****This post contains medical terminology and grossness******
I left off on the last post with where I was waiting for my transfer. My dad has helped me with the time frame of everything. I went into surgery around 5 pm Friday night. My dad got the phone call that I was in labor at about 5 minutes to 7 pm. The ambulance came to get me from the hospital at round 9:30 pm. I had thought it was later at night. Like I said before time did not exist to me. Everything is still very fuzzy.
I remember the paramedics coming in to get me and move me to the ambulance. I was still having contractions and they were very kind to me and explained where we were going. This was my first time in an ambulance and we did lights and sirens and the whole deal. The one paramedic was in the back with me making sure my vitals stayed stable and nothing happened. He had told me he would have to at one point sit behind me in a seat to be buckled. He ended up holding my hand most of the way. He let me squeeze his hand through contractions and talked to me in between contractions to keep my mind off of things. I have odd little memories of the transfer. I remember hitting bumps in the road, I remember the kindness of the paramedics, I remember hearing the sirens. I don't know how long it took us to get here. When we pulled up to the hospital we hit some bumps and the paramedic said to me " I promise those are the last bumps" I remember laughing and telling him we were gonna hit more just to spite. They unloaded me out of the ambulance and going into the hospital we hit a few more bumps. I made a comment about the bumps and I remember the paramedics laughing a little.
I don't remember anything after that until I was in Labor & Delivery hooked up to monitors. I was having huge gushed of water and incredible horrible contractions. My catheter was bothering that they had put in surgery and I was assured it was just pain from the surgery. A nurse finally checked the catheter and found that it was a latex catheter. I am allergic to latex, it makes me have blisters and it sucks. Once they realized that the catheter was latex they took it out. It had been in me for at least 3 hours by that point. It was an amazing difference to have it out. After a little while they had to put in a new catheter and I think every nurse in the room double checked it to make sure it was latex free. The latex had done more damage to my bladder. It had made my bladder raw on the inside and incredibly painful. I lost majority of my function and control of my bladder. There was no option of not having a catheter.
My dad drove to the hospital to be with me. It took him a little while to get down to me. Once he arrived the doctors had started figuring out a game plan. Since my water had broken they couldn't do anything to stop the contractions. It ended up being a bit of a waiting game. They were able to give me something for the pain and I fell asleep. I woke up several times through the night with contractions but was able to get some sleep.
Saturday morning I woke up and my dad wasn't in the room and I panicked. The nurse was there and explained my dad had just got down to get some breakfast. I was still very scared and nervous and not sure what was going on. My dad was very positive when he came back up to my room. He wasn't gone very long. If anyone knows my dad they know he always looks on the bright side of things and has a very positive attitude. Once he returned we started the long day of meetings with doctors. We met with the NICU doctor and discussed what was going to happen if I delivered now. We discussed everything from worse case scenario to best case. Every day that baby stays inside me the better we are. If I get an infection then they will induce me and I will have the baby same day. With having my water broken baby is vulnerable, he can get infection easy. Once he is born we will bring in donated breast milk from Denver to make sure he is getting all the nutrition he can until my milk comes in. I have always believed in donating breast milk for those who aren't able to breast feed. I am very very thankful for the women who donate their milk.
We also met with the new ob/gyn who is looking after me and talked about how long I am going to stay pregnant. Our goal is 32-34 weeks. They gave me steroid shots to help develop babies lungs in case he decided to come earlier then that. They started me on antibiotics to make sure I had no infections. After all of our meetings with doctors they transferred me out of Labor & Delivery and over to the Mom/Baby unit.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The start of our world blowing up, Part One
****This contains some medical terminology and grossness!
(When I talk about Turkey I am talking about my daughter)
****
I have not had the easiest pregnancy. My first trimester I was so sick and food and smells made my stomach turn inside out. Once I hit about 13 weeks life got a little easier and I got hungry! I was on bed rest on and off from 7 weeks on. It seemed that once I finally felt better I would get sick again. At 20 weeks we found out we were having a baby boy! We could not be more thrilled to be having a boy. I started having kidney problems the end of July. I ended up going to a urologist to get an ultrasound of my kidneys. They found that my right kidney was full of stones. I spent the next week or so in horrible pain passing this loving bunch of coconuts, well that is at least what it felt like I was passing. After I got them all passed I still had some horrible pain. They ended up doing a dye test to test my kidney function. It came back saying that my baby was blocking off my kidneys. I learned how to do stretches and some yoga type positions to move baby off my kidneys. This all is happening the week before I am suppose to go to Utah for a vacation. Once I got the okay to travel Turkey and I jumped on a plane and flew to Utah. By the time we had gotten there I was having more issues. My throat had swelled and so did my mouth. I ended up having about 200-300 canker sores in my mouth. My lips swelled huge, my glands in my throat looked like golf balls, my whole mouth was a wreck. I ended up going to the dentist to see if he could offer some relief. I was able to get a numbing mouth rinse that made it so I could at least drink a Boost to get some nutrition. I was very thankful of my parents for helping take care of Turkey while I was so sick. After almost a week my mouth was getting better and I was able to eat. I was able to feel better in time to go on a trip to Portland for some adventures and to spread my cousin Floyd's ashes. We got back from Portland and spent a few in Utah before we flew back to North Dakota. We arrived in North Dakota on a Friday night. It was so nice to be home and around James! We hadn't seen him in 3 weeks. That is a long time to be away from home. I was exhausted all weekend from traveling and Monday came around and I wasn't feeling the best. I figured I could tough it out because I had an appointment the next day. Well I am a wuss. My dinner time I was hurting really bad in my back and kidneys. I ended up going to Labor and Delivery and they admitted me Monday night. Tuesday morning they did a renal ultrasound to check my kidneys for stones. The ultrasound showed no stones but that my kidneys were blocked again and swelling. My doctor suggested that it would be a good idea for me to get stints in my kidneys so the fluid would drain and hopefully fix the problem. Since the urologist we had in town had fallen ill and had a major back surgery he would be no help to me. My doctor told me to find a good hospital and get admitted so they would do the surgery. James and me talked it over and decided that coming back to Utah would be the best choice since I have an ob/gyn here and we have family here to help with Turkey while I recovered from surgery.
