She's Here!!!!

Sarah Annaliese Coates was born Sept 27th @ 3:07am. She weighed 6 lbs 15 oz., and she was 20 1/2 inches long.

Sarah was born a little over 3 weeks early. When I went in for my 36 week prenatal visit on Monday, Sept. 21st, I found out that Sarah was breech. I also told my midwife that I was itching like crazy. The next day (Tuesday), they had me do a fasting blood test, to test for Cholestasis (which is a liver disorder where the bile is not absorbed correctly because of the pregnancy hormones - so there is too much bile in my blood). One of the most common symptoms of this is severe itching. Which I definitely had! I was going crazy with all the itching - nothing could touch my skin, nothing would stop the itching & I was going nuts....

Well, on Thursday morning the test results came in, and we found out that I tested positive for Cholestasis and had higher than normal levels of bile in my blood. That morning, I dropped the kids off for their classes and then came home and got a call from my midwife and found out I had tested positive. They had me go in for a nonstress test. Then I went home and picked up Dayton. When I got home, my midwife had called again to let me know that the Perinatalogist had told her that Cholestasis can put too much stress on a baby's liver and can cause a still birth, so I had two options: 1) -I could wait until I was 38 weeks and then they would induce - or 2) I could go in for an amniocentesis and if the baby's lungs were developed then they would induce when I went in for a version to flip her on the next day (Friday). Well, I did not want to risk a still birth, so I wanted to get her lungs tested - so they would try and schedule an amniocentesis for me asap.

That afternoon, when I was picking up the girls from their class - I got a call to come into the perinatal clinic and they would do amniocentesis that afternoon. We drove there (Don's parents met me at the clinic to watch my kids while they were doing the procedure). I didn't know what to expect. The needle for amniocentesis is so small -it doesn't hurt at all. It was more nerve wracking (for me that is) watching the needle go in and hoping the baby would not move during it all. We would get the results of the amnio the next morning when we went into the hospital for the version.

The kids spent the night at their grandparents, and I came home that evening and frantically tried to get the house all ready/cleaned for a new baby. I couldn't believe we were going to have a baby the next day. It was a good thing that I kept busy doing that all evening - it kept me from getting too stressed out. That night I hardly slept, I kept worrying if I could feel the baby move.

When we got to the hospital the next morning, we got a call from the Perinatalogist Office with the results from the Amniocentesis. They told me the baby's lungs were very developed and very mature, and they could go ahead and induce.

We were suppose to have the version in the morning and then they would induce right after. But of course, the hospital was extremely busy that day - so they didn't do the version until late afternoon. They were successfully able to move her - head down!! They had to do it twice, after the first time they moved her, she went back into the wrong position again. So the second time they put her in place, then they put a girdle on me to keep her from slipping back. Really the version didn't hurt much at all (especially compared to labor pains) - just a lot of pressure & pushing from the doctor.

They put me on Pitocin for almost 24 hours -It caused a bunch of close contractions and a lot of pressure, but it didn't really work - so then Sat afternoon, they tried Mesoprostol. And that did the trick!! When I was on the Pitocin, I was thinking "Oh, labor's not too bad - maybe I can do this without an epidural." But after 5 hours of the Mesoprostol, I said, "forget the natural birth - give me that sweet epidural" ahhhhhhe thank goodness for medicine. I did one birth (Melanie's) with no meds - but that's only because she was too fast. Every other baby has taken their sweet time - so I am very thankful for meds!!

Sweet Sarah came into the world at 3:07 am. What a blessing she is to us. We prayed for her for almost a year before I became pregnant. We found out I tested at a high hormone level and had a high risk for down syndrome when I was 16 weeks, so we all prayed for her daily to be healthy and to help us no matter what happened. We weren't sure she wasn't down syndrome until she was born. Then we prayed so much the last week, praying that the Cholestasis wouldn't harm her, praying that her lungs would be developed, and praying that they would be successfully able to flip her into the right position. Heavenly Father truly blessed us and answered all of our prayers. He is so gracious, kind, and loving. We chose the name Annaliese as her middle name because it means "favoured of God" and we truly felt favoured of God. Annaliese is derived from Anna - which is derived from Hannah which means God's Grace. We felt God's grace and love upon us. We are so thankful that Heavenly Father has blessed us with this beautiful little baby girl.