Oh Boy!!!

Wow!! Where do I begin? Let's start back in the beginning of October. My ob was on vacation, but he knew that I was going in a bad direction in my pregnancy so he gave me an order to have a non-stress test at the hospital while he was gone. On October 8th, I dropped the kids off at school and decided on the spur of the moment to go over to the hospital and get my non-stress test out of the way. I didn't want to go. I really wanted to go home and start getting ready for the baby by cleaning out some drawers while lying on my right side. But SOMETHING made me go - a nagging voice that said "Just go and get it over with". So I did.

They got me into the NST room and took my blood pressure. Then they took it again. Then the told me to lie on my left side and do the NST and they would check it again after they talked to the Dr. that was filling in for my OB. So, I laid there trying to calm down and take the test. After the test they came in and took my BP again. Good news!! It came down a little during the test - to 180/100. I wasn't going home. They were admitting me into the hospital. Before I knew it, I was being rushed down the hallway into my hospital room. The put me in a gown, hooked me up to magnesium sulfate, catheterized me, gave me a steroid shot (for development of the bay's lungs) and brought up an ultra sound machine. Somewhere during this whole sideshow I was able to make a teary call to my husband, who I didn't even get the chance to tell that I was going in for a NST test because I really wasn't planning on doing that day. Boy, was he shocked!!! Especially when he got there during the ultrasound and we found out that we were probably having a BOY!!!!! So there I was, nearly hysterical already because I knew that they were probably going to have to deliver me very early, finding out that we were now going to have a boy instead of a girl. We won't discuss what my BP readings were while all of this commotion was going on. Let's just say that they kept asking me to lie VERY STILL.

They ran a 24 hour protein test. They kept me in bed, very still, while taking my bp every hour and a nurse in the room almost constantly. They consulted a perinatologist (SP?), kept the magnesium sulfate flowing, and limited my food. After 48 hours and two shots to help out the baby they KNEW that I had to deliver. My 24 hr protein test contained over 1 ltr of protein - 1,092 to be exact. I was the big excitement on the floor. The consider a protein reading of over 300 to be very severe pre-eclampsia. Here I had just calmly strolled into the hospital with a count of over 1,000 and I was talking and joking. But my kidneys were giving out even though I was trying to be a model patient. They had to deliver my baby at 32 weeks gestation for the good of both me and my unborn son. I was so scared, but I couldn't cry because I found out the hard way that magnesium sulfate gets in your tears and burns when you cry. So I prayed.

My incredible son was born at 3:10 pm on Friday, October 10, 2008 via emergency c-section. He was 3 lbs, 14 oz and 17 inches long!! And he is doing GREAT!! He is so amazing that I can't even begin to describe it. And he is probably coming home from the NICU this Friday! He has been totally beating the odds. The nurses just marvel at him and how well he is doing. God is so good.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I hope to have a better version of this story up soon, because this experience TOTALLY reminded me that God is GOOD and he is with you always. I am very lucky and very blessed.

Take care, and I hope to update soon.