Turkey and I jumped on a plane Wednesday at 5 am and made it to Utah by 9 am. My mom picked us up from the airport and we drove straight to the hospital in Logan and I got admitted. We met with the urologist who wanted to give me a few days before we did anything. By the time I got admitted into the hospital my bladder had stopped working. So not only was my kidneys swollen my bladder wouldn't drain. They ended up having to put a catheter in. My bladder was holding twice its capacity. I got transferred from the ER to Labor & Delivery to Mother/Baby.
Thursday I was still hurting really bad and was showing no signs of improvement. I took a nap that afternoon and woke up cramping and I was sure my water had broke. We ran some tests and I was assured that everything was fine. Thursday evening was long and I didn't feel the best.
Friday they decided to do the surgery and put the stints in both kidneys since nothing had improved. Before surgery Turkey and my mom took me for a walk and I felt something go down my leg. I had forgotten about it because I was taken to surgery shortly after. I went in and they put the stints in. I woke in recovery the most awake I have ever been coming out of surgery. I was very aware of what was going on. I was in labor. I was having contractions and was having gushes of fluid. I freaked out! I was 27 weeks 6 days, I couldn't have my baby yet. The nurse thought I was just being out of control from the surgery. She realized after a little bit that guess what I was really having contractions. I got rushed to Labor & Delivery. They ran tests to make sure that my water had actually broken. They determined that my water had broke Thursday sometime. They got a doctor in there to check me and I had not dilated. I was having contractions about 5 minutes about. I don't remember a lot of what happened. I remember there was one nurse who really helped me focus and get through a lot of the pain. And who stayed with me through everything. My sense of time is non existent. I have no idea how long I was in Labor & Delivery. They called the ambulance to transfer me to hospital that has one of the best NICUs in the US. I will write about my transfer and what has happened since in another post. I am tired and going to bed.
(When I talk about Turkey I am talking about my daughter)
****
I have not had the easiest pregnancy. My first trimester I was so sick and food and smells made my stomach turn inside out. Once I hit about 13 weeks life got a little easier and I got hungry! I was on bed rest on and off from 7 weeks on. It seemed that once I finally felt better I would get sick again. At 20 weeks we found out we were having a baby boy! We could not be more thrilled to be having a boy. I started having kidney problems the end of July. I ended up going to a urologist to get an ultrasound of my kidneys. They found that my right kidney was full of stones. I spent the next week or so in horrible pain passing this loving bunch of coconuts, well that is at least what it felt like I was passing. After I got them all passed I still had some horrible pain. They ended up doing a dye test to test my kidney function. It came back saying that my baby was blocking off my kidneys. I learned how to do stretches and some yoga type positions to move baby off my kidneys. This all is happening the week before I am suppose to go to Utah for a vacation. Once I got the okay to travel Turkey and I jumped on a plane and flew to Utah. By the time we had gotten there I was having more issues. My throat had swelled and so did my mouth. I ended up having about 200-300 canker sores in my mouth. My lips swelled huge, my glands in my throat looked like golf balls, my whole mouth was a wreck. I ended up going to the dentist to see if he could offer some relief. I was able to get a numbing mouth rinse that made it so I could at least drink a Boost to get some nutrition. I was very thankful of my parents for helping take care of Turkey while I was so sick. After almost a week my mouth was getting better and I was able to eat. I was able to feel better in time to go on a trip to Portland for some adventures and to spread my cousin Floyd's ashes. We got back from Portland and spent a few in Utah before we flew back to North Dakota. We arrived in North Dakota on a Friday night. It was so nice to be home and around James! We hadn't seen him in 3 weeks. That is a long time to be away from home. I was exhausted all weekend from traveling and Monday came around and I wasn't feeling the best. I figured I could tough it out because I had an appointment the next day. Well I am a wuss. My dinner time I was hurting really bad in my back and kidneys. I ended up going to Labor and Delivery and they admitted me Monday night. Tuesday morning they did a renal ultrasound to check my kidneys for stones. The ultrasound showed no stones but that my kidneys were blocked again and swelling. My doctor suggested that it would be a good idea for me to get stints in my kidneys so the fluid would drain and hopefully fix the problem. Since the urologist we had in town had fallen ill and had a major back surgery he would be no help to me. My doctor told me to find a good hospital and get admitted so they would do the surgery. James and me talked it over and decided that coming back to Utah would be the best choice since I have an ob/gyn here and we have family here to help with Turkey while I recovered from surgery.
Turkey and I jumped on a plane Wednesday at 5 am and made it to Utah by 9 am. My mom picked us up from the airport and we drove straight to the hospital in Logan and I got admitted. We met with the urologist who wanted to give me a few days before we did anything. By the time I got admitted into the hospital my bladder had stopped working. So not only was my kidneys swollen my bladder wouldn't drain. They ended up having to put a catheter in. My bladder was holding twice its capacity. I got transferred from the ER to Labor & Delivery to Mother/Baby.
Thursday I