, and then the pitocin. They didn't want me to deliver before 9:30pm so that Lachlan would have all the antibiotics on board.

To be completely honest, I was exhausted. I wanted to sleep, but I was afraid to because of the pulse thing that was going on. Afraid that if I went to sleep, I wouldn't wake up again.

They put in the epidural, which was great. I noticed that there were moments when I'd become queazy. The second time this happened, I realized that my shoulders were going slack. This was how my pulse phenomenon was reacting to the anesthesia, it seemed. About twenty minutes after getting the epidural, I felt queazy, my shoulders lost all strength, I saw sparkles in front of my eyes and knew I was going to pass out. Z was on the phone with G at the time, and I told him I needed him because something wasn't right. I elevated my head a bit and by then, it sounded like I was inside a tin can. Very bizarre. It took a couple minutes to come back to seeing and hearing normally.

The nurse came in and called the anesthetist back in. They adjusted the levels of the epidural and from then on, it was smooth sailing. When all was said and done, the nurse told me that they were about to send me down to the cardiac floor to be monitored, and I would have had to deliver there. So glad things got ironed out.

I talked to G at about 10pm and told him that we'd "tried our best" for him, but it was too late at this point, so he would have to wait and see her on Saturday. I could hear the disappointment in his voice and asked him if he was, in fact, disappointed. He told me that he was, but that it was alright. I told him I'd see if Z could still bring him even if it was late. Z agreed.

Lachlan was born about 30 minutes later. She only required one push--yeehaw! I hate the pushing part. She has a little round face and the same lack of hair as my other children--just some blondish fuzz. She's so tiny, I never would have thought she'd be anywhere near the eight pound mark. Everything seems to be just right with her. One of the funny things about her is a little water blister on her left hand. She was sucking so hard on it that she created a blister for herself.

Z ran home right before midnight and picked up Q and G. G was so happy to be sitting holding her. We commented on how tired he was going to be come morning; he replied with, "Yah, but it's worth it." Q spent the night.

In the morning, the other kids'll show up. I'm excited to see the kids' responses to this new little sister. I'm wondering if T will be disappointed that she will be too little to play soccer with him yet. He's talked about her so much, I can't wait to see what he thinks.

Oh, by the way, Z's mom did put together a BIG box for T with stuff he can do while I'm busy with the baby after we get home. T'll get to open that today too. It'll be fun to see what grandma put in there for him.

For now, yay for no heartburn, for being able to bend over and pick stuff up, and for being able to sleep in the most comfortable way I know how.

Yay for Lachlan!!! Thanks for your prayers!