In case you're curious or bored here is my son's birth story which I typed up about 2 weeks after having him. Its VERY long! So prop up your feet and get comfy!
Friday, May 6, 2011 I went to my scheduled routine 31 week appt. For 3 weeks prior to the appt I had severe swelling in my ankles and feet, and I also had severe pitting edema. When I called my Drs office concerned about it they said they were only really concerned if my face was swollen. So at my appt they checked my blood pressure and urine. My urine had protein in it and my blood pressure was 175/95. I was delivering at a midwifery birthing center inside of a hospital so with the concern of my blood pressure and urine they admitted me for 24 hours so they could get a 24 hour urine collection and monitor my blood pressure and the baby. Even while lying in a hospital bed on my left side for 24 hours my pressure never came down. It kept see-sawing but the lowest number I ever got was 155/85.
During the 24 hours I was given 2 steroid injections to boost Jovani’s lung development just in case he came early. The next day I was definitely diagnosed as preeclamptic and was sent home on strict bedrest and was told the urine results should be in the next day and they would call me, if not to call and make an appt Mon, Tues, or Wed for a recheck. I was also told that in situations like mine he could come in a few days or a few weeks. So I’m thinking “Great, I’m going to miss out on 8 weeks of work!”
The rest of Saturday was pretty uneventful other than I started getting headaches. They didn’t send me home on any medications but said I could use Tylenol PM for any headaches. Sunday I was sleepy most of the day. Frank was nothing but helpful and cooked and cleaned all day. Around 10pm that night started getting bad diarrhea (TMI sorry), pain in my upper and lower abdomen, and pain across my back. This was not labor pain. I called the Dr’s after hours line and spoke to one of my midwives (Tara) who said it wasn’t something she wanted to hear from a preeclamptic woman but that it wasn’t really screaming out to her that I needed to go to the hospital. So she told me to try to sleep through it. If I couldn’t sleep through it call her back but if I could call first thing in the morning and make an appt asap.
At 1am Monday, May 9, 2011 I woke up in triple the pain I fell asleep to. I called and the midwife told me to head to the hospital. This is where things start getting fuzzy. We pack a bag and head to the hospital. About 4 blocks from our house at a stop light I projectile vomit out of the car. Mind you I was one of the “lucky” ladies who never had vomiting or nausea the entire pregnancy so this was new to me. I don’t remember the ride there. I remember pulling up to the hospital and a nurse grabbed me a wheel chair. I faintly remember riding through the halls to labor and delivery but once there I DO remember projectile vomiting again all over their carpet. After that I couldn’t tell you what happened. In my foggy brain my guess was that I was there maybe 30 minutes and then transferred by ambulance to another hospital. According to Frank I was there for FIVE hours while they waited for the on-call doctor to get there. It took him 2.5 hours to get there and another 2.5 hours to work up my transfer papers!!!
Has it dawned on anyone yet that I can’t remember any of this??? I will remind you that I was NEVER given any drugs! (Edited to add: I later found out I was given MULTIPLE rounds of drugs to bring down my blood pressure and they didn’t work) I can’t remember because the pain was so excruciating that I blacked it out (I’ll tell you what the pain was from soon) AND the fact that according to Frank who was extremely worried the highest my blood pressure got was 213/106!!! I was sitting there frying my brain out!!! I faintly remember thrashing on the bed from the pain but that’s it. So after the five hours I was finally ambulanced to Norfolk General Hospital which is much larger and next door is CHKD (Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters) , a huge children’s hospital which has the best NICU in the area. I faintly remember being in a surgical room and lots of doctors and nurses running around in a panic, a panic for me! I was so out of it that people had to yell at me to get my attention. I remember someone yelled “We have to get your baby out NOW! He is decelerating quickly! I need you to sign these c-section forms!” I squiggled something onto a piece of paper. There was another lady who said “I need you to lean forward for your spinal block! Can u hunch your shoulders?!” I know I said to her in the most pitiful quiet voice “Can I lean on you?” at which she said yes and put my head on her shoulder while she hugged me. At some point I know Frank was up at my head talking to me quietly. I can’t believe how well he handled all of this.
Next thing I remember is a woman saying “Your baby is born! He’s right there!” Only someone had taken my glasses so I couldn’t see him at all. I remember saying “He isn’t crying. He isn’t crying.” Frank said there were a swarm of Doctors and nurses surrounding him and whispering. He was not breathing on his own so they whisked him away to the NICU on a ventilator. Next thing I remember is waking up feeling the warmest air all over my body! It felt amazing! It was like a pool floatie with hot air blowing through it over my body to keep me warm and my circulation going. There was talk that I might need a blood transfusion. I also had these things on my feet and ankles that would fill up with air and compress them every few minutes.
A nurse came and asked if I could wiggle my toes which apparently I found hilarious and quoted straight from Kill Bill “Move your big toe.” She didn’t find me funny though lol. I was placed on an IV drip of magnesium sulfate so I wouldn’t have seizures. This drug makes you feel like you are in outer space. You pretty much can’t do anything. I didn’t even know they gave me a urinary catheter! I was on this drug for 2.5 days. Each day I remember Doctors would come in groups of 3 to check on me and every time I would ask “When can I see my son?” To which I was told “when you’re feeling better.” Luckily Frank kept seeing him and brought me back his foot print and the tiniest preemie diaper. He would also show me pictures.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 I was able to be wheeled to go see my baby because I was finally off of the magnesium sulfate drip. I saw him and cried and cried. They let me hold him for 15 minutes. Every day after that I was wheeled down to see him. I wasn’t allowed to hold him again but I could touch him. Later that night my urinary catheter was removed and I really wanted to try to urinate on my own. Two nurses came in to help me. They placed a bedside toilet 2 feet away from me. Im kind of “shy” and didn’t want them to watch me pee so I asked if they would wait outside the door. They obliged and I sat on the toilet. I urinated and rang the button for the nurses to come back in. Next thing I knew I was surrounded by about 10 doctors and nurses yelling at me! I had passed out while on the toilet! My blood pressure had quickly and drastically dropped very suddenly! Poor Frank was sleeping when they all busted in! He had no idea what was going on.
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful; more meds, more blood work, and many visits to see my new baby. I wasn’t discharged until Saturday, May 14, 2011 at which they finally let me hold him again because I was hysterical that I had to leave the hospital without my baby. That was honestly the worst day of my life. Having to leave broke my heart. I broke down so bad. I just kept crying in Franks arms saying “I don’t want to leave him!” I left the hospital with congratulatory balloons but no baby. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
He was born at 7:51am May 9, 2011. He weighed 2lbs 15 ounces and we were initially told he was 17 inches long but now that might be in question because he 16 and ¾ now. The pain I had experienced was due to my preeclampsia progressing to severe preeclampsia, which then turned into HELLP syndrome which causes your liver and kidneys to fail, drops your platelet count, and breaks down your red blood cells. So my liver was failing and hemorrhaging. Once they opened me up they also found my placenta was detaching from the uterine wall and I had a lot of bleeding from that as well. I was just bad all over! Jovani only had to be on a ventilator for 12 hours and then was switched to nasal oxygen. He now breathing room air perfectly fine and can hold his temperature well. He gets food through a nasal gastric tube which goes in his nose to his belly and he tolerates his feeding amazingly. He’s currently up to 23 cc’s every feeding and his last weight was 3lbs 1 ounce! I can’t wait for him to come home! This boy has quite the birth story!
