AMDG        Jump to Day 9    Jump to Day 18

* * MONICA ROSE HOCKEL * *

Born on Monday, October 29, 2007, at 11:59AM

7 lbs, 14 oz and 22" long

Welcome Monica, and praise God for your (pretty much) healthy arrival!

Monica Rose  is welcomed as our eleventh child, and is now one of six boys and five girls!!

These pictures were taken less than four minutes after Monica was born.

Maybe if you've seen one purple baby, you've seen them all, but this one stayed a little too blue too long.

Everyone kept saying, "Is this your first?" and "You look too good to just have had a baby!"  She's the most beautiful mom around!

But here's the WHOLE story...

Labor contractions... started around the time the Red Sox won the third of their victories over the Rockies, Saturday evening.  Contractions continued all night about every hour or so, and then became more frequent all day Sunday.  Beth was also sick with a flu that day (which had gone through most of the kids), but contractions came about every 15 minutes.  After the Red Sox swept the World Series Sunday evening, contractions continued to get worse, signaling my bedtime. :-)  With the help of an earplug, and after reprimanding three noisy girls down the hall, I slept until 5:30, but Beth was up all night in labor.  We arrived at Kaiser at about 6:30 and the triage nurses said Beth was dilated to 6cm - which was good news, since that meant she could have an epiduaral!!

The epidural... was started around 9:30AM, dilated to 7-8cm, and the anesthesiologist and I discussed bupivicaine as he injected it into her back.  Beth's feet didn't numb right away, so he added a little more.  Then a little more.  Then her feet numbed, then her legs, then her abdomen, then (uh oh!) her chest, then (UH OH!) her neck, and then (WHOA!) her face.  Meanwhile her blood pressure dropped to 74/38, and she said her hearing was going, and that she thought she was about to faint.  In a mad rush (10AM), they opened the IV bag full speed, tilted the table toward her head, injected ephedrine, and STILL no go!

"POSSIBLE CODE C"... they kept saying, as the doctor decided to take her to the OR, where he could better manage Beth's airway and be prepared, in case of emergency, to take the baby by caesarean section.  I had to wait outside, but people seemed to come out of nowhere to help in the OR.  After a little while, they offered to let me come in (10:10), wearing scrubs and all, and sit with Beth.  She still could hardly talk, but her vital signs had stabilized, and the doctor said we were "out of the woods" and just needed to wait it out.  Meanwhile, the baby monitors showed regular (pain-free!) contractions and a healthy heartbeat.

Back to the delivery room we went (11:20), as feeling had slowly returned to Beth's upper body.  Now it was a short wait before the midwife (Debbie Cox) broke her water (11:50), and after four or five big pushes (between which we discussed which of the previous babies Debbie had delivered), there was A BABY GIRL!! (11:59)

Monica rested on Beth's chest a long time, and was quite content.  She cried, then was quiet, then cried.  I held her a minute, then it was time to weigh and measure.  During measuring, the neo-natal nurse practitioner said Monica's eyes looked like she could have Down Syndrome.  We looked over her hands and feet, and nothing else seemed to indicate it, but she remained concerned.  They are doing a test to check her chromosomes, a karyotype, to check.  Mom said to be sure they did the test on 50 blood cells, not the usual 20.  They didn't seem to like my "special request."

Christi and Brian looking at Monica

After observing her color, and listening to her heartbeat, they decided to take her to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (the "NIC-U") to "watch her color."  I stayed with Beth a while, but when I visited Monica, there were still discussions of Down's, and much concern over her oxygen saturation.  They had an oxygen mask over her face, and when it was removed, her oxygen dropped to the low 80's.  90's is what you want.  Then came a cannula in her nose.  Still not enough.  So she got the "hood," a plastic enclosure over her head into which oxygen is pumped.

Monica in Intensive Care under her oxygen hood.

Concerned about an apparent heart murmur, they ordered an EKG (done at 2:08pm), and a cardiologist got involved.  He came later and did an echocardiogram, and the nurse relayed that he did find a heart defect.  Dr. Cooper, a VERY pleasant and competent child cardiologist, explained the following (at 8:30pm):

1.  Monica has a Primum Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), which will have to be repaired surgically.

2.  She also has a Secundum ASD which is not a concern and is normal.

3.  She might have partially differentiated valves, and

4.  She might have a Ventricular Septal Defect as well

We will find out the answers to these questions as she grows and develops and further tests (echocardiograms, etc.) are done - even within the next week.

 IF she does have a Ventricular Septal Defect, then surgery may be needed within a few months.  If not, surgery can probably wait for 2-3 years.  Here are some photos for reference.

And here's her Patron Saint,

 Saint Monica

Mother of St. Augustine

"Saint Monica, pray for us!"

Day 2

The neonatologist, David Anderson, said that he agreed with the pediatrician who had initially suspected Down Syndrome.  Beth asked on what basis, and he said, "Facial features, presence of the heart defect, and the pulmonary hypertension on the echo."  He warned about possibilities of difficulty sucking, and maybe needing a feeding tube.  As soon she is able to breathe without the hood (canula would be OK), he was anxious to have her try to feed by mouth and get her digestive system going.  She won't be released until this happens.  If she plateaus, and it looks like she'll need oxygen and a feeding tube long term, she could potentially be sent home like that.  But not if it's only for a short time.  They want to start on feeding tomorrow, possibly through a tube.

Beth is HOME!  Brother James baptized Monica tonight in the hospital ICU!!  With about twenty close family and friends, the entire Rite of Baptism of Infants was able to be celebrated in the ICU.  Then Brother James and Pops joined the kids and me at Chili's for dinner.

The waters of baptism!

The Oil of Catechumens.

Godparents, cousin Blaise and sister Therese, along with Dominican Brother James Moore

Day 3

Beth, Therese and I stopped in after the kids finished Halloween.  Monica was doing well.  She was being brought down in oxygen concentration, but during the night she couldn't take below 60% without her own levels dropping too low.  Beth dropped off some mommy-milk for her feeding tube.  She mostly slept, under the blindfold for the light to reduce her bilirubin.

Day 4