BIG NEWS!!! (June 3, 2009)

Well, first let me get this out of the way…..

Pam and I are proud to announce the birth of our first-born daughter, Riley Alexis Skach, at 8:49pm on June 2, 2009. She weighed in at 2 lbs 4.5 oz and measured 14” long. She has lots of dark hair, and dark eyes, but that could change. Mom is doing fine, waiting for the pain to set in after the numbness wears off. Baby is breathing with assistance from a respirator, and under the circumstances is doing well.

Now for the follow-up from today’s earlier email….

The contractions started to speed up about an hour after I sent the email 12 hours ago. By 6:00 they were less than 5 minutes apart so we were moved downstairs. Pam was hooked back up to the monitors, and another sonogram and speculum exam was done. The placenta had moved, but the baby appeared to be breach. By 7:30 or so, she was dilating very quickly so they made the decision to order a c-section, and soon after we were wheeled off to an operating room to get set up. The whole process almost seems a blur at this point, but I know we both experienced a thousand different emotions in a very short time-frame. We were able to see her before she was taken out to the NICU, and a few hours later we were able to visit.

Since then, we’ve been moved up to a new room (see below) and will be here for probably 3-5 days for Pam to recover. Baby Riley will likely be here for quite some time, expected to come home somewhere around her original due date – August 29th. As of tomorrow, we welcome any and all visitors, but please call before coming so we can avoid having too many people at once. We are allowed to take visitors to the NICU to see Riley, but visiting hours are very limited so we may or may not be able to take very many people in.

At this point, it is hard to assess Riley’s condition. She doesn’t look that great right now, very bruised and her body is contorted from the tight space and “rough” delivery (it took quite a bit to get her out). At the time, her right arm and shoulder area were tucked in a weird position in the uterus that has caused some swelling, which will go down over time. Please keep her in your prayers, as we will surely have a rough road ahead of us over the next few months. It will be very tough going home without her, and having to make daily visits back here to see her, hold her, feed her, etc. Thanks to many of you for sharing your personal stories of success you’ve gone through or witnessed in similar situations. They are all very inspiring and we hope to have the same outcome.

Here is contact information. Again, please call or text one of us before visiting…
Room #: 03-551
Room phone #: 316-962-3637
Pam cell: 316-737-0087
Joe cell: 316-304-5445