Bed Rest Diaries: "Is he coming or is he ain't?"

"Is he coming or is he ain't" were the words spoken by our South American doctor on Sunday evening after going into the hospital on Saturday night.  We were back in our favorite ward of the hospital  after 26 days of freedom with more contractions.  The story is best told my husband who's desire to document Mason's testimony before his birth and God's faithfulness and provision is provided below.

Daddy's Note

Many of you are aware that we were admitted to the hospital Saturday night under circumstances we fully expected to end with the delivery of our second SON Mason.  While this journey has never ceased to amaze, stretch and surprise us...this weekend was yet another massive display of God's faithfulness.

"I am contracting" were the words uttered by a nervous Allyson on Saturday evening around 6 PM.  As of late, this was the equivalent of stating that the sky was blue in light of the frequency  said contractions reared their ugly head.  The rule is, 6 or more in an hour, we go to the hospital for further examination at which point Allyson be shot up with a drug called terbutaline (anti contraction medication injected through the arm).  Should she break through the medication...game time.

Allyson had taken her vistaril, which is used to help relax her contractions and allow her to sleep at night, by 7 pm.  In spite of doubling the dosage, contractions persisted growing in severity and frequency.   We waited until 8:30 pm to finally call our dear friends who rushed over to watch Colton while we raced to Sutter Memorial Hospital.  Upon arrival, Allyson was hooked up to the monitor which confirmed rhythmic contractions 2 minutes apart.  An exam was ordered revealing that Allyson was 4 cm dilated.  This was a growth of 2.5 cm since our last visit. The nurses immediately contacted our OB  for orders who asked that we be monitored and examined again in two hours.  Over said 2 hour period, contractions did not let up but rather intensified further leading us to believe that this was the real deal.  We were immediately rushed to a delivery room.   When the two hours were up, mama had dilated 5 cm and was experiencing deeper contracions than felt to date in her pregnancy.  Every nurse in the room was sure that we would be holding Mason by the end of their shift (7 am Sunday morning).  She was immediately put on an IV drip of antibiotics to counter the group strep B she was diagnosed with last time we were in.  These drugs were mandated to protect the baby from the streps attack; however yielded no aniti contraction assistacne.  

Up until this point, we had been given drugs to keep contractions at bay.  When we entered the hospital on Saturday night, said game plan was obsolete.  By the grace of God, Allyson was 35 weeks prompting the medical staff to allow her body or proceed with the birthing  process void of any anti contraction medication.  While they would not induce, they were committed to allowing her contractions to continue thus furthering dilation and pushing the process along.  With no drugs, and a room full of nurses stating imminent birth, we were back on our knees praying for God's sovereign will to take control as we were still 5 weeks shy of full term.  We committed to praise him whatever the outcome as it was only by his hand that we would be carried thus far.  Without the comfort of medicine, we were back in a position of having to trust him with everything...funny how that works.  Allyson agreed with the nurses....this was it.  Deep rhythmic contractions continued 2 minutes apart as we pushed on through the labor process.

Midnight passed and the contractions, which were the very cause of our track towards pre-term labor, were unexplainably shut off like a light switch.  The very contractions that broke through double the dosage of vistaril were silenced by our Heavenly Father.  The effects of said drugs had long since passed and proven to be useless.  When the nurse came in escorted by our OB this morning, Allyson's uterus was calm and not contracting.  Upon further examination, it was concluded that in spite of all those contractions, Allyson had not dilated any more than 5 cm (last recorded measurement) all night. My favorite part about all of this was the reaction we received from the medial staff who could not explain scientifically the events that took place last night.

Upon seeing her contractions subside, our doctor asked that we be moved from our delivery room to the pre-term high risk pregnancy ward down the hall.  Due to the 5 cm dilation, we were to be monitored for the next 4 days in case labor kicked back in. It was at 5 cm that Allyson took off in her delivery with Colton further pointing to divine intervention.   Amazingly, Allyson's contractions were minor Sunday morning and by the afternoon, had pretty much subsided all together.  The ace kicker was the readings we received last night after 1 hr on the monitor....no contractions.

Dr Knight walked in the room last night right on schedule with eyes as big as saucers.  This veteran OB could not figure out what happened Saturday night.  His opening line was "I went Home and went to bed early last night as I fully expected, based on the evidence and my 30 plus years of medical experience, that I would be delivering your baby before 7 am this morning" (Sunday morning).  He followed that up with amazement in how little Allyson had been contracting throughout the day and rewrote his orders.  Should the contractions stay off the radar,  we would get to go home Monday as opposed to Wednesday.

In waking up this morning (Monday A.M.) we were met with more contractions.  They are roughly 3-6 minutes apart. This is not consistant with yesterday or last night.  Not sure what today will bring, but we trust that it is all in God's perfect plan.  Allyson got a good nights sleep which was a huge gift!

I can not help but think of Daniel and the lion's den or Jesus' calming of the sea.  In both instances, men were called to put their faith in God rather than the sensical "seen world".  We rejoice in yet another day in the womb for our baby boy.  It is purely by God's grace that we can celebrate this fact tonight.  From 25 weeks to 35 weeks today, our Lord's tender mercies have carried us to less than one week from a term baby.  Allyson and I are overwhelmed by the outpouring of prayers, love, support, meals and shoulders to cry on throughout this process.  We are so tankful to be the parents of such a little fighter who we can not wait to meet.  God is gracious in trusting us with this responsibility; however, be encouraged as we are in our Lords faithfulness.  He has diligently answered the spoken and unspoken prayers of his people thorough which we have been deeply comforted.  Mason will know the testimony of his journey before he entered this world and the power of prayer to sustain us before we even know we need it. He will be loved by his loving 2 year old big brother who prays for him nightly...no exaggeration,  God has huge things in store for this precious one...I can't wait to meet him!

So on January 30, 2013 I lay back in bed at home and wait, wait for God's perfect timing and my opportunity to meet and fall in love with his beloved child, Mason Joel Lynn.