A Bit of a Surprise

We had a bit of a surprise this weekend. About 3:00 Friday afternoon, Lesley started having contractions. We called the doctor, who was not too concerned. She advised Lesley to take a couple of Tylenol and a hot bath, drink some water, and relax. If the contractions were still happening in a couple of hours, we should come to the hospital.

5:00 rolls around and Lesley is still having contractions, except now they are 3 minutes apart and intensely painful. We call the doctor who tells us to come to the hospital as soon as possible.

Problem: Our street had not been cleared of snow from the worst snow storm in ten years, and we couldn't get our car out of the driveway. We called our good friends Paul and Becki Rockers, who owned an all-wheel drive vehicle, and Paul braved the icy streets to come to pick us up. Lesley and I walked through the snow to an area of our subdivision, about 50 yards, to a place where the street had been cleared, where Paul picked us up and took us to St. Mary's.

When we described what was happening, the nurse's began to move a little more quickly. They examined Lesley, and told us that she was indeed in real labor and that we would be having a baby that evening.

And so it was.

For the guys, Jacob Marion Smith was born. Pictures are attached.

For the ladies, he was 4 pounds, 7 ounces, with a thin layer of dark hair. Our doctor was Dr. Dodson. He was delivered through c-section because he was breech. Lesley should be released Monday (12/4) from St. Mary's. Jacob was transported up to Columbia Regional's Newborn Intensive Care Unit, where he will have to stay for a minimum of 2 weeks, and possibly until his due date of January 18. All of the nurses have said that 4.7 is a good weight for a 33 week premie. There are four things he will need to do before he can come home with us. He has to be able to maintain his own body temperature, which they said he is doing fairly well, but some improvement will be good. They said he needs to be able to eat, about which they also said that it wouldn't be a problem because he is sucking on his pacifier like a champ. They said he needs to be able to sustain consistent weight gain. We don't know about that yet because they haven't fed him yet as a there was blood in his urine. The amount of blood in his urine has been steadily decreasing, and we can begin feeding him as soon as the blood is gone. The blood, they said, was a normal consequence of the physical trauma that he endured, being born so premature. Lastly, he needs to be able to maintain a healthy amount of oxygen in his blood, which is the number one thing they are watching right now. They said he seems to be doing well with that, but again, they are hoping for consistent improvement there.

Thank you all for your love and support. Thanks especially to Paul and Becki, without whom we wouldn't have gotten to the hospital. Thanks to our Columbia friends, who have invited us into their homes to ease the commute for us. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support. Please keep praying. Jacob isn't in any immediate, severe danger, but he needs your prayers to make it through this difficult strengthening period.