Introducing....

Addison Lillie McGovern

October 19, 2010

7:16 PM

6 lbs 6 oz

19 inches 

That's right, Addison is here! (actually she was here a month ago, but it's been a crazy month). She arrived a day shy of 2 weeks early and came into this world full of drama...as if I would expect anything else from a daughter of mine :) 
Monday October 18th was fall break for Bossier schools, so I was off work and Patrick and I were running errands. He had something come up and had to take off, so I went to the grocery store and picked up JP. When we got home, I started dinner and everything was fine until I started feeling cramps- I just figured I was tired from running around all day and they would go away...nope. They got stronger and closer together, but I still didn't think it was that big of a deal, so when Patrick came home, I decided to lay down and see if they would go away. Well, they didn't. But I still didn't freak out, I just decided that maybe we should pack our bags, just in case something crazy happened and my water broke or something that night. We made it through the night and I decided that I would go in to work and get stuff ready for my sub and head to the doctor after 1st block. Yes folks, I went to work in labor! I got as much situated as I could for the week and headed off to trusty Dr. Tynes, who checked me and then hooked me up to the monitors, where it was discovered that I was indeed having contractions! She made the decision to send me down to labor and delivery to monitor me, but I fully expected these to be false labor and figured I would be home that evening with instructions to rest. 
Patrick was on a job that was supposed to be a quick one, but ultimately he got delayed by 2 hours and by the time he got to the hospital, it was 4 pm and my contractions still hadn't stopped. After trying fluids, vistiral, and a shot of demerol, the nurse came barging in our room in scrubs and told me to sign these consent forms because "we were having a baby in the next 30 minutes". After picking our jaws up off the floor, Patrick and I made the required phone calls to the grandparents, signed consent forms and prepared ourselves for the arrival of our baby girl! I think I was still in shock, which allowed me to not freak out as much as everyone expected. At 6:30, I was wheeled next door to the OR and at 7:16, our baby girl was born! This delivery was so much better than JP's- mostly due to Dr. Tynes and how comfortable we felt with her. The whole time she was operating, we were just chatting away about random stuff and then all of a sudden, there was Miss Addison Lillie! Initially she looked great, but then things started going downhill....she stopped breathing and they had to stimulate her to get her to breath again, our pediatrician figured this was a side effect of the demerol I had received, so he gave her a shot of noracain to reverse it and made the decision to keep her overnight in the nursery. After her night in the nursery, our pediatrician evaluated her in the morning and told us she looked great and she could be brought to our room, but after waiting almost an hour, he came back in to inform us that she had stopped breathing (again) and he was transferring her to the NICU at St. Mary's. I immediately started crying and things started happening- more forms to sign, ambulance transports for both of us, Patrick went with her, I followed and was checked into a room at the same hospital she was at, still hadn't held her (or even seen her for more than 2 seconds). Once we got to St. Mary's, Addison was taken for an EEG, a CT scan and was started on antibiotics. The doctors tested her for everything- seizure disorders, hypoxia, cerebral palsy, meningitis....in the period of 7 days, Miss A underwent sedation for MRI's, lumbar punctures, multiple blood draws....she was such a trooper and her stats stayed perfect the entire time she was in the NICU.  I started to get antsy to get my baby home, especially after I was discharged without her, and on Monday October 25th, after her 3 pm feeding, we were given the okay to bring her home. I have never been happier in my entire life than when we got to leave the hospital with her. I felt like running home because I was so afraid they would change their minds. We still don't know what caused her to stop breathing, but thanks to the good Lord and all the prayers of our friends and families, nothing was ever discovered to be wrong with our little girl and she has since been deemed a perfectly healthy newborn. I am eternally grateful to everyone who sent positive thoughts and prayers our way, to people who put Addison on their prayer list at church and to my parents (especially my mom) for dropping what they were doing and driving up here the minute I called in tears to tell them what was going on. Also, my husband, was the strongest person during that time and kept reassuring me that everything was okay....and he was right...everything was and will be okay!