I woke up on Monday, August 30, to get ready for another ultrasound and doctor's visit. Lee had a particular amount of energy this morning and I found him unloading the dishwasher and checking the car seat (again) to be sure it was installed right. We had been told to come to every doctor's appointment with bags packed to be ready in case induction was going to happen. The ultrasound showed a healthy baby girl who was breathing up a storm. sOnce we got checked into the doctor, my bp was up to 151/110 and protein was showing in my routine urinalysis. My preeclampsia had gone from "mild" to "severe" and we were off to the hospital to be induced. They checked me at the office and I was dilated to 2 cm! We went straight to the hospital and got checked in. We were so excited to see Rhonda (my nurse from the preeclampsia stay) working and got to meet Shauna, my nurse for the day shift. The midwife came in to check me and I was already to 3 cm. I had dilated a centimeter in 45 minutes! (We're convinced I was on my way to going into labor on my own anyway) They broke my water, started pitocin, and we were off! Debbie Crowder (the midwife) informed me that they would need to start magnesium to keep my preeclampsia in check and to fight off possible seizures. I knew that mag wasn't a good thing. I knew it would make me loopy and probably make me throw up. I asked her how low my bp needed to be to avoid it. She said my bottom number needed to be in the 80's. The 80's?! Was she nuts?? I hadn't seen it that low since June! We get on the horn and start calling people to pray for that very specific need. I told Debbie to give me 20 minutes and if it wasn't down, I'd let her start the mag. Praise Jesus, it instantly started to go down and never again went above 88. Crisis avoided! Shauna left the bag of magnesium beside my bed so that we could continue to have a prayer point.
Labor continued like it should. Contractions on pitocin made me nuts (as I had heard they would) and I got my epidural when I dilated to 6 cm. I was able to start to get some rest, as did mom, and I let Lee cuddle with me while I enjoyed being pain free. At this point, I had met my night nurse (soon to be a friend), Misty, who was with us every second of the delivery process. When I got to a 9, I started to feel the contractions again and quickly went to a 10. I had been told that the urge to push was one of the strongest urges you'll ever feel, and man, were they right. But finally! Something could be done with the pain! With Lee, mom, and Misty with me, I started pushing at 3:15. What a surreal feeling! I remember thinking, "holy cow! I'm having a baby!" The midwife, Zion, was brought in and at 5:21, Nina Claire Boso was born weighing 6 lb 11.6 oz and measuring 19 inches long. She was perfect. The look on Lee's face when she was born was something I will never forget. I was still in shock as to how easily I could breathe and that I had just had a baby!
After we had all admired this new little wonder, Zion brought in Dr. Wolfe to help finish up with things. This is when things started to go downhill. About 40 minutes after delivery, my ears started ringing and I started seeing spots. At this point, a massive hemorrhage started from my uterus. I was an idiot who knew no better (heck, I'd never had a baby before!) and I laughed it off and apologized to everyone. I began to feel a tad more normal again and then a few minutes later, more hemorrhaging. At this point, I feel like I'm on an episode of ER. Nurses are buzzing everywhere, they call for O- blood stat, my blood pressure keeps falling (it was as low as 40/20), Nina is taken out of the room, I was in and out of consciousness, and I continued to ask Shauna (who was coming back on shift) if I was dying. (Typing about it just feels so weird that it was happening to me.) They apparently stuck me to draw blood and no blood came. The blood and fluids were started and I was wheeled down to the OR for immediate surgery. I have been told that I was a gray'ish green color and I continued to ask my OR nurse (I think her name was Cindy) if I was going to die. (Why did I harass these poor women and make them answer a question that they weren't sure of themselves??) There were anesthesiologists, nurses, and doctors everywhere. I knew I was dying, but was too sick to care.
The next thing I know, I'm in recovery. After being there for a while, I am taken to my room that has been turned into an ICU room in Labor and Delivery. Shauna was my nurse all day and I was hooked up to so many machines! I found out later that I had a condition called "placenta accreta". This is where the placenta adheres to the uterine wall and causes trauma after delivery. Most of these cases are in post-C-Section cases. Unfortunately, there is no way of diagnosing or predicting it. The accreta had left part of the placenta in my uterus that they were able to remove during surgery. After they determined they were able to save my life, a hysterectomy was considered, but luckily avoided. After surgery, I was considered "stable but not out the woods yet". I had been given 4 units of blood during surgery and 2 more the next day. By Friday, I was able to surprise my doctors and was sent home, on medicine, but home nonetheless.
I delivered when I was 37 weeks and 3 days. Who knows if the accreta would have caused more problems if I had gone the full 40 weeks. Also, I was told that magnesium could have increased my bleeding and made things much worse (could they have gotten worse??). Lucky for me, my hemoglobin was already at a 12 (12-14 is considered normal) before I went into labor giving me as much blood to work with as I could. I swear there are no coincidences in this world. God put every nurse, midwife, and doctor where He did in that 18 hours because they would be instrumental in saving my life. It has been 3 1/2 weeks and I still find myself washed with emotion to God's faithfulness. I can't sing "Great is Thy Faithfulness" without sobbing on the line "Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me".
When we were driving home from the hospital, I realized I had been given a new lease on life. I saw the horizon differently. Things that used to upset me seemed so small in the joy of new life for me and my tiny bundle of joy (did I mention that she was perfect??). God's faithfulness to me and my family can't be expressed. and the faces that were with me (Dr. Rainey, Dr. Wolfe, Misty, Shauna, and Rhonda) will never be forgotten. Instead of looking on that week with horror, I look at it gratefully for the deliverance that we experienced and the love I was given.
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