Alien Baby

Alien baby says, "Quit typing and put more pictures up!"

tiny blessings

In late 2005, Sunny underwent surgery for her Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS). The surgery involved removing the first rib and part of the scalene muscle in order to decompress the nerves running through there.

It didn't work. Sunny still experiences pain and numbness in her neck, shoulders, and arms. She is unable to lift heavy objects and the condition causes clumsiness. Amazingly, the hormones generated during pregnancy dramatically lessened the symptoms of her TOS; the trade-off was a nine-month long morning sickness. Now that her pregnancy is completed, the TOS symptoms are coming back.

I sometimes wonder if God gave Sunny the intense morning sickness to make Natalie small. I see Sunny holding Natalie, establishing that unique mother-daughter bond. I wonder what would have happened if we had a bigger baby? It's a small blessing the way Natalie perfectly fits her mommy. We love Natalie just the way she is.

(The blasphemous dark side of my personality wonders why God didn't just heal Sunny of her TOS, make her pregnancy easier, and make Natalie bigger. This same side of my personality also causes me to waste money on MegaMillions tickets.)

On a closing note (and to end what I started in my last post), I don't worry about Sunny taking care of Natalie while I'm away at work. Sunny is one tough cookie. After the delivery, Sunny experienced what we thought was normal postnatal bleeding. She passed a small blood clot. Then she passed a larger blood clot. Then she threw up and passed a blood clot the size of a softball. Then her blood pressure dropped to around 80 over 30 and she was fighting to stay conscious. Nurses started buzzing around her and the air in our room became leaden.

Our doctor rushed her into the operating room after saying things like "Call Dr. So-And-So" and "There's a chance we may need to remove the uterus" and "Please sign the consent form". I'm left standing there, alone, staring at a document called something like "Uterine Artery Embolism Procedure" mistakenly left behind by one of the nurses. An hour later, Sunny is wheeled back in and the doctor gives me the good news that they found a large vaginal laceration that they were able to sew up without needing to operate. Sunny would tell me that while struggling not to black out, she thought about how she wouldn't let herself die because Natalie and I would need her. I'm thankful that God is merciful and agreed with Sunny. Despite her TOS, Sunny has a strength that has been tested many times over. She's going to make a great mom.

She's here!

Natalie was born on September 6, 2007. She weighed only 4 pounds, 11.8 ounces and was 17.5 inches long.

Sunny and I had checked into Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena at 5:30am that morning. Natalie's due date was actually today but all her ultrasounds indicated that she was a tiny baby and our doctors decided that inducing early would give Natalie the better chance for development, especially since Sunny's morning sickness was lasting her whole pregnancy. Yep, a lot of the food that was intended for little fetus Natalie was actually being flushed away.

After some Pitocin, a welcome epidural, and maybe 45 minutes of pushing, Natalie was out and crying.

Ok, that's not entirely accurate. Sunny did push for a relatively short time but she had some help. Our OB-GYN attached a vacuum to the top of Natalie's head to help pull her out. And I won't describe the use of scissors.

Everything seemed perfect. Natalie was healthy, just underweight. Sunny and I were sharing tears of joy (and relief). I wish the story would stop here but it doesn't. A lot more tears would have to be shed before the day was over, and not the happy kind.

But this post will end on a happy note: Natalie is here!