Lux Marie Webb

Our precious little angel Lux Marie was born August 25 at 3:24 am. She weighed in at a whopping 4 lbs 7 oz and she was 17.5 inches long! ha she was huge huh?! :) NOT!!

So the birth of our little angel was totally unexpected! On August 24 I went in for my weekly appointment. I had been going in every week to monitor my amniotic fluid that had been measuring low since week 32 of this pregnancy. Anyways we went into the ultrasound to measure my fluid and the first time the ultrasound tech measure it the fluid level came back as 6.7! 6.7 is not bad but it had gone down from the week before were it measured at 7.7. The ultrasound tech, which had come to know me very well since we were into see her every week didn't fill like that measurement was right, because the fluid levels just didn't look like they were that high. So being the great tech that she was she remeasured it. I am so thankful that she did because this time the fluid levels came back as 3 cm. This of course was really bad. They usually don't let your levels get below a 5 before they admit you to the hospital for monitoring and iv's, and mine was way below this. So as soon as she realized that my levels were this low she looked at me and said with a smile on her face "Girly you are probably going to be having this little one today!" Of course when she says this a million thoughts and emotions run through my body and i just break down and start crying. Not only was i crying because i was worried because she was 5 weeks early but also because i wasn't ready to have her yet. I thought I was but when the time came I was really scared. Don't get me wrong I was so excited for her to finally be coming but i just wanted her to be okay, and i was scared she wouldn't be coming this early.

Next thing i knew i was being walked to another room so the doctor could see if i was dilated any and to be talked to about being induced. As i am walking to the room i see my doctor and he just smiles and says "You naughty girl. You are suppose to make it 2 more weeks!" Of course i was still crying so he was really just trying to get a smile out of me, which he did! The ultrasound technician then gave me a hug and told me everything was going to be okay . Next my doctor came in to check me and i was already dilated to a 2 and 80 % thinned. This came as a total shock because i was only 35 weeks and i had not had any braxton hicks or contractions. After seeing that i was already that far along he told me that he was going to send me straight to the hospital to start my induction. So the first thing i did was call my mom to come down! i wanted her to be there with me through this whole experience since i was already freaking out! She left right then to come down.

After the doctor was done filling out the papers, one of the nurses walked me and jarrett to the labor and delivery floor and helped us check in. Next thing i knew i was getting my iv in and having all these monitors put on my belly! It was quite an experience, it seemed like everything was going super fast and i was just watching it all happen. They started the potocin and just told me to get as much rest as i could before the contractions started getting bad. Of course though i was not tired at all because i was still trying to get it through my head that this little girl was going to be here soon. So instead i just laid there watching tv and waiting for jarrett to get back with all our stuff, since he had to run home and pack our bags because we were not planning on being admitted that day.

Finally my contractions started. I figured that i was going to die from the pain of contractions but it really was not even bad they felt like like cramps, but that is it! Nothing like all the horror stores you hear of them feeling like you were dying. Anyways it took me about 12- 13hours to get from a 2 to 6 cm dilated. Once i was dilated to a 6, baby Lux's heartbeat kept dropping when i would get another contraction. So to help that stop the nurses tried moving and rolling me in different positions, but nothing seemed to help. So they decided to stop the potocin and just let my body do the rest, which it did. I went from a 6 to a 9 in 45 minutes. When the nurse told me that i was to a nine i decided that it was probably time to wake jarrett. He had been sleeping since i was about 4 cm dilated ha :) So my mom woke him up and he still wasn't all the way awake so he decided he was going to go walk down the hall and get a drink for him and my mom to wake them up. As soon as he left the nurse came back in to see if i had dilated anymore and i had i was a 10 and fully thinned! This is when i started freaking out because the nurse wanted me to start pushing. So frantically my mom called jarrett to hurry and come back in cause the nurse was wanting me to push, but of course he did not have his phone. Meantime as my mom is calling him he walks in and the nurse is saying "okay we are going to have her push." It took him a second to realize what she had said, but once he did he got the biggest grin on his face, cause he realized that his little girl was going to be here any minute! So i pushed about 3 times with the nurse and she told me to STOP pushing because she could see the head and she didn't want me to have the baby before our doctor got there. The nurse then left to call the nurse, while she was calling the doctor jarrett called his parents to come . They both arrived about the same time. The doctor suited up, the NICU team came in (because she was 5 weeks premature they wanted to be there just in case) and it was time to push. I pushed for maybe 5-10 minutes and she was her.

It was one of the most amazing experience of my life being able to hold her for the first time. Something i will never forget in my life. She was doing really good at first breathing, but you could tel lit was a little difficult for her. So after i was done holding her they let the NICU staff help her breath by giving her oxygen. They decided that they wanted to take her to the NICU because she was still struggling taking deep breaths even after they gave her oxygen. She ended up being in the NICU for 11 days. The first two days she was just on a c-pap machine that just constantly blows oxygen into her lungs to keep them inflated. On the third day they decided they wanted to actually put surfactant in her lungs, which required putting her on a ventilator. She ended up being put on the ventilator for two days, but she was actually still doing all the work. The ventilator was more just an aid in case she got to tired to breath on her on. Once she was off the ventilator she was put back on the c-pap machine for 2 days and then they slowly winged her to nasal flow. She finally got off all the breathing assistance on day 8. This was way exciting because the only thing she had left to do was start breast feeding on her own and she could come home. This was the hardest part for her though, because she was still so small that she just didn't have the energy to suck that long by herself, but she finally got it and did great!

So on September 5 she was finally able to come home! This was exciting but also scary at the same time because she still was tiny. But she did great! Tomorrow she will be a month old! it is crazy how fast time has flown by since she has been here. But i have loved every moment of it and can't believe how blessed we are. I know that our heavenly father loves us and was watching over our little princess. Things could have gone really bad having her born 5 weeks early,but he blessed us with a perfect little angel, and with an amazing group of doctors and nurses to take care of her. I am so grateful for every one of the nurses and doctors that watched over and took care of Lux. They were so caring and loving, and did everything they could to make our experience in the NICU a positive and great one! I don't think i could ever thank them enough!!

So even though the birth of our little Lux was an eventful to say the least, it was amazing! We met some of the most amazing people through it and it made us realize how blessed we really are! We are so happy that she is here and healthy!! We could not ask for anything more amazing than this little girl!!