Oct 17 and 18

Thursday Oct 17-
Carissa was on a high dose of Fentanol, and was barely moving. She was intubated and not taking any breaths on her own because the meds that numbed her pain and relazed her muscles also suppressed her breathing. We had to be carefull with touching her, a rub would make her arch her back in pain, she could only tolerate the ocassional firm still touch.

Friday Oct 18.
The Drs started decreasing her Fentanol, and Carissa started trying to breath over her tube ocassionaly, but it did most of her breathing for her. She was more awake, but also more agitated. I was able to help with her care, doing a diaper change, mouth care and taking her temperature. We were able to give her her first kiss that evening.

Oct 16- Carissa is born!

They started induction at 8 am, but progress was slow because we were still early. By around 6:30pm they decided to break my water. Carissa had been head down at every ultrasound since 20 weeks, but as soon as they broke my water she decided to flip to breach. They tried manually flipping her, then brought us to the OR for a C-section. Carissa Danielle Holwerda was born at 6:56 pm, weighing 4 lbs 12.5 oz. (she was 5th percentile for weight) I was so happy to hear her cry as she was born, and until she left the room. I did not get to hold her, and only saw her across the room, but Dennis was able to cut her cord. Thankfully she inherited Dennis's long back, and had less intestine out then the Drs had expected. She went immedatly for surgery and had primary closure within an hour of birth.  after a few hours I was able to see her in the NICU, but could only stay a few minutes, with no touching. We are so thankful to our heavenly Father for how well everything went, He held Carissa in his loving hands and protected her. Primary closure is possible in less then 10% of gastro babies, and we were told at 22 weeks already that it looked like too much intestine was out for it to be an option. Prayers are powerfull!

35 weeks- Oct 8, 36 weeks- Oct 15

Had another ultrasound Oct 8.  The amniotic fluid levals were good, she scored perfect on her movement/breathing tests. They estimated her weight to be 5lbs 4 oz (this measurement was way off)

Oct 15 was my next ultrasound, this time they noticed a large unexplained drop in the amniotic fluid levals. they did not dare wait long before  delivery because Gastro babies have a higher risk of stillbirth. They did a non-stress test, and decided it would be safe to wait till the next day for delivery, but no longer. I was booked in for 8 am  Oct 16