Please Pray!

Hi everyone, Ross here. I'm sitting in Mandy's ICU room typing this as she sleeps. I'm sure that Mandy will fill you in on the details later, but I wanted to tell you all that this morning, Ramey Caroline was born - 7 pounds 9 ounces and 19 inches long. She's beautiful and I'll post photos as soon as I can. Here's the short version of what's happened today: After Ramey was born, I kissed Mandy and left to go to the nursery with the baby. After watching all the typical newborn tests, I left to go find out how Mandy was. The nurses outside the OR told me that she was not doing well and that they were going to transfer her to the ICU. So I made a few phone calls, told my parents - who were in the waiting room, and came back to the OR to be told that Mandy had been moved to the ICU. I made the walk across the hospital to the ICU to be told that Mandy was still in the OR, so I had to wait in the waiting room of the ICU until they brought her there. Once they brought me back to her room, I found out that Mandy had lost a lot of blood during the surgery (about 1/2 of her body's supply) and her anesthesiologist told me that her blood pressure was so low at one point that they had gotten the "crash cart" and he was about to start chest compressions. However, instead of having to do this, the drugs they gave her (and the five units of blood) brought her blood pressure back up. I think she'll remain in the ICU under constant supervision until they feel she can go back to a room at the women's center - possibly tomorrow. She's been sleeping much of the day so far, but I was able to show her pictures of Ramey during a short time of being awake.

Ramey also has been sent to the NICU. She swallowed blood during the surgery and her lungs were still "wet" from the amniotic fluid, so she was breathing really fast, and they sent her to the NICU for closer supervision. I just called over there and they've performed a chest x-ray and they said that along with the "wet" lungs, she also has air in her tummy that she will end up passing...She's on oxygen and I'm going to go see her when I'm done with this post. All in all, my girls are well and are being taken care of.

I was able to call and tell Henry that he has another baby sister. His reply was, "Oh, nooooo!" I can just imagine him slapping his forehead as he said this. Our friend, Allison, who was watching him at the time told me that he had a giant smile as I told him. He's a big brother to THREE sisters! Wow.

Check back this evening, I'll update this again then.

Ross