On Tuesday, May 31st I went in for my routine OB appointment @ 1pm. Everything went great! I got news that my 3 hours glucose test was "perfectly normal" and the results from my last ultrasound were so good that I was cleared off of bed rest and "free to live life as normal and enjoy the rest of my pregnancy!" I was BEYOND excited!! I went home, was making big plans for the next day, then decided to take a little nap.
I woke up around 3pm and just wasn't feeling so
hot! I was trying to convince myself that I wasn't having any contractions, but realized I couldn't deny it. Headed to the hospital around 5pm to see what was happening. They were so full, that I just had to sit in the lobby contracting for a while. Once I finally got in a room the contractions were 2 minutes apart! They ended up giving me 2 shots of Terbutaline and the contractions settled down and they sent me home around 10 pm. I was still a little scared to be too active so I just went to bed.
Around 3:30am I woke up with more contractions. This time like 10 minutes apart, so I thought they may just go away. 4:30am I decided to hop in the tub and just relax a bit with lavender and Epsom Salt. I quickly realized things were getting more intense and went to wake my mom to take me back to the hospital. Pain was intensifying. As I stood by the front door waiting to leave, GUSH, my water broke! I realized then that I was going to have a baby at 30weeks!! TOO EARLY is all I could think.
At the hospital they gave me another shot of Terbutaline (didn't really work). Contractions
s continued. They gave me a steroid shot to help with lung development. They started antibiotics and They ended up starting Magnesium Sulfate to stop the contractions too. I ended up getting the highest dose I could get before contractions finally settled down. The Mag Sulfate pretty much makes you feel like total crap. Flu-like, hit by a train feeling. They ordered an ultrasound and biophysical profile (BPP). Turns out baby was now transverse, no chance for vaginal birth, and failed the BPP. Although the heart rate was great, he was not moving at all. The only thing we scored any points on was the amniotic fluid. Guess there was still a small pocket of fluid. Once doc got the results of this ultrasound they ordered a repeat one STAT. In the meantime they give me a catheter so I'm not up walking and changing baby's heartrate. I hated it! I cried. I had a little breakdown about how uncomfortable it was. I wanted it OUT! I didn't get my way. Instead, I got convinced to take some Stadol. Generally, in a full-term labor situation, I would suggest people avoid such medications. It just makes you feel calm and takes the edge off the pain and can slow labor. Since I did not want nor need to be in labor, these were good things.
Unfortunately, you can only take it every 3 hours and the effects fade after about 1. But, that one hour of relief was what I needed to stay sane.
Same results after 2nd ultrasound. Everyone was really hoping we could wait 48 hours before birth so the baby could get the max benefits from the steroid shots to help with lung development. However, after the u/s results, the situation became more of an "emergency c-section." They thought infection was somewhere in my uterus (hence water breaking to get infection out, just like a zit pops...body's way of healing).
The only sad part about this, was that I knew Wes would miss the birth :-( Anesthesia came in and made me decide between general and regional anesthesia. He would not do an epidural because the catheter is too large and was too risky since I already had an infection. He didn't want me to end up with meningitis. I decided to go with the spinal/regional because general anesthesia makes me incredibly sick! Got that all done in the OR. Took a while for the numbness to get all the way up. Ended up tilting me back on the table. Do you know how odd is it to be fully conscious, lying upside down, naked on a table with people walking all around you? It's weird! At least they act like it's no big deal.
Mom came in as the surgery
started. Do you know how gross burning skin smells? ICK! Once the doc opened up my skin, he dec
ided to try to turn baby to avoid making a vertical uterine incision. (Vertical incisions are very rarely used, but my baby was in the ONE position: transverse back down, that REQUIRES this. Dr. Gomez was so upset about possibly doing this because recovery is worse and you can never have a VBAC. ) I was feeling all the tugging and pulling way up into my chest. He basically had to stick his arms way up in my chest to maneuveur the baby. Although terribly uncomfortable for me, it did work and he was able to do a horizontal uterine incision. Once they finally got the baby out, they had my mom announce if it was a boy or girl: Another BOY for us! 3 lbs. 13 oz, June 1, 2011, 4:13 pm. After a few days, we decided on the name JOEL LUKE.
