News!

Just for everyone following faithfully, here is the newest news. First off, thanks for all your prayers and support. Rachel isn't feeling too hot, the nurse is going to put in a new IV, and they are afraid she might have a small infection. Bhindi, on the other hand, is doing much better. I got to talk to the head surgeon and he showed me Bhindi's new belly button! She is doing super well, and the doctor said she should start eating food immediately! That was really great news considering we were told a few days ago that she could be here for a month, but now it looks like it might only be a week! I am attaching some photos of the repair itself, the black stuf is just pen marks the surgeon used to make sure the repair was symmetrical. They also took the stomach tube out of her nose so i took a few pictures of her face without any funky tubes sticking to it. I have to admit, we are pretty good at this baby making thing, although it might be hard to convince Rachel to do it again anytime too soon. Rachel just got her IV and is feeling a bit better, hopefully we will be out tomorrow, but for now we love you all! Love, Derek and Rachel

Bhindi's OK!

A short update to say that Bhindi just got out of surgery and is doing fine. In fact, her omphalocele was so small that they said it was more like a herniated umbilical cord than a real omphalocele. The great news is that she might be able to come home with us within the week. That's such great news, as were expecting to be in the hospital for around a month. She's just a trooper I guess. She's recovering in the NICU now and might be able to take food soon instead of just IV fluids. In fact, she's already produced some poop, which is a great sign that everything is in working order. I've been practicing with the breast pump, although I haven't produced milk yet. We've got at least another day in the hospital before they kick us out, which is great because I'm still in a lot of pain from all the ripping and stitching. That's about it for now, now it's just a waiting game to see when Bhindi will come home with us. We'll keep you updated.

Our Experience in the Hospital

I thought, now that I'm feeling relatively ok and have nothing better to do that it would be a good time to summarize our actual experience for posterity's sake. So we started our drive to the hospital at 8 am June 26. We called as soon as we were on our way, as per instructions, and were surprised to hear that they were swamped and may not be able to take us. They told us to call back in ten minutes, at which point they said they would be able to take us if we didn't mind waiting in the lobby awhile. So we continued on. Upon arrival, we stopped to ask for directions to labor and delivery at the transplant clinic. You would think they would have just pointed us in the right direction, but they checked their records, didn't find us there, and called my OB clinic (at a different hospital) to confirm that we weren't lying to them and trying to get a free induction. 20 min later, they finally pointed us in the direction of labor and delivery, where we ended up waiting in the lobby for about 2 hrs for another patient to vacate the room. They finally took us back around 10 am but did not start our pitocin drip until around 1:30 pm. A few hours later I felt like I was going into active labor, but the pain amazingly wore off without the aid of drugs. finally around 6 pm, a not so people friendly doctor came in for a check up and then proceeded to break my water bag. When I asked what she was doing, she said we're breaking your water bag. When I mentioned that we hadn't been informed that that was going to happen right then, she very condescendingly told me that I was here for an induction and that the water bag had to be broken because I wasn't progressing. Fine with me if they had just informed me that that's what they were going to do. Especially since immediately after I went into strong, regular contractions. It was all they could do to get the anesthesiologist there in time to give me an epidural. The nurse (who was fabulous) was my biggest advocate in making things as painless as possible for me. She informed me that the doctor I had had the bad experience with was not the most sympathetic - most of them would make sure you got the epidural first and then break your bag. Those 30-45 min or so between the bag breaking and the epidural were the most painful of my life. Derek was the best support person, helping me to remember my breathing and letting me break his hand during the contractions. Unfortunately the epidural was not completely effective because of the positioning of the baby and reduced my pain level from a 10+ to a 7. As I progressed, however, it went back up to an 8-9. It wasn't long before I had transitioned and started getting bearing down pains. Once again nurse Lisa came to my rescue and delivered the baby almost single-handedly. She did a fantastic job. I still ended up pushing for 1.5 hrs, but it wasn't as painful as the contractions were. I did end up tearing quite a bit which led to an hour and a half long stitch up session after baby was born. What a special moment when her head finally popped out, followed shortly by the rest of her body and then the placenta. She was beautiful in her newborn alien way and I couldn't help but smile and laugh in spite of the pain. They took her almost immediately to the NICU and Derek and the grandmas followed her up. I wasn't able to see her again until the next day, but they actually allowed us to hold her for awhile before she went in to surgery. Actually she might not have gone into surgery yet, as they haven't notified us, but we were told she would go in today or tomorrow. The good news is that they said her omphalocele was very tiny and so prospects were good. She looks like a beautiful baby and has very long fingers and toes (typical of 9p-), but other than that, no physical manifestations of her genetic disorder that we know of. We'll know more soon, I think we're going to see a genetic counselor. So there will be a lot more news coming soon, but that about summarizes our experience so far. I definitely am less inclined to have another baby soon, but I'm sure that goes away with the pain. I still have a great deal of pain in my crotch and rear(scientifically speaking) because of the many, many stitches I have in them. We'll be here for at least another day or two for me to recover and then we'll hopefully move to the Ronald McDonald house. We'll keep everybody updated!

The baby has landed!

At 12:55 am last night Bhindi Mitchell was born at a good 7 pounds 4 ounces. Mom is doing well, although we are both bummed about not being able to hold the baby yet. Bhindi will be going in to surgery sometime today, so we are anxious to see how that goes. We all didn't get into bed until 4 am last night, so excuse us for not being as in touch as we had intended to be. Rachel is recovering, slowly but surely, but will still be in the hospital for a day or two more. Anywho, thanks to all of you for your prayer, and we will try and keep you all updated. Here are the only two photos of Bhindi we have at this point:

hey again

rachel is pushing like crazy, the baby should be coming sooner than later!

hey!

in transition, nurse says about 30 minutes to an hour and we should be having a baby!

Dear Family in the Lobby

Rachel is in active labor! Rachel was feeling wonderful with no pain, when the doctor came into check her, the doctor didn't feel like she was progressing fast enough so the doctor broke rachel's water without even asking! it was crazy, and rachel was in immediate pain, each contraction was really bad. After aot of pain they finally got the epidural in due to the quick thinking of our nurse, who is awesome and advocated for us. About 30 minutes after the epidural was put in rachel is starting to feel much better and each contraction is almost bearable. Right now she is in regular active labor and at 6cm dilation. It looks like this baby might be coming out tonight after all! Love you guys!

Hurray.

Dear Family and loved ones,
I am writing this from the "birthing suite" that rachel and i are going to birth in. Yesterday we went to the OB and they said that Rachel was already 4cm dilated. Needless to say they advised us to not wait until the 30th to be induced as was the plan. They wanted us to go straight to the hospital last night, but we held off until this morning so that our moms could be here and we could get our clothes and what not. So now here we sit, rachel is just about to be put on pitocin. It has been a bit nerve racking sitting in the hospital waiting and waiting. But hopefully, it will go quick and we will get to meet our daughter. Rachel is doing really well and is an awesome super trooper. We will update the blog at some point, but no promises from here on out. Anyway we love you, Keep us in your prayers!

Love, Derek and Rachel