Makai Zion's Birth Story

After one year, 2 rounds of Clomid and a long, tearful and challenging struggle to conceive Nate and I conceived a little boy. After a very long pregnancy filled with morning sickness that lasted all day throughout the whole pregnancy Nate and I were ready to meet our little man.......

Tuesday 7.6.10 I had been sleeping most of the day as I wasn't feeling very well. I woke up from a nap to use the bathroom then headed back to bed. Well, at least that's what I had in mind. As I went to crawl into bed my water broke (2:30 pm). I was in shock, I called Nate at work and remember saying something like this..."I think my water broke but I'm not sure, what if I just peed myself."  I really thought at the moment that maybe I had peed myself, I guess I just wasn't expecting it to happen so soon ( 2 weeks and 3 days before my due date). I told Nate not to tell anyone my water broke in fear that I really had peed. Looking back I crack up at how uncertain I was that this was really IT. Nate rushed home from work just as confused, shocked as I was. He said he doesn't even remember leaving work. The doctor had told us that as long as the fluid was clear and baby was moving we could take our time getting to the hospital. So, I took a shower and Nate warmed me up some food.

4:30 pm- We arrived at the hospital and went right into triage where they check your status to see if you should be admitted or sent home. Nate and I were so nervous not knowing what to expect. We were assured that my water had indeed broken, partially ruptured. As soon as the nurse put the heart monitor on the baby everything changed. His heartbeat was 180-190 which was too high.The doctor and nurses worked fast to get me an IV and oxygen. I sat in the bed with tears strolling down my face, Nate had the look of fear written all over him. Usually you can be in triage for up to an hour but we were there for only about 20 min. before being admitted. Once in the delivery room the heartbeat settled, we think it could have been to dehydration since I had been throwing up all morning.

Since my water broke before I went into actual labor I had to be induced. They like to deliver the baby within 24 hours of your water breaking. I fought through the contractions for quite some time but once the petocin really kicked in I opted for and epidural. I am so thankful I did. About half way through delivery the doctors noticed that the baby's heartbeat was dipping with each contraction. Just one more thing that caused Nate and I to worry. The doctor's just closely monitored the heartbeat throughout the rest of labor.

My long labor was followed by 2 hours of pushing. During the end of pushing the doctors said that if there was no baby soon they would have to intervene. I didn't want this so I asked Mom and Nate to pray. The Lord came through again and a few pushes later  at 11:53 am Makai was born.

Right away I knew something was wrong. The cord was wrapped tightly around his neck, so tight they had to cut it. They asked Nate to cut the cord then placed in briefly on my chest. He was not pink, he was not crying, he was not moving. He was a gray blue color from head to toe. They quickly rushed him over to the warming table and bagged him right away. I saw the doctors grab each limb and watch them fall lifelessly next to his body. There were so many people everywhere and everything was happening so fast. I really thought I was going to lose my baby boy. Everyone assured me he was going to be okay but until I heard my baby cry their words would me nothing to me. They said they were taking baby Makai to the NICU ( special care nursery). I told Nate to go with him. I am so thankful my Mom was there with me. I had to stay in the labor room to recover for an hour, it was the longest hour of my life. Nate kept calling me with updates and during that hour Makai was breathing, crying, and slowly gaining color. The problem was his heart rate, it was just too low.

After an hour I was taken to my room.Then Nate came and took me to the NICU. Once I got there Makai was doing well, they were just monitoring his heart rate. We spent some time alone with him then my Mom and Nate's parents got to visit with him as well. Makai was in NICU for about 4 hours when we got word that he would be able to come back to the room with us. We headed back to our room and waited for the little guy to join us. We were elated!

 Once we got settled in out room Makai was brought in so I could breastfeed him. It wasn't but a moment later he turned completely purple. The nurse quickly took him back to the nursery. I didn't know what to think, I was crippled with fear. A short while later our friend Julie who is a pediatric doctor from Beaumont and the NICU doctor entered the room. They said they were concerned with Makai's heart rate and that there would need to be some testing done. At first they were going to to an EKG, X-Ray and draw blood. Later we found out he would only need the EKG. It was at this moment we realized again that there could be something seriously wrong with out little boy.

Many tears and prayers later we went back to the NICU to visit our baby boy with our parents and Grandma and Grandpa Montgomery. A while later we were told that the EKG came back normal and Makai was once again given the green light to come back to the room with us (12 hours after entering the NICU) We were filled with so much much joy that I can't even express it. We are not really sure why Makai has such a hard time recovering from delivery or why he struggled with the low heart rate all we know is that God was there with him and by his grace we are able to hug and kiss our little boy. Who would have thought that sleepless nights and poopy diapers would bring us so much joy. Every time he cries it is a reminder of how great our God is!

Thank you to all of our family and friends for your prayers during Makai's struggle at the hospital! Special thanks to our good friend Julie ( Dr. Secrest), we appreciate all you did for us that night, it was so comforting to have you there.

Makai Zion Keller

7.7.10

11:53AM

6lbs 15 ounces- 21 in. long

Makai (ma-Kai) Meaning - Who is Like God?

Origin - American. Makai is a version of Micheal which means "who is like God".
 Zion (Zai-on) Meaning "the highest point" and used as the name for heaven. Origin- Hebrew