Neonatologist took the baby and worked on him. My mom got to go over and see him and snap some pic's. We even heard him cry! My mom left with baby boy and they finished my surgery. seems like it took quite a while to finish everything. It's kinda lonely being left in an OR with just an anesthesiologist (sp?) in site. The pushing and pulling sensations began to get painful. Toward the end I yelled, it hurt! They hurried to put something in my IV and the pain feeling went away. They sew and staple me up and then I go to recovery for a bit. The nurse did some feeling test down my belly, and I could already feel things down to my belly button. She seemed really surprised. I think my anesthesia took longer than normal to take effect and quicker than usual to wear off. I was wiggling my feet and legs in no time!
After this I got taken to Mother/Baby unit. Wes arrived at the hospital around 10pm and got to go down to the NICE with me. I couldn't wa
it to see my baby. He was precious. He didn't even need oxygen. He was on a CPAP to give him pressure to breathe, but was only breathing room air. He's a little miracle. I don't know why I had an infection, but I know my water breaking was God's way of saving "it's time for this baby to born." It kept us both safe and healthy. Pumping also began a few hours after his birth. I had colostrum right away. The nurses were not super encouraging of me pumping every 3 hours, but I am thankful I know how to establish breastfeeding and know to not listen to them. Unfortunately, Joel can not have the breastmilk until I am off antibiotics. His system can not tolerate them-so it's 11 days of formula for the little man. He can have the colostrum (now frozen) once he is "term" and better able to tolerate the medicines I was on.
I ended up spiking fevers the next day. They were awful. All of a sudden I would be FREEZING for a few hours, then burning up for a few hours. Then, I'd feel wonderful. It was odd. I was on multiple IV antibiotics, then switched to 2 more IV antibiotics. They did blood and urine culture and both came back positive for e.coli. Crazy! Before I could go home, 5 days and one emotional breakdown later, Infectious Disease doc came to see me and switched me to yet another Oral antibiotic. He thinks it all started as a kidney infection since my urine was positive. I have no idea how they determine all of this since I never had any symptoms except for a fever, oh, and labor! haha Recovery seems slow to me. It's been a week and I'm not normal yet. Maybe the infection put a damper on the recovery process, but I am so thankful that our 30 weeker is doing so well!!
God truly had his hand on us this entire time. Seriously, I was on bed rest of some form for 24 weeks (when I had my first hemorrhage at 6 weeks)! It really is amazing we made it to 30 weeks, especially with an original hematoma size of almost 17 cm. That's HUGE for a subchorionic hematoma. Dr. Gomez showed me my placenta and said it was a mess. Wherever there was remainder of the blood clot, the edge of the placenta had turned gray from infection. He could not believe this pregnancy continued for 30 weeks! Thank you all for your prayers, they mean the world to us.
I'll try to do a "Joel Update" soon. This one posts has taken me a week....I started the day after he was born! oops!
add 1 lb of ground beef w/ sautéed onions, and lots of seasons (basil, oregano, thyme), and about a cup of water. Let simmer for about 2 hours.
Elliot came up to the hospital with us this morning. She hasn't been in almost a week (I think). Our nurse, Debbie (who is fantastic), took Joel out and held him at the window for a long time. It was sweet to see Elliot's face watching her brother. At one point her eyes were scanning back and forth on his face, like she was memorizing it in herlittle brain. Fascinating! She told Papa that he looked like a baby doll. He had his foot up on the window and was kicking off it! He's getting stronger everyday! After his window display, I got to do some Kangaroo Care with him while he had his first feeding with breastmilk. YEA!
