Deliverance

It's so good to be home and catheter-free! :)  And, it's hard to believe almost a week has passed since God brought Jedediah David safely into this world.

When Mountain Man and I headed to the hospital last Wednesday morning, I was quite calm.  I knew many were praying, and I had the peace that only He can give.  We had a smooth check-in, and thankfully, I was blessed with a very kind nurse who took care of prepping me for surgery.  She even loved large families and was very positive about the fact that this would be our eighth blessing here on earth.

Because of an emergency, my surgery was delayed for almost 2 hours, and during that time I did start to get apprehensive.  Mountain Man prayed with me, though, and I felt calmer as they took me back to the operating room.

The spinal went in successfully on the first try, and Mountain Man was brought into the room.  However, the spinal wasn't taking as quickly on the upper part of my body, and I did experience more pain during this section.  My pressure dropped very fast, and I was immediately sick as they began the section .  It was a very disturbing and helpless feeling.  I remember just trying to call out to Mountain Man but the words wouldn't come...I just felt so sick.  The anesthesiologist got my pressure back up, and I made it through the rest of the surgery without getting sick.

Jedediah David was born about 25 minutes after going to the operating room, and he had a wonderful, strong cry!  The hospital no longer has a nursery, so the babies are kept with the Moms the during the entire stay at the hospital.  So, the nurse actually brought Jedediah up to me and kept him by my side for about 15-20 minutes.  What a blessing! And, he is our biggest baby, weighing in at 6 lbs. 13 ounces.  I had been worried about his weight since we were delivering early, and God answered yet another prayer.

Mountain Man and the nurses then took Jedediah to my recovery room while my doctor finished the surgery.  Of course, the burning question was, "How is my bladder?" and my doctor kept saying, keeping me in suspense, "It's there."  God gave him the wisdom to approach the surgery in a way that kept my bladder in tact, and I was so grateful to hear him say that there were NO tears!  After two previous tears, that is amazing, and we are unspeakably grateful to God for His mercy!

I was taken to recovery, and I did have a very kind nurse during that time.  We thought I was past the getting sick phase, but as soon as she gave me a dose of Morphine, it was downhill from there.  I was sick the rest of the day....all day.  BUT, I was able to nurse Jedediah in recovery, and he did great, a champion nurser he is.  That was a huge blessing in itself, and it made the being sick part much more bearable.

The nurse finally bathed Jedediah about seven hours after delivery, and we noticed that what was described as strawberry-blonde hair was actually brown hair.  After all these sweet light-haired babies, we had been hoping for some darker hair, and we must say, Jedediah does look like Mountain Man.  Scribe is particularly happy.

I was able to leave the hospital Friday and was glad to get home.  However, I started getting a headache at the hospital early Thursday morning.  I mentioned it to my doctor before leaving, and he said the risk of a spinal headache was so low that he was sure it wasn't that and it would go away on its own.  Well, after a couple more days of it, I knew that it was a spinal headache, and I called the hospital Sunday morning to see if I should go to the ER.

I won't bore you with the details, but we'll just say the biggest hurdle was getting someone to believe that I actually could have a spinal headache.  (By the way, I had one with Little Big Man's delivery, and that kind of headache is not something you forget.)  Praise the LORD, I was finally able to get in to have a blood patch done (they actually had to admit me, put in an IV, and then do the procedure).  It was not fun, and there was a point when I just said, "Lord, I cannot do this."  But He is so good, and He got me through it and within 15 minutes of the patch, my horrible headache was gone!

So now, after dealing with several doctor's appointments over the next couple weeks as well as celebrating both Boo's and Little Big Man's birthdays this week, we're looking forward to just enjoying this precious baby boy, savoring the moments of just being together.

God's preservation of me during this entire time is so humbling and amazing.  What a blessing it is to see Him working all things for good....learning to trust Him and walk by faith instead of by sight. 

Thank you for all of your prayers and your continued prayers for my complete healing.  We are so grateful!

Here are some more pictures from the past few days...

~Can you believe we've never gotten a picture of my doctor with any of the other children? 

~Here's Mountain Man with Jedediah the day we were leaving the hospital

~Everyone was delighted to see Jedediah and be able to hold him

~Sweet Claire has had the hardest time adjusting to the new Guy, but last night she spent several minutes just smothering him with tender kisses.  Look at the contrast between the fair-haired sister and her darker brother.  So sweet.

Praising God for His many mercies,