The times, they are a'changing...

I was told that I need to blog more often...so here I am, blogging.

St. Patty's Day marked one month since I went into labor and we headed for an after midnight (on the 18th) drive to drop Chasten off in BSG and head to the hospital. Inevitably, the nurses at the hospital believed I was not in labor and had jumped the gun on coming in (mind you my contractions were steadily 3-4 mins apart and had been for over an hour, lasting for 45-60 seconds each) because their monitor was only picking up one contraction every 15 minutes or so. After Mike timed my contractions for me, he went to complain their monitors were wrong and they needed to fix them and they conceded saying they were finally getting them and would be admitting me.

I must confess that with both of my pregnancies, once I hit "full term" at 37 weeks, it never once crossed my mind that something could still go wrong. With Eloise being only 2 days from my due and induction dates, it never even occurred to me to be concerned. So, when the nurse came in to tell me that she wasn't moving like they'd like and that her heart rate was dropping when my contractions peaked, we began to pray. Our OB ordered an ultasound to make a biophysical profile of the baby so we could measure her distress. We found out that her umbilical cord was around her neck but they didn't feel it was yet time to move in for a c-section (though we made it clear that we were not opposed to doing so). I was cleared to have my epidural and it was issued, but didn't take 100%. I let the nurse know I could still feel one specific spot on the right side of my abdomen. She said she'd let anesthesia know, but it would likely just be a "hot spot." An hour and a half later (and still no re-visit from anesthesia), I could feel my contractions fully on the entire right half of my abdomen/back. While we continued to wait (and I was at 8 cm), my nurse gave me staydol which does nothing for your pain, but makes you not care about it (as well as a little loopy--I told my husband I could see Sesame Street while counting blocks with my eyes closed through my contractions and though I knew these things were silly, they kept happening). Good news: anesthesia came back. Bad news: he stuck me four more times before my epidural finally took. Luckily, my staydol lasted through the four additional sticks, so I didn't care about the pain.

With my epidural in full swing, I was able to get some much needed rest. At 7:30a my OB came in and broke my water and told me there was meconium in my water. Again, we made certain to let it be known we were NOT opposed to having a c-section. However, we were told that as long as I continued to progress, they weren't going to perform a c-section. At around 12:30p my OB finally decided that baby's heart rate was dipping too low and my c-section was the safest route. I was taken into the OR and my daughter was born at 1:06pm weighing in at 6 lbs 14.5 oz and 20.1 inches long. Due to the meconium in her lungs, we didn't get to hear her cry for a few days. I slept through the majority of my cesarean out of sheer exhaustion but was awake long enough to kiss my girl before she was whisked away to the NICU.

We were told she would have to be checked in and settled and that a Dr. would come brief us in half an hour. Nearly two hours later, we still hadn't been updated and were very panicked. Mike and his parents finally went downstairs to try and find out what was happening. Turns out two critical babies were admitted to the NICU after Eloise and no one is allowed in during their sterile procedures to check in new critical little ones. A nurse did take a picture on our phone for us and promised a Dr. consult ASAP. Dr. Pius Powers (the neonatologist on duty) came to my room and let us know that due to the wetness in her lungs, they intubated her and placd her on a vent to help regulate her lung pressure and prevent a lung collapse, they ran two lines through her belly button (one for fluids, one for medicines) to easily access her arterial vein, her umbilical cord had been extremely long and thin like a pencil (something that happens and can't be predicted or prevented) and had wrapped around her several times, her blood pressure was very low and she was on two medications to correct that, she would have to remain in the NICU for at least 7 days. We were also informed that they would have to run multiple tests on her over her stay there. We were moved to an OB Postpartum Recovery suite and were called at 8:30p to come down and see our baby in the NICU.

Seeing your child for relatively the first time is very emotional in and of itself. When this first meeting also consists of your child being hooked up to multiple tubes and wires that prevents anyone from holding her. it's overwhelming. For the first time in my life I felt truly helpless. My brand new, should be perfect, baby was sick and there was nothing I could do. I couldn't even comfort her, hold her, rock her or feed her. Let me say my husband is a rock. Though he cried right along with me, he was so strong and kept me strong as well.

The next morning, I had a headache that nearly made me want to vomit. No medication provided relief and I simply had to lie flat for it to ease off. Remember my 5 stick epidural? Turns out that with a successful (1 stick) epidural, you have a 6% chance of developing a spinal headache (from a leak of spinal fluid outside of your spine due to a knick from the epidural needle). For each additional stick given, that 6% chance doubles (I had 5 so 6x2x2x2x2=96% chance of spinal headache). What, you may ask, do they do for this? One of three things:
1) Nothing and your horrendous headache should last no more than two weeks
2) Place you on an iv drip of saline and a drip of straight caffeine
3) A blood patch. This means they draw 20ccs of blood from your arm and use yet another epidural to push the blood into your spine. 96% of the time this is an instantaneous solution because the blood cells patch up the knick where the spinal fluid is leaking.

I opted for option 2. Wouldn't you know that during my hospital stay the company that provides caffeine IVs had been experiencing a shortage and so neither the hospital nor their pharmacy partners could get one. So after a very quickly dripping saline IV tried to over hydrate me and alleviate my headache (but only accomplished forcing me to have to get up and pee 4 times in 40 minutes...making my headache worse), I chose option 3. I, however, fell into the very rare 4% who prove unaffected by the blood patch. My headache lasted for 8 days in which I spent my days lying flat in bed and sending my husband to the NICU so that she didn't feel we'd abandoned her there. I could bear my headache at night for around half an hour and would go visit her myself then. During the week that I visited her only once a day for half an hour, Mike visited every chance he could for hours at a time (he's amazing, I tell you).

Eloise was extubated and removed from the vent the morning after she was born. That same morning she received a platelet transfusion due to her extremely low count.  Over the next few days she underwent multiple tests, including an EEG (which was normal) and an ECHO and EKG which showed she had an enlarged right ventricle and a tiny pin-sized hole in her heart. Her platelets continued to stay low but she was able to have her arterial lines withdrawn on Tuesday the 21st (which meant we could hold her for the first time). As the week progressed, so did our little girl. On that Friday she was finally released to eat for the first time (instead of having lipids and vitamins pumped straight into her tummy by a tube). We got to have her in a room with us on that Sunday and she had an MRI on Monday. When the results came back on Tuesday, we were told she had hemorrhaging in her brain (which explained the low platelet count) and would have to follow up with a neurologist, but that she would be released to go home with us that day. We ecstatically packed up and, after a 10 day hospital stay, trekked to pick up big brother and headed home. Having our whole family together was an amazing feeling.

This long blog post is filled with seemingly depressing things, but I have to say that even in the midst of all of the negativity, we had complete peace that we know came from the Lord. I know not everyone who reads my blog believes in God, but I also know that those same people respect my beliefs as I do their choice not to share them. That being said, I'd also like to thank those who were in constant prayer for us during the difficult birth and hospital stay. We have no doubt that all of our faith together played a role in the miraculous recovery our girl has made. We haven't had our neuro consult yet, but her cardio consult today showed a normal and properly functioning heart! Praise the Lord for His constant faithfulness to us! :)