Baby Hale "Our Story"

It has taken me a long time to decide whether or not I wanted to share this with anyone this way. After hearing and experiencing the loss of Zachary Michael DeYager http://zacharymichaeldeyager.blogspot.com/2009/05/zachary-michael.html through Shaun and Courtney I finally have peace about our loss and I want to share our experience with others.

So thank you Shaun and Courtney for giving me the courage to do this! You guys are such a blessing to us and we are so lucky to have you as friends!
I know this is long story but it’s the way I wanted to write it! :)

On Monday, April 27, 2009 I decided that I would go see my Dr. after waking up with cold symptoms that I had since Saturday.

The thought never crossed my mind that anything would be wrong with the baby. I thought that I was in the clear because I was 17 weeks and 2 days along!

Come to find out I did in fact have a sinus infection. Out of routine Dr. Sparks decided to check for the baby's heartbeat with the Doppler. After trying for 15 minutes she couldn't find anything. She kept telling me that the baby was probably hiding behind an artery or something. So, she ordered me an ultrasound for later on that day.

I wasn't really scared much at that point because I believed what the Dr. was saying to me "the baby was hiding" so I had been very excited to finally have an ultrasound showing the baby moving. The last ultrasound we had was at 7 weeks and the baby looked like a gummy bear and not much of a baby.

When we went into to have the ultrasound it seemed like forever to be brought in especially since I drank all that water. I was so excited but, at the same time I remember this feeling of worry hit me. When the technician was running the wand over my belly she had asked me to stop breathing so that she could check the sound waves from the baby better. Once that was over she immediately turned the screen away from me... It was then that I knew something was wrong. She did some more measuring, etc then left to go talk to the radiologist. As we were waiting Mike sat by the bed holding my hand as I cried, I was hoping that the technician was wrong. Mike was a rock from the very beginning everything I needed!

It was less than three minutes and the technician returned without the radiologist to tell us that in fact we had lost our precious baby. When she left the room I just fell into Mike's arms and cried so hard... I didn't know how to feel I was in so much shock!

I went out to the car as Mike took care of everything, talking to the Dr. on the phone, calling family, setting up for what should happen next, etc... Initially Dr. Sparks recommended a D&C... I was so scared I had never been under for anything and I prayed that I didn't have to do that. Not minutes later the Dr. called Mike back and recommended that I be induced and deliver naturally. I felt relieved but, still scared to have to go through with it. The Dr. had said that it would cause minimal scaring or none at all to deliver naturally.

Before I went home that night they took cultures and drew my blood to do all the testing that they could possibly do to see what might have gone wrong.

The next morning on Tuesday, April 28th at 7:30 am we went to Steven's Hospital. I never thought that I would be going to the hospital this early or much less under these circumstances. I knew that it happened to a high number of women and that it "could" happen to me but, I never thought it would truly happen to me.

When I walked in off the elevator on the 7th floor Kathy my morning nurse grabbed me right away and took me to my room and gave me the biggest hug and said to me, "I am so sorry that we have to meet under these circumstances but, we will soon see each other under happier ones." What a way to start things off! I could feel God in the room at that moment protecting me.

Later on Mike's mom Patty showed up and stayed for the majority of the time. Dan his stepdad showed up a bit later for a short period of time. I am so luck y to have that kind of support from my in-laws!

After the nurse set me up with an IV a technician came in to take my blood. By then it was close to 8:30am. At 9:00am Dr. Fuhrman (Dr. on call) came into my room to induce me. I'm not sure the name of the pill but the dosed was one and it was inserted vaginally. After six hours of nothing happening the Dr. came back to do the same thing but upped the dose to two. Another four and a half hours went by and the Dr. came in and upped it to three doses.

During the second dose I had been experiencing pain so Kathy the nurse hooked me up to some morphine to dull the pain. I wanted to not feel anything... When it's time to do this again with a beautiful result then I will think about feeling pain.

At first I was scared of taking the morphine, if you know me you know I hate taking drugs of any kind... She had to convince me "Tish you won't get addicted to it..." After some persuasion I finally pushed the button and it felt so much better.

After the last inducing dose Mike and I kept dosing on and off through the night. When our night nurse would come in and check my vitals we would wake up and chat with her. She was so nice and young! Her name was Mindy. I was so scared that I would get someone that was mean for the night shift but, God was looking out for me once again!

Through out the whole day we visited with the hospital Social Worker and the Chaplin. Our pastor was out of town.

Around 5:45 am Wednesday morning I woke up feeling like I needed to go to the bathroom so the nurse came in and sure enough the baby was coming. Baby Hale was delivered at 6:15am on Wednesday, April 29th.

Three hours later the placenta came! We were so afraid that I would have to go under to have it removed but, we were saved by God's grace again!

We were released from the hospital at about 1:45pm that afternoon. I was so scared to leave and really face the reality of what just happened. But, God has been by our side every step of the way!

“I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ~ Genesis 28:15

Everyday I see God's purpose in what has happened and I am thankful more and more each day!

We can't wait for the time we get to hold our baby in heaven until then we look forward to all the wonderful blessings God will give us! "Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." ~ Psalm 30:5