Stats (Pre-Jackson):
Anna (24 years old) and Ryan (25 years old). 4 pregnancies. (2 early miscarriages. 2 ectopic pregnancies.) Multiple rounds of Clomid, IUI (intra-uterine insemination), one round of IVF (in-vitro fertilization). All treatments failed in giving us a healthy pregnancy. One round of methotrexate (for ectopic #1). One laperoscopy (for ectopic #2). One right ovarian cystectomy. One D&C (dilation and curettage). Normal ultrasounds of uterus. Normal HSG (hysterosalpingogram). Normal sperm counts. Normal hormone levels (slightly elevated FSH but not enough to worry about). No concrete evidence why pregnancies keep failing.
So, after the last round of IVF, the doctors essentially told us "Sorry, you'll never have a baby and we have no idea why." Result: Ryan and I decided to adopt! We began the process, went to the adoption physical, and low and behold: I was pregnant with Jackson!!
Pregnancy Story:
I found out in mid December I was pregnant with Jackson. On New Year's Eve, I was in Ohio visiting family when I began having upper abdominal pain similar to the pain I'd had in the past with my ectopic pregnancies. Ryan and I rushed to the ER and after multiple ultrasounds (all seemingly inconclusive) they decided to perform a laporoscopy to determine if I was having another ectopic pregnancy. Luckily, I wasn't!
Around eight weeks, I began to have terrible "all-day sickness" similar to morning sickness. I struggled to keep anything down and made a trip to the ER for IV fluids and medicine to help my nausea. I lost a couple of pounds during the first trimester and the doctors started me on both Phenegran and Reglan.
At 12 weeks, I had my first blood clot on the placenta. The doctors at the ER said that Jackson looked fine and these hemmorhages happened sometimes in early pregnancy as the placenta is settling into place. I didn't think too much of it, stayed on light duty for a few weeks, and left it at that.
At 15 weeks, I had another blood clot. My OB was concerned, so he sent me to see a Perinatalogist. This specialist told me that I had Placenta Previa (at this point, it was unclear how severe the previa wasa and if it would remain that way) and I was bleeding where the placenta was trying to attach near the cervix. We also found out at that visit that Jackson was a boy! :)
At 18-19 weeks, I had a big gush of blood while I was in the shower and ended up back at the hospital. The doctors found another blood clot, and I ended up staying in the High Risk Perinatal Unit (further known as HRP) for five days. After the bleeding subsided a little, the doctors sent me home with the promise that further bleeding (especially after 24 weeks) would result in me ending up in the hospital to stay for awhile.
At 20 weeks, I ended up in the hosptital for 48 hours for severe food poisoning. Yea.
At 22 weeks, I was readmitted to the hospital for a severe bladder infection that had spread up into my kidneys. I enjoyed a hospital bed and IV antibiotics for almost 72 hours.
At 23 weeks and 4 days, I had another big gush of bleeding and ended up back in the HRP Unit for the remainder of my pregnancy. By this point, my previa had resolved (yea!) but I was classified as a Chronic Placental Abruption because the bottom part of my placenta was slowly pulling off the wall and causing blood clot after blood clot. As far as the doctors could tell, my placenta just didn't attach well, espcially after the previa.
At 23 weeks and 6 days, I received my first shot of steriods. (Thanks goodness for those now!) I also began antibiotics for a kidney infection. I would remain on IV antibiotics for the remainder of my pregnancy.
At 25 weeks, I began having my first contractions. The doctors were able to stop them with three doses of turbutaline and procardyia. I was placed on procardyia for the remainder of my pregnancy, but luckily, it did stop my contractions. I wasn't having cervical change with the contractions and the doctors concluded they were just a symptom of my chronic slow abruption.
