the story of Ian's arrival

Shortly after Ian was born, I wrote the story of his arrival. It's kind of a long read, but I wanted to share it here. It was really good for me to read it again and to remember how God took care of our family during that scary time! Parts of this story Mike and I both didn't even remember! Plus, Ian has been quite the screamer lately; you may have even heard me comment that "he's driving me nuts!" Well, reading this is a great reminder of what a blessing Ian truly is!!

The Story of Ian’s Arrival

Ian Christopher Lowry was born at 8:58 a.m. on January 23, 2005. He weighed 5 pounds 12.8 ounces and was 18.5 inches long. He arrived 3 ½ weeks early!

Itching. The story of his early arrival actually begins 5 days earlier with me waking up scratching. My whole body itched. I mean REALLY itched.

In one out of 1000 pregnancies, women are affected by a condition called Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy (ICP). I never win anything, but it seems as if I had become that unlucky one in 1000.

ICP, otherwise known as Obstetric Cholestasis, refers to a specific liver condition in which the normal flow of bile is impaired in a woman's body resulting in severe itching. ICP is associated with many risks, with the greatest being stillborn birth. I was a nervous wreck.

That Wednesday morning, January 19, I went to my OB’s office and they did a nonstress test, took a whole lot of blood, did an ultrasound, and told me that I was on complete bed rest. To my relief, the baby sounded great and looked good in the ultrasound. He was just really small. The estimated weight was 4 pounds 12 ounces, which is in the 14th percentile for a baby 35 weeks and 6 days. I went home in shock. I couldn’t believe that something actually was going wrong in my pregnancy. I also had begun losing weight instead of gaining.

I went back Thursday morning and Friday morning for more nonstress tests and blood work. My doctor, Dr. George, really wanted to hold off on delivering the baby until I was 37 weeks, which would have been January 27. He was concerned that the baby’s lungs wouldn’t be developed enough for him to breathe on his own. Meanwhile, like I mentioned before, I was on complete bed rest and was supposed to be monitoring the baby’s movements. If he wasn’t moving enough, I needed to go to the hospital immediately. Talk about pressure. I was so scared that I would miss him not moving and that he would die inside me. I just wanted to see our baby and hold him and kiss him and nurse him. I felt like this was going to be the longest week of my life.

My two dear friends here in Waterville, Lisa and Sue, set up a schedule to be at my house with my boys and to make sure I was in bed. They are such a blessing. I really was able to rest in bed and drink lots of water, all the while still itching like crazy!

God must have known that I couldn’t handle all the pressure because my water broke early Sunday morning, January 23. At 4:30 a.m., with Sue at my house with Nathanael and Kyle, Michael and I went to the hospital.

Because I wasn’t in active labor, Michael and I had a decision to make. I could either start drugs to induce labor or I could have c-section. My first son was born by cesarean birth, so the risk of my uterus rupturing increased with inducing labor. I was just so ready to hold my son that we opted for the cesarean. Just a few hours after we got to the hospital, I heard Ian Christopher Lowry crying and got to see him for the very first time! I was just praising the Lord and thanking Him for our little miracle!!

When Ian was just four hours old, a nurse brought him to me for the second time to try to nurse. He just couldn’t do it. He was snorting and grunting a lot. The pediatrician on call then came to tell us that something wasn’t right and that he needed to be put on oxygen. In an oxygen hood is where he would spend the first 3 days of his life with me in a room down the hall.

The doctors weren’t sure what was wrong with him. They had to tell us every possible bad thing it could be. They mentioned the possibility of moving him to a larger hospital with a neonatal intensive care unit. I was an emotional wreck. I just wanted to hold little Ian. It just didn’t seem right to not have my newborn baby with me. I couldn’t nurse him, couldn’t hold him, and couldn’t change his little diapers. It was hard for me to even get to see him at first because I had a major surgery and couldn’t walk. Everything just seemed to be going wrong.

Tuesday afternoon brought good news. Our pediatrician, Dr. Peters, diagnosed Ian with transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN), which was the least scary of all the possible diagnoses. It basically is rapid breathing due to premature birth and fluid in the lungs. He said it usually lasts 2-7 days and then is over and the baby is fine. So I was ready to possibly be in the hospital for another 5 days.

On Tuesday night, Michael and I had our “Dinner for Two” that the hospital makes for the new parents. We had a date right in my hospital room. Our good friends Chris and Julie came to see us that night. Sue came to see us. Raychel, one of the girls from our church youth group, and Kelley, a lady from our church came to see us. They surrounded Michael and me and prayed for baby Ian.

On Wednesday morning at 5 a.m., Ian began to breathe on his own. It turns out he was on the short track of TTN. He stayed in the nursery for monitoring until around noon, and then I finally was reunited with my son. I was just praising the Lord all over again. I was able to nurse him and hold him and love on him! It was great. Big brothers Nathanael and Kyle came to see him that night and we took our first family picture as a family of five!

Ian and I were both discharged from the hospital the next day!

God is so good and so faithful to us! I praise Him for our little miracle.