Monday Runday and My Miracle Baby

Today’s Run: 8 miles, 1:02, progressive TM run at .5% incline

After being inspired by my good friend Chacha (she laid the smack down at Santa to Sea yesterday) I decided I better get my act together if I am going to be ready for Carlsbad. I have a tendancy to get lazy with my pace during this time of year. I mean why would I want to run fast when I could be snuggled on the couch with hot cocoa? Just sayin. When I do this come race day I end up running at training pace and not a goal race pace. Time to break that bad boy of a habit!

I got out of bed at 4:15 and was to the gym by 4:45. Determination people. I had it today. I warmed up at at 8:27 pace and decided I would increase speed each mile with my goal to be all out sprinting at the end. Is this a good idea 1 week post marathon? Maybe not, but I felt good and my legs/feet are not screaming.

As planed I increased each mile until I was at when felt like a sprint (6:40 pace) for the last .75. When I was done I had completed 8 miles in 62 min, average 7:45 pace. Sweat fest complete.

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I briefly mentioned in my Week In Review post that I talked about my miracle daughter at The Rock Runners and Triathletes weekly run. I am not good at leading devotionals or praying out loud but I am good at sharing my stories in writing.  I want to share this story with you all because it changed my life. This is going to be a long, wordy, post so bear with me.

Disclaimer: I am not in any way, shape or form trying to push a relationship with God on any of you. I hope if nothing else you see that miracles do happen! This blog is about running but I think it’s important for you to all know that running is not what defines me. My priorities in life are God, my family and my friends. Running is just an added blessing. But knowing me and what inspires me is important. And sometimes when people see that prayers are answered it can be life changing.  All babies are miracles, but this is a bit different. This is my story:

I had suffered a pregnancy loss before my son was born and then another before I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. I was pregnant 4 times in 3 years and only had one living child.  A loss is never easy and it made me one of the most cautious pregnant ladies on the planet. No coffee, no lunch meat unless it was steaming hot, no sushi, no hot dogs, no anything-that-could-compromise-my-bitty-baby. I went to the gym religiously and made sure my heart rate never exceeded 120 BPM. Doc said to be cautious and boy did I listen. I am a rule follower. Most of the time 🙂

At around 34 weeks I was at work and knew something was wrong. I hadn’t felt baby girl move in more than 5 hours and ended up heading to labor and delivery. During monitoring, they noticed her heart rate dropped with contractions and decided to start twice weekly non-stress tests. I am not sure why they did not do an ultrasound at that time but just hearing a heartbeat on the monitor made me feel a little better.

Each week I headed to the hospital twice a week. I would get hooked up to monitors, they would do a quick check on the baby and then I would sit through non-stress tests. While I was able to get the required 10 movements out of miss thang things were just never “right.” Mother’s intuition I guess.

On Monday March 2nd I went in for my 37 week appointment. Everything seemed to go well; we heard her heart beating and she moved a few times when we tried to get measurements. I hadn’t gained any weight in a month but apparently per my doctor it was not a huge concern. I thought it was weird as when I was pregnant with my son I gained weight each week at the end. Here I was getting close to delivering my baby and had only gained 17 pounds.  I was at the nurses station checking out when my doc walked out to the counter. She told me at that time that she checked my measurements for the past 3 weeks and nothing had changed. She ordered an immediate ultrasound at the hospital just to make sure things were ok. My heart sunk. I knew something was wrong.

Tuesday night LD and I headed to the hospital for the ultrasound. The tech began taking measurements and we immediately saw that my baby girl was measuring behind by about 3 weeks. He measured my bag of water which had dropped from 9.4 that morning at my NST to 7.0. He flipped a switch to check her cord and we could see it was wrapped around her neck several times (after you have been pregnant 4 times you can tell what is what on an ultrasound. Not sure if that’s good or bad). The tech said he didn’t see anything that was cause for immediate concern and told us doc would follow up the next day and sent us home. In my heart I knew something was wrong. LD reassured me that no matter what, the doc would follow up the next day and that everything would be ok. I am pretty sure we both prayed most of that night.

Wednesday morning came and we got a call from the doctor around 6:00. He informed me that he saw the ultrasound report and that they have decided that out bitty baby would be safer on the outside then on the inside and to pack our bags and get to the hospital asap. They were going to induce labor. I was scared. I was not ready for this.

I took a shower, waited for my mom to get to the house and LD and I headed out. We checked in around 930 am and met with the doc. They put me on the monitor and the little princess was doing well. We told the doc the reason for NST’s and that her heart rate was decelerating with contractions. He said that the cord could have a kink, but that he would induce labor and if she couldn’t handle it, they would do a c-section. I knew in my heart that there was no way she could handle an induction. I was monitored for an hour. I didn’t have any contractions and was not dilated so doc approved starting the induction. I started crying and told the nurse that if they induced labor I knew my baby girl would not make it.  That is when God decided to intervene. Contractions then started coming every 2-4 minutes. My bitty girl’s heart rate dropped every time (at one point it was down to 10 beats per minute) and would then go back up after each contraction. My nurse Lucia said she would wait to see what happened. Smart, smart nurse. It was not more than 5 minutes later when a pretty big contraction came on and Sloane’s heart rate dropped so low that we were suddenly surrounded by several doctors and nurses. It was right then that the doc said there was no way he would start and induction and that a c-section would need to be done immediately. Praise the lord.

We were wheeled back to the OR when things got started. I was so happy that they didn’t have to put me under as I wanted to hear my baby girl cry to know that she was ok. Within 3 minutes she arrived with the tiniest cry we had ever heard. That’s when the doc came over to show us her cord. He said he couldn’t believe it. She had a true knot in her cord at the belly button, in addition it was then wrapped around her neck 3 times. He had never seen a true knot and it was then that he called her the “miracle baby.” We were told that the chances of a true knot are one in a million; That it apparently only occurs in 1% of all pregnancies and typically results in fetal demise in utero. She survived-and it was likely that the knot occurred at 34 weeks. They couldn’t believe she was alive. She had only received very little nutrients from 34 weeks to delivery; but what she did receive went to complete brain development as well as heart and organ function. IF THAT’S NOT GOD SHOWING SCIENCE WHO IS BOSS I AM NOT SURE WHAT IS! She is healthy and they have not found one problem with her! Praise the lord!

Miss Thang was born on March 4th 2009, 37 weeks old, 4 lbs 15 oz. Her cry sounds like a cat’s meow!

We were in the hospital for 4 days and she was jaundiced and had to stay under the bili-lights for a night. She beat that within a day and was released home. When we left, she was a mighty 4 lbs 9 oz.

She was the tiniest, sweetest baby girl. A true fighter. We are so blessed! There are big things in store for this little sassy lady. One day she may even beat me in a race…but it will not come easy!

2011

Wishing that all of you are blessed this Christmas!