timeline of insanity & grace

Alloune at 1:55pm

Alloune at 4:35pm

Before the timeline of insanity ... THE GOOD NEWS:  Both Lourdes Milla and Alloune have healthy baby girls and both Lourdes Milla and Alloune are okay tonight.

Short story -

The Harbor House gals gave us a run for our money today.

Long story -

We were all pretty wiped from Widlene's birth. We all slept hard Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.  Jen and Beth left to go to Petit Goave to get Mama Emmanuel.  Heather's oldest son was celebrating a birthday, she was busy with preparing for that. We were all thankful that we got that night of good sleep.

This morning I sent my kids off to school, posted the Moses needs a family blog, cleaned up the house and managed the two little girls.  At 10:00 I decided I needed to run in order to have a total mental reset.  I asked Geronne to watch girls.  I ran 5 miles.  I came home to see a text saying that Alloune was in labor.  I called Jonna.  We decided Alloune should come over and watch a movie at my house to get her mind off of her contractions that were still very far apart.

Troy arrived with Alloune around noon. She ate lunch and watched Yo Gabba Gabba with Lydia and Phoebe.  Her contractions started picking up.  I made a few calls and answered a few emails.  At two I suggested she shower.  At 2:11 Jen texted to say that Lourdes Milla was apparently saying her water had broken.  I was confused how Jen knew this from Petit Goave.  (Troy and Jen were talking - Troy knew.)  I told Jen to let me know what was needed from me.  I went back to Alloune to get her out of shower and got her settled lying down in our room. At 2:55 Jen called and said that Jonna wasn't able to get back to the Maternity Center and "Lourdes Milla is in trouble" and she asked if I would go.

I had a feeling that Alloune was making significant progress so I asked Geronne to stay by her side.  I got to the Maternity Center in less than five minutes to find Troy was getting the ambulance ready. (I had no idea Troy was in the loop till I got to Maternity Center.)  Lourdes Milla was unresponsive and lying in the back seat of our truck. (Which also confused me.)  I ran to get the blood pressure cuff and a doppler to check baby's heart. She was having a small and short seizure even though her vitals all looked pretty good (BP was high for her - but not crazy high) and I was easily able to get the baby's heart tones.

Troy loaded her into the ambulance while I gathered things Jen told me to gather by phone.  Jonna arrived and jumped in the ambulance to start putting the IV in Lourdes Milla.  They left to meet Jen en route to the hospital.  As it turned out they also met Heather, and she jumped into the ambulance to help. I left and headed back home.  I got home at 3:33.

I went straight to my room where I found Alloune clearly in transition and sweating profusely. I had been gone about 35 minutes total. I thanked Geronne for being awesome. She gave me the typical "it is nothing" you're welcome.  I told Alloune we needed to leave.  She was crying and not dealing with her pain well and said she couldn't leave. It took until 3:45 to convince her to leave. She did not want to walk down the steps.  I got stern, we finally got to the car.  We arrived at the Maternity Center at 3:50.  Beth was there waiting on us. Alloune was pushing.  Neither Beth nor I thought she could be complete or ready to push. Beth gave her a short lecture about not pushing too soon.  Two minutes later we realized that it wasn't too soon.  At 4:10 the water broke. At 4:13 the head was out. At 4:14 the baby was born. (I delivered her! So amazing!)

Jen and Jonna and Troy and Heather all left the hospital with Lourdes Milla stable and being prepped for surgery.  Jen was able to suture Alloune's tears from her crazy fast birth. At around 8:30pm Lourdes Milla went into her c-section.  At about 9:15 we got a call that a healthy baby girl had arrived. 

Tonight we're so grateful to God for His provision.  We're thankful people pray and battle with us in the spiritual realm. Lourdes Milla was in her English class and fine at 1:45pm and was starting to have eclamptic seizures by 2:30.  She had at least three or four seizures before they were able to get the meds into her to stop them. Jen and Beth were in crazy horrible traffic the entire time Troy was informing them of the situation. Jonna was gone shopping.

The fact that all the people ended up in places to take care of both girls in time was totally crazy and totally answered prayer.

Lourdes Milla rests at the hospital a few miles from us tonight - Wini (our amazing nurse) is with her.  Alloune is lying nearby with little seven pound baby Ashlyne and resting comfortably.  Twelve hours ago we didn't  know a thing about any of this.  If the adrenaline wears off we'll all sleep some more.

Happy ending.  Your prayers matter.