March 19, 2012 started out normal. Husband had to work in Tyler, Red head to school, and I headed to work. I had my glucose appointment at 4pm. There were some reports of severe storms heading our way in the late afternoon. Before heading to my appointment, I picked up my boy. Those that know me well, know that I DO NOT like storms....especially when husband is two hours away.
So my sweet boy and I head to the doctors office. We get there and go through the normal routine. It's always normal and great, UNTIL we get to the blood pressure. My blood pressure is always high and we all know this. Unfortunately, this day was WAY too high. Long story short.... My doctor (who is amazing) sends me (against my will) to the hospital to get monitored at 5pm.
I immediately call husband and let him know that me and the boy are heading to the hospital. I then have to call my mom because I had promised the sweet boy that we would get something to eat as soon as the appointment was over. And we headed to the hospital to get admitted. Again, everything went as normal as it could...check in, answer all the questions, get hooked up to the monitors. After all of that, we waited.
Mom gets there, her husband takes the boy for food and homework, and we continue to wait. Dr J gets there and checks on me. Mother in law gets there. Dr J comes in and does a sono. At this point, he tells me she is looking good, just measuring about two weeks smaller. He was going to continue to monitor. Husband gets to hospital. Mom and Mother in law leave (7:45pm)
There are some suspicious movements of the baby that they seemed worried about but it wasn't alarming (at least not to me at that time). The nurses and dr are both having a hard time keeping the babies heartbeat on the monitor. Dr J sits with husband and I for awhile just watching the baby on the monitors. We are watching The Voice. We talked with the dr about how these shows are better without the "chitchat" and how on the Bachelor he thinks it is all staged (which I do strongly agree with). It was a nice conversation that definitely eased some of the tension I was beginning to feel. (8pm or so)
Around 8:30pm, Dr J came back in and said that he wanted to transport me to Dallas. The baby's heart rate kept dropping. He still didn't seem too worried. He said that Dallas was better equipped and could do some more extensive monitoring. My heart sank and my mind went blank. I told him that I had never flown and I certainly wasn't planning the first flight to be a $10,000 Careflight flight. He left the room and then came back. He told me the weather was way too bad for Careflight. In a matter of seconds (or so it seemed) it went from just getting monitored to the words "We are taking the baby." Dr and husband talked first and then they came and told me. The baby's heart rate dropping was a sign that the placenta could detach. There was no way to predict when or if it would happen. Dr told me that at this point it was safer to deliver than to try and carry to term.
*It's an amazing feeling to have a doctor that you completely trust. In the midst of the tears and fears, I knew that God was in control and this is the doctor that HE put in our life for this very moment. He informed us that the neonatal team was already in transit. They would be here when the baby was born and they would be prepared to take her and transport her to the NICU.
The next minutes (literally) were spent making fast phone calls, preping for surgery and lots of tears. I don't think I have ever been more scared in my entire life. This certainly didn't fit into my plan. I questioned God, "Why did it have to be this way." At that point, I just wanted to see my boy and he wasn't there. I felt so helpless.
The nurses tried to calm me with words like "girls are stronger than boys" and "technology isn't the same" and "you have nothing to worry about." Again, my doctor is amazing. As soon as I was told they were taking the baby, he didn't leave my side. It definitely made everything a little less stressful.
And then, in a blink of an eye, there I was getting rolled down the hallway to surgery. I've watched lots of hospital shows (Grey's, etc) and it was JUST like on tv. It was very surreal. I watched the lights roll along the ceiling and then went into this room that was all white and sterile. The doctor, nurses, and the anesthesiologist all did what they do. I must say, the anesthesiologist was awesome too. He was very comforting and stayed by my side talking to me. At this point, my husband still wasn't with me so it was nice having someone there telling me everything was okay.
The neonatal team called in and were just minutes away. Everyone got into place and they began the spinal. Again, dr was by my side and it was his turn to tell me everything was okay. As soon as the spinal was done, they laid me down and husband was allowed in. I don't think I've ever felt more relief in my entire life.
The dr and nurses do the surgery. I must say, this was the most horrifying, excruciating, awful, painful thing I have ever gone through. I don't know why people choose the c-section route. I literally thought I was going to die. It was absolutely horrible. I still have nightmares about it.
I don't remember a lot for a little bit. I remember going into recovery, Husband showing me a picture of sweet girl, although I was very much out of it. I remember a few other minor details. Then I was in my room with some of our family.
At the end of the entire experience we had a 1lb 5oz baby girl born at 10:07pm on March 19,2012 at 27 weeks. We were terrified but we know that God is in control. This little girl has completely changed us.
She is the reason we walk this year. She is still in the NICU and gets stronger everyday. So we will walk this year and next year, she will be with us walking for years after that.
I'm very excited to be a part of March for Babies this year and hope you will join my team!
Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small and often very sick. We're walking because we want to do something about this.
The money we raise will support March of Dimes research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. And it will be used to bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care.
Please join my team. You can do so on my team page. If you can't walk with us, please help the team reach our goal by making a donation. You can do that online as well.Thank you for helping me give all babies a healthy start!
Would you like to see what March for Babies is and why I'm walking?
Click here to see the video.
The March of Dimes mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.