At 26 weeks and 2 days, the perinatolgist assured me that she didn't think I'd fully abrupt anytime soon, things looked stable, and I'd make it to 34-36 weeks. I kept thinking "you've got to be kidding me! 8-10 more weeks in this bed!!! I miss my cats!! I want to go home!!:
Jackson's Birthday:
The day Jackson was born, I had no idea he was coming! I woke up in the morning with a terrible pain in my back and of course, an inability to urinate. I had a very similar experience after my IVF egg retrieval and spent two weeks on a catheter. (In fact, I was on a catheter at my sister's weddig. Talk about exciting.) So, I called the nurse in, freaking out, and after hours of being in pain and drinking a billion ounces of fluids, the doctors finally called in a urologist. The urologist, a very nice woman that I will defintely see in the future if I have any problems) told me that she thought I had a bladder obstruction and told me I'd have to have a catheter put in for a week or so until it got better. She ordered me some pain medicine and told me to take it easy. I had been up most of the day walking around because I was in so much pain. In the hospital, I was known for playing tough and not complaining about anything. I tried to never cry in front of the nurses or doctors. My back hurt so badly though I was crying hysterically, pacing the floors, and I even called Ryan (who wasn't there) and begged him to come to the hospital earlier than he was planning to just for some comfort. At about 4pm the nurse came in to do my afternoon fetal heart and contraction monitoring. Laying in the bed at that point was torture (due to the back pain) so I begged her to give me half an hour until the pain medicine and catheter began to give me some relief. Of course, she pulled the Jackson card: "But we need to make sure Jackson is okay. Just give me 10 minutes." An hour later, she came back in and took the results. About 20 minutes after that, two nurses came flying in the door "Anna, do you know that you're having contractions???" "Ugh... No" I knew I was in pain, but it didn't feel like contractions! At that point they were about every 8 minutes apart or so. By 8pm that night, I had begun to feel them slightly and they were about every 6-7 minutes apart. They treated me with 4 rounds of terbutaline. By 10pm the nurse told me it might be a good idea to call Ryan back "just in case". (Ryan had gone home to feed the cats.) Since I had had this experience two weeks previous when I was having contractions, I didn't think anything of it. They moved me down to the dungeon (the rooms next to the OR) "just in case" and began treating me with magnesium sulfate (the hardcore medicine to treat preterm labor. I was told by pretty much everyone that it would make me hot, feel like I had the flu, etc). By 11pm I was REALLY feeling the contractions and they were every 2 minutes or so. The doctor told me she was just going to let me labor until she saw major changes in my cervix. She said that the magnesium should fix the problem. My favorite L&D nurse in the whole wide world came to visit me at around this point before she left for the night. She kept telling me that I had to breathe because I was turning red in the face and was holding my breath during contractions. Ryan kept encouraging me to breathe, but honestly, I was just focusing on keeping quiet. All I wanted to do at that point was scream through the contractions, but I didn't want anyone to hear me. So, I just made little noises and held my breath. It made sense to me at the time.
Hello midnight. At that point, my contractions were less than 30 seconds apart lasting about two minutes long. The doctor came rushing in at around this point and said, "I think you are completly abrupting. Even though it looks like Jackson is tolerating the contractions now, with an abruption he'll go from tolerating them to not tolerating them within seconds. I'd rather give the NICU a healthy 26 week baby than one in distress. So, it's go time."
I remember looking at Ryan and thinking "Go time?? WE CAN'T! The doctors told me 34 weeks! I can't have this baby now! He won't survive!!" I was devastated. Yet again, I felt like my body was failing me and I was scared. I told Ryan to call our parents to let them know what was going on (we hadn't called anyone up to this point because I thought they'd treat me with meds and send me back upstairs like they did last time!) Within minutes, I had my epidural, a new IV, etc. etc. etc. Within 45 minutes I was prepped, in the OR, and getting ready to meet Jackson. Everything else happened so fast. I remember being really upset because I didn't hear Jackson cry, constantly asking if he was okay, and then overhearing the doctors say "Wow. She is losing a lot of blood." after Ryan and Jackson left the room. After I went to recovery, the doctor came by and told me that a) I had lost a lot of blood and needed a blood transfusion and b) I was having a complete abruption and Jackson and I wouldn't have made it much longer without the c-section. Everyone was right when they kept telling me I was in the right place... I don't think i would have realized I was in labor until it was too late. Jackson arrived at 2 pounds 2 ounces and 14 1/2 inches at 1:32 AM on May 27. I didn't get to see him until the next day.. but as soon as I did I knew he was the most perfect blessing in the whole wide world.
I'll post his update up to this point in the next post. I promise once I get everyone caught up my posts won't be quite as long. Jackson and I just have a long story up to here. :)
With love,
Anna
No comments:
Post a Comment