Autumn Kay Miner

At 6:30 this morning I received a phone call that my sister, Pamela was on her way to the hospital because she was in labor. You see I volunteered to video tape the delivery because her husband is in Iraq serving our country. So I rolled over and told Noel that I was leaving and that I hoped that he had a good day with the kids.

I drove to my parent's house and helped my dad get her two boys up and ready to go with him. Then we got into the truck and made our way onto Fort Hood. For those of you that do not know before 9-11 you could drive on and off base like you were driving through any other town. NOW you have to have a sticker on your car and if you do not then your entire vehicle is searched which can take between 30-1.5 hours depending on how many people need to be searched. So I rode with my dad and all I had to have was a picture ID. The base is in lock-down mode all the time now. Wow how are lives have been changed by hatred.

So I got to the hospital and Pamela was having some contractions and she was at 6 centimeters. My sister is a trooper and did not take any drugs for any of her children and did not take any for this labor. So the Labor and Delivery area was packed and so we were in a "holding" area until there was a room open. Now there are 14 rooms for delivery so there were a lot of women having babies. If you have been around the military at all you know that when soldiers come home from being on missions for longer than 1 year the birth rate goes up when they return.

Pamela walked and rocked and did what she had to do to make the pain manageable. So she finally thought that she was at a good point and her room was ready so she sat down. The midwife came in and checked her and she had moved to 8 centimeters. Pamela decided to have her water broke so that maybe the last two centimeters would come faster. They did after her water was broken she was ready to push. Now she only pushed THREE times and the baby came out.

So at 11:02 am Autumn Kay Miner was born. She weighed 6 lbs 6oz and was 20 inches long. After she was clean and the nurse was looking at her they noticed that her color was not right. They did some assessments and found that her oxygen level was not good. Autumn was at 72% and she needed to be at least at 90%. So the pediatric doctor came in and told us that they were taking Autumn to the NICU and that they were going to run some tests and they would let us know in about an hour of what was going on. At that moment I could see the panic that was in my sister's face. Her husband is in Iraq and now her newborn daughter is going to the NICU.

God knew that I needed to be at that delivery because I have been through that. When I had the triplets the boys were in the room with me but Esther was the in the NICU because of her weight, 4 lbs 3 oz. I knew what Pamela was feeling. So we got her walking as soon as possible got some food into her and then got to the "Baby and me" room. Then we walked to the NICU, scrubbed the germs off and went and saw Autumn.

After 4 hours if the pediatric doctor has not resolved the issue then the Neonatal doctor takes over. So now the Neonatal doctor has Autumn on an oxygen machine that is like a humidifier, they have fluids giving her some nutrition, Pamela is pumping, and they have a tube in Autumn's stomach to make sure not too much air is getting into her stomach. What they think is going on is that she got some amniotic fluid in her stomach when she was traveling the birth canal and that Autumn has to get that out of her system. Also Autumn came at 37 weeks. She is also on antibiotics so she has to stay in the NICU at least 48 hours.

I am asking that when you think of Pamela or Autumn today that you say a prayer for protection, peace and comfort for my sister and Autumn. The doctor says that Autumn is not at a state that Mike needs to come home, but that if it does come to that he will be on the next plane home. I am grateful for the prayers. She is beautiful. You cannot see it in the pictures but she has a FULL head of hair, it looks like she has highlights in her brown hair.