We have been through quite an adventure the last couple of weeks. I am so excited to say that we have our baby girl at home and we are all doing really well. I am going to try and explain what happened but because I was on so many drugs during my stay at the hospital some things are a little fuzzy to me. Here we go...
Everything started on Tuesday, September 18. I had not been feeling well the couple of days before that. I just thought I was tired from working full time and being 8 months pregnant. I felt like I had the flu. After talking to my mom on Monday night she was concerned. I decided to go to school Tuesday morning but barely made it through the morning staff meeting before I bursted in to tears and went home sick. I hadn't slept very well and I was extremely swollen. Not to mention the weather had been so hot and in my classroom with no A/C it was beginning to really take a toll on my body. Anyway, I went home and slept really hard for three hours and woke up and still did not feel any better. I called my mom and asked her if I should call my doctor. I had an appointment already scheduled for the following day so I wasn't sure if I should wait until then or call. She told me to call them and see what they said. When I called they asked me to come in and they would check my vitals. So I headed up to the doctor and the nurse checked my urine which was copper colored (not good) and full of protein (uh oh!) and then checked my blood pressure. 190/109!!! I was immediately admitted in to the hospital.
I called Tal on my walk, well, wheel chair ride, over to the hospital and luckily his principal could cover his class and he came straight to the hospital. By then I had an IV and they started giving my magnesium sulfate (which makes you feel really hot, groggy, and yucky). This medicine helps control seizures and keeps your muscles relaxed to control blood pressure. My doctor came over and told us that she would like to move us to the Salem hospital which has a NICU in case I had to deliver early. Harper would be 34 weeks on September 20. The doctor said that she wasn't too concerned because gestationally that would mean that she would be okay. Tal and I were really nervous. So then I had to get a catheter which the nurse basically ripped my apart to get in. Not fun! Next came my first ride in an ambulance.
When I arrived in Salem I was taken up to the third floor of the Mother/Baby unit and continued to receive IV fluids and magnesium (mag). Tal met me there after running home and getting some things for us and taking care of Goldie. By then my mom had thrown together (literally) a bag of clothes and came speeding down I-5 from Olympia to be there with us. The doctor on call was Dr. McGee. Tal and I really liked him from the beginning. He explained that they were going to monitor me and the baby and decide if I would be on bed rest at the hospital for a few weeks or have to deliver Miss Harper. So we ended up staying at the hospital on Tuesday night. For someone who has never really had health problems or stayed in the hospital, it was hard. The nurses have to check your vitals every couple of hours and I had to have my blood drawn every couple of hours too. I was a human pin cushion.
My mom, Tal, Tal's mom, and I all spent Wednesday in my room playing games, watching tv, and waiting for the doctors to decide what they wanted to do. By this time my kidneys had started shutting down and my liver was not processing all of the medicine very well. For someone who never takes medicine, this didn't surprise me. Finally the doctor called my room and explained that because my kidney funtion was not great (the worst levels they had ever seen at the hospital by the way) and my blood pressure was not going down I was going to have to deliver Harper early. We all cried together after I had the nurse tell my family what was said since I was too emotional to do it. We were all scared but knew how important it was to get Harper here safely.
I was diagnosed with a severe case of preeclampsia. If you want to read something really scary check out this website www.preeclampsia.org.
The only way to solve the problem is to deliver the 'faulty' placenta. So Wednesday night after a really great ultrasound to see Harper I started labor.
To be continued...
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