Birthday

After I started taking the labetalol, I made Logan check my blood pressure at least 3 times a day with his stethoscope and sphygmomanometer. I was a little paranoid and nervous, especially when it didn't come down quickly like I thought it should. Anyway, on Saturday morning, I was supposed to help my friend Stephanie teach a gymnastics class. Luckily my blood pressure had finally gone down to 112/80, so I felt totally at ease going to gymnastics.

At gymnastics, I stretched with the girls, which felt great. I did a cartwheel to demonstrate hand placement, but it was very slow and non-jarring. I was very careful not to lift or spot any of the girls or do anything too strenuous. I felt good, and I never felt any pain or anything.

About half way through the class, I went to the bathroom. When I stood up, I noticed a small amount of pink discharge. This was weird for me because with both of my pregnancies I had never had any of this. It worried me, but since it wasn't a lot, I kind of brushed it aside for a minute.

At the end of the first class, I went to the bathroom again just to check. This time I noticed some of the blood on my underwear. I started getting more nervous and decided I should call Nicole to ask her opinion. She didn't answer, so I sent her a quick text message. Since I was so worried, I decided I probably shouldn't teach the next class, and I decided to go home. My Aunt Diana works in the women's center at EIRMC, so I thought I would give her a call to ask her opinion. Se didn't answer either. I then decided to just pay the $30 to call the on-call physician, which I knew wouldn't be Dr. Leavitt because he was out of town until Monday. I spoke with Dr. Oldroyd and explained what had been going on that day and the past week. He didn't seem overly concerned about it. He said I should go home and take it easy, put my feet up, and follow up with Dr. Leavitt on Monday. He said if the bleeding got any heavier, that I should go to a labor and delivery to be checked.

So, I did what he said. I went home and put my feet up on the couch and watched tv. Logan was in the middle of changing out our water heater downstairs, and Milyn came into the room with a poopy diaper. I decided to get up and change that and fix her hair for the day.

Since I had been home, I hadn't noticed much bleeding, but when I got up with Milyn, I felt a sudden rush of something. I went to the bathroom to check and found my underwear saturated with blood. I yelled for Logan to come upstairs, and told him, "I think this counts as heavier bleeding." We hurried and got Milyn's things together and took her to Logan's parents, so we could head over to EIRMC.




We got to the hospital and explained to the nurses what had been going on. They said it is always better to be safe, and they took me back to a room to get set up for some tests. They also told me that Dr. Leavitt WAS there, so if needed he would be able to come and check me as well. I was glad to know he was back in town, so I could hear his opinion regarding what had been happening.




The nurse brought us back to this small room and hooked me up to a non-stress test. She also had me get another urine sample to rule out infection. She told me to let her know if I felt anther rush of blood, then she said,"now we just get to kind of wait and see." When I came back from getting the urine sample, I saw a little bit of blood on the bed where I was sitting, but it looked really pale pink, almost watery. I mentioned this to the nurse, because in my head I was wondering what it could be, other than amniotic fluid. She didn't seem overly concerned with this and didn't even bother to check at the time, so once again, I just kind of brushed it aside.

The whole time we were in the room, Logan and I were talking about how they were probably just going to do a few tests and then tell us that they couldn't find anything wrong and to come back if we had more problems. Although we didn't want something to be wrong, we didn't want them to send us home either. I think even Logan knew that something was up, because he kept saying they just couldn't send us home.

The nurse was very nice, but kind of timid, and we could tell she got a little nervous a couple of times looking at the print out of the non-stress test. My blood pressure also remained elevated. She kept saying she was leaving the room to make another phone call to the doctor. Pretty soon she comes in saying the ultrasound technician should be here any minute to check on some things.

The ultrasound was tense as well. I told the tech that I had just had a positive ultrasound on Wednesday and that the only thing slightly abnormal was that my fluid was a little low. I kept looking at the screen and watching things move around and in and out of view. I definitely have an untrained eye, but I could see that the baby wasn't moving. I could see his heart beating, though, so that brought some relief. I could tell he was checking my placenta for a bleed, but I couldn't tell what he was seeing. I then recognized him measuring the fluid, which he seemed to have to repeat a couple of times. While he was doing this, I felt another rush of fluid. I am not sure if the tech recognized this from the screen. We were now 30 minutes into the ultrasound with no fetal movement, and the tech rushed outside to talk to the doctor.

Logan and I were nervous about not seeing the baby react during the ultrasound, and we were just talking about it, when all of a sudden a different nurse comes into the room. She said my nurse, Nancy and the ultrasound tech were talking to Dr. Leavitt, and that we would be delivering our baby that day. WHAT?!! She then said that the doctor would be right in to explain some things and that everything was going to happen really fast. She wasn't kidding. The time was about 3pm. I don't remember much of what was going on in my mind, but I just remember thinking, "this is too soon. 26 weeks is just too soon!"

Dr. Leavitt came in and explained that the baby was in obvious distress and that the best thing for the baby, as wrong as it seemed due to his gestational age, was to deliver him. I then mentioned to him that it probably didn't matter now, but I had had another rush of fluid. He went ahead and checked the fluid anyway and said that my water had clearly broke. He then checked my cervix which had dilated to 2cm and was 75% effaced. He said the baby was breech and that an emergency c-section would be necessary. I never felt any contractions or any pain.

I started bawling, and my parents came in to the room. We explained to them what was going to happen and Logan made some phone calls to his family while I was getting poked and prepped for surgery. I remember a nurse giving me a shot in my butt. While giving it, she said "this is to help develop your baby's lungs." Right, I thought. I'm sure this will have time to make my baby's lungs stronger considering he will be delivered in a half hour.




I was hurriedly wheeled into the cold operating room and put on a cold table while the nurses put the catheter in and Dr. Leavitt made some marks on my abdomen. Dr. Leavitt explained that they were waiting for the neonatologist before they put me under because the longer I am under before the baby gets out, the more exposure he has to the drugs. He then said that it takes about a minute for the baby to be delivered.

The anesthesiologist was Dr. Weber. He was very kind and stopped several times to ask me how I was doing and if I had any questions. I have no idea where Logan was during this time. Pretty soon Dr. Weber put a mask on my face and said I should start to feel really comfortable. Maks was born at 3:26 pm.




I remember waking up in recovery sometime between 5 and 5:30. At that time my parents, in-laws, and Logan were in the room. Dr. Leavitt came in to explain how things went. He said the cord was wrapped twice very tightly around Maks' neck, and if we would have waited even an hour or two longer before coming in, he would not have delivered a living baby. He also said there was a problem with the positioning of my bladder, which was likely the cause of the urinary symptoms I had been having.

The neonatologist, Dr. Anschutz, then came in and explained that Maks had to be worked on for about 30 minutes and that he was now on a ventilator but doing well. He was actively resuscitated for about 9 minutes and had three rounds of epinephrine to get his heart started.

After recovery, I remember being wheeled up to my room on the second floor, but they stopped in the NICU to let me see Maks first. What an emotional thing that was for me. Seeing him lying there so tiny and helpless just made me cry. He was only 1lb 2oz and 11 inches long. I just kept thinking that he still belonged inside of me. At only 26 weeks, I hadn't even gotten the opportunity to bond with him in my belly. I never got to sit with Logan and Milyn and watch with excitement as my belly moved. We never got to talk to him or sing to him. I never got to nest and get his room ready for him. I was not ready to have a baby, emotionally or physically, and yet, there he was, just so little and so helpless. I knew I had a long road of emotional battles ahead.




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