The whole story begins (the birth process that is) with Jennifer being admitted to Memorial Medical Center on July 10, 1997 after visiting her OB/Gyn Doctor - Dr. Byck. Jennifer was diagnosed with Pre-eclampsia and had been having problems for several weeks. The plans were to go ahead and induce labor to protect Makenzie as well as Jennifer from any further complications.

On Saturday, July 12, 1997 they started giving Jennifer "Pitocin", which is a hormone your body produces to begin the labor process. Jennifer began having contractions and tolerated them well. Around 2:00pm, her water broke and for the next 2 hours the contractions got worse and worse. At 5:00pm, Jennifer had dilated to 5 centimeters and her epidural was ordered. Once running, the epidural provided almost instant relief. It took Jennifer 30 minutes before she dilated to 10 centimeters.

At 5:46 pm, Makenzie was born. She weighed 5 lbs, 7.6 oz and was 19 inches long. She came out and was given an "APGAR" score of 8-9 (scaling system of how well baby is doing - 10 is perfect). It was hard to believe that she was finally here. It was like finally getting to unwrap a Christmas present that had been wrapped up and left under the tree for 8 months. We were so happy that Makenzie was here and that everything was fine...at least that's what we thought.

Makenzie began showing signs of distress. Basically, she was getting tired out. She was born 1 month premature and the effects were beginning to appear. An infants lungs finish developing during the last month of pregnancy. Some babies born early tolerate it well, and others, like Makenzie, need a little bit of assistance. Her assistance began by placing her under an oxygen hood. This basically encapsulates her head into a chamber rich in oxygen. After about a day and a half of the "hood", the doctors decided that wasn't enough - Makenzie needed even more assistance.

The next step was to intubate. Intubation is placing a tube into the mouth which passes right into the trachea or opening of the lungs. Once intubated, Makenzie was hooked up to a ventilator which, at first, was doing most of the breathing for her. The plan was to give her a rest and slowly "wean" (decrease assistance) her off the ventilator. Before doing this, they injected "surfactant" into the tube leading to her lungs. Surfactant usually develops on its own in an infant during the last month of pregnancy, but since Makenzie was early, she got the "artificial stuff".

About 2 days later, after slowly weaning Makenzie's vent rates down, she was taken off of the ventilator. Now the plans were to observe her and make sure she didn't become tired again. Makenzie was also being monitored with her feedings. Since she hadn't eaten since birth we had to make sure she could first of all, "suck" on a bottle, and also tolerate breast milk.

Well, she did fine, and within 1 day was moved to a less critical area, and then later moved to the regular newborn nursery. On Saturday the 19th of July, 1997 we got to take her home. Makenzie continues to do well at home. She usually wakes up around 4 am and then again at 8 am, so we've got our hands full.