the birth of baby sinead

so, the full on birth story of baby sinead.

i was sound asleep around 8:30 thursday morning when i felt this intense pop that made me sit straight up in bed wondering what the hell that was. fortunately i realized that it was my water breaking just in time to jump up and keep my bedsheets from getting soaked. i woke mark and ran to the bathroom to get cleaned up and changed, then laid on the bed to wait.

mark got up and started making phone calls, getting a babysitter and letting everyone know that it was finally time. meanwhile the contractions started to come really fast and hard. i was trying to time them, but they seemed to be too fast and too long. i was so confused when one contraction came before the last had even ended.

the kids were starting to clamour for breakfast, and mark went to get them settled. he explained to them that the baby was coming today and that they'd have a babysitter for a little while while that happened. our friends dave and jan showed up, and when mark came back to check on me i was getting really distressed. this was my first birth without an epidural, and i was starting to wonder if it was a mistake. the pain was so much more than i had imagined. i was trying to keep quiet until the kids left so that they didn't realize their mommy was in pain, but i couldn't manage it, so mark decided to go explain to them that i was really ok. i told him to hurry.

what i didn't tell him is that it was seriously starting to feel like the baby was coming -- now. i didn't know how it could be. i'd been in labour less than an hour, and it honestly seemed to me like less time than that. but mark had barely left the room before i felt the strange sensation of a leg coming out of me, and i began to scream, "baby! baby! baby!"

mark ran back in. "what? what? ohmygod! breech! breech! she's purple! she's a girl!"

barely an hour since my water had broken, and our daughter was coming into the world feet first and very much the wrong color.

mark told me to push and i pushed as hard as i could, but suddenly my body just... gave up. the contractions stopped, the urge to push stopped, and this child was hanging halfway out of my body struggling for her life. mark dialed 911.

the 911 operator told me not to push, and to move onto my hands and knees. mark wasn't sure i could do that, but the adrenaline from my fear for my baby's life gave me what i needed to roll over. suddenly the paramedics arrived -- barely five minutes since we called -- and delivered the baby safely.

(let me interrupt here to praise god for his wisdom. i believe god led us to homebirth so that we would not be stuck in traffic on the pierce elevated and completely inaccessible to the paramedics when our baby was born. god knew where we needed to be, and i am thankful he put us there!)

because she wasn't breathing properly, they did not cut the cord but immediately went to work on her. i don't really know what all they did because they asked me not to move from my position until the placenta was delivered. but i know they saved her life.

after the placenta was delivered and the baby was stabilized we were put into the ambulance. for just a moment in the ambulance she cried, and mark told her, "it's ok, sinead."

sinead eve potter.

we arrived at memorial hermann hospital and were seperated. mark went with sinead to the nicu, and i went through the er to labor and delivery. i saw doctor after doctor, who all asked me questions and drew blood and checked me for tearing (repeatedly). i tried to answer their questions, but i was so numb from shock that i mostly stared off into space while everyone buzzed around me. finally my mother-in-law came down to let me know that i was to come to the nicu and nurse sinead.

when i got there, mark stopped me in the waiting room. i wasn't going to nurse after all. sinead was having problems with her arm and mild seizures, and was being taken in for an mri. i choked back my tears.

the first day or so was a blur of tests: mri, eeg, two ultrasounds, blood tests, and an x-ray. nerves in her left arm were swollen and she could barely move it. she was put on pheno-barbitol for her seizures and anti-biotics in case they were being caused by an infection. she only had two chambers in her umbilical cord, which might mean kidney problems. a dimple in her back meant possible spina bifida. her liver was checked for damage from the early lack of oxygen. she was put on iv fluids because they didn't want to risk her aspirating her food.

late that night i went to her room with mark's bible and read to her from psalms. gently i told her about god's love for her. i explained that god had planned all of this from the very beginning of time, planned everything just to bring her safely into the world. and for the first time that day i broke down into sobs by my darling daughter's bedside.

we stayed with her as much as possible, first operating from my hospital room and then from a special parents room off of the nicu, and slowly the tests came back normal one by one. her arm began to improve. she was taken off of the anti-biotics when tests for infection came back negative. they allowed me to begin nursing, and she took to the breast immediately. though she did worry the nurses when she sometimes did not feel like eating on their schedule, we knew that she was ok.

finally the doctors began talking about taking her home. we had to push for a possible date, but as she steadily improved they settled on monday evening. that afternoon we moved her from the isolation room into our room where she had one last appointment with the neurologist. he was extremely impressed with her progress, and also by mark's ability to understand and cope with this entire situation -- from being prepared for the homebirth and even knowing when to call 911, to his research of the injury to her arm. he prescribed a half-dose of pheno-barbital for sinead for the next two weeks, and released us to go home!

i was so excited to see my babies when we finally got home. seamus saw us through the front window and ran to the door to greet us. hamish began his infectious excited laugh as soon as we walked through the door. (aryanna and aoghdan were still in clear lake with their darlin'.)

seamus was fascinated by his new little sister. he has given us all kinds of information about her -- she has a head, and a neck, and her name is sinead. he asked to hold her right away, and has given her many kisses.

hamish seems to like sinead, but he is also worried that she might be out to steal his mommy. i feel for the little guy. he's clearly got a bad case of seperation anxiety, and even vomited a couple of times from the stress of us being gone. but he's getting more comfortable, and hopefully soon he'll be able to nap without worrying that we'll be gone when he wakes up.

anna and aoghdan just got home. they're sitting on my bed playing with stickers and just enjoying being near their new little sister. as for me, i'm about to show anna all of the beautiful little baby girl clothes we've been given.

she's going to be excited!

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