The Withers Occupy the Rumley House

As some of you may have heard, Dan and I are the proud new parents to a beautiful little girl! Hattie Dantzler Withers made her grand entrance at 38 weeks on Wednesday, September 3, 2014 at 6:55 p.m. via c-section. Here's the story:

I went to work as usual last Wednesday, and about mid morning started feeling what I thought were braxton hicks contractions along with what I called "general discomfort." I wasn't in any pain, just didn't feel 100%. At about 2:00 p.m. it dawned on me that I hadn't felt our little girl move in a few hours. So I ate something, drank a coke, put my feet up, and started to prod my belly trying to get her to wake up. (At the end there, I barely had to touch my belly to make her roll over. She had very little room left and so it was easy to see her squirm out of the way when I applied a little pressure). After all that, I still couldn't get any movement from her. So feeling like I was being silly, I called the doctor to let them know at about 3:00 p.m. They of course wanted me to go to the office ASAP as they take no movement very seriously. I was sure everything was fine and so I wasn't really worried, I thought it was a great excuse to leave work early and to get a chance to hear her heart beat a few days before my next scheduled appointment. I let Dan know I was going, and he wasn't really worried either.

When I got to the doctor, they gave me a Capri Sun to drink and then hooked me up to a fetal monitor stress test. It's just this belt that goes around the belly and records the baby's movement and heart rate. They left me alone while the machine did it's thing. Every once in a while, a nurse or the midwife stopped in to take a look at the print out, and would say "we just need to keep you on this for a little bit longer." At this point, since I was left alone hooked up to a machine with nothing to do, I was able to actually feel a beginning and end to the contractions and started to pin point the "general discomfort" as a mild back burning sensation that was happening at regular 5-10 minute intervals. After about an hour and a half, they told me they were going to take an ultrasound just to verify everything was fine. I of course was thrilled to get another chance to see my baby. The ultrasound tech acted like everything was fine and kept saying how everything looked good. At this point it was about 4:55 p.m., and she told me "everything looks good, let me just go grab the doctor so you can leave." So at this point I'm thinking I scored the jackpot because I had an excuse to leave work early and got a chance to sneak another peak at an ultrasound.

When the doctor came in, she just jumped to it: "so we are going to have this baby today, we are going to the hospital right now for a c-section." I laughed and asked her to repeat twice because it just didn't register. She then explained to me that I was having regular contractions between 3-5 minutes apart and that every time I had a contraction, Hattie's heart rate bottomed out. That's why I wasn't feeling her move, because she was conserving energy and trying to recover her heart rate after each contraction ended. She instructed me to call Dan immediately because we were all going to the hospital right then. So Dan picked me up at the doctor and we went straight to the hospital.

Some of you may know that I have a genetic blood clotting disorder called Factor V Leiden. Because of this, I was on blood thinners my whole pregnancy. Due to the bleeding risks associated with the thinners, I had been scheduled for an inducement to happen at 39 weeks so that we could have an exact 12 hour window for me to stop taking the thinners. If stopped too soon, I could get a clot in the umbilical cord and suffocate the baby, and if not stopped in time, I could bleed out and would not be a candidate for pain medications. I had been warned from the beginning that if a c-section was necessary, and we didn't hit the exact 12 hour window, I would have to go completely under anesthesia and could not have the usual nerve block to remain awake during the surgery. I was definitely beside myself upon arrival at the hospital with the unexpected c-section and all the risks in my case that I had been told from the start of the pregnancy. But our God never gives us more than we can handle. Amazingly, as they were wheeling me back to the operating room, we hit an exact 12 hour window. I had last taken the Heparin at 6:45 a.m., and as I was wheeled into the OR, it was 6:45 p.m. What relief when I was told we would be having a standard c-section with the usual nerve block. This may seem like a minor detail, but being able to actually be awake and have Dan with me, and to be able to see our baby upon birth was a BIG deal. If I had missed the 12 hour window, I would have gone completely under and not have seen our baby until I had fully been brought back around. And Dan wouldn't have been allowed to be in the room, and wouldn't have been able to cut the umbilical cord.

Further proof of our amazing God. Remember how I thought that trip to the doctor was silly? Upon entry, the doctor found out that the umbilical cord was wrapped around Hattie's neck and arm. This was something that the ultrasound never picked up. Further, the umbilical cord was barely 18" long. Had I not gone to the doctor and given birth on my own that evening, Hattie would not be with us today. The short umbilical cord meant that she had dropped as low as she could have gone and so would never have been able to make it through the birth canal. Which means that she would have suffocated and died by the time the doctors or nurses figured out the cord was wrapped. I'm still stunned by God's providence here.

So the c-section went well and my recovery is going well. Other moms out there with c-sections know, it's slow and painful and my guts feel like they are about to spill out of my abdomen. But so worth it to have a healthy baby.

Now back to Hattie. Hattie Dantzler Withers entered this world at 6:55 p.m., September 3, 2014 at 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 18.5" long. Hattie did cry when prompted,but we were told she wasn't breathing well, so she was going to spend a few hours in the NICU. A few hours turned into 3.5 long miserable days. Hattie was not able to regulate her own body temperature, kept breathing way too fast and then way too slow, she also had trouble with the sucking reflex, which meant she couldn't eat on her own.

Having a baby in the NICU is terribly stressful. Making the trip every few hours from my room to the NICU was very challenging having just had surgery myself. I wasn't allowed to just hang out in her room, nor were we allowed to hold her for the first 2 days of her life. I don't believe Dan or I have ever experienced such heartache. I have no idea how parents survive weeks or months with a baby in the NICU!!

Hattie slowly but surely came around and we were able to leave the hospital yesterday afternoon, which was 1 night sooner than the hospital had planned. We are now all three home and getting settled in. So that's why it has taken nearly a week for us to announce her birth!

Now for what you have all been waiting for.... PICTURES!!!

Prepping for the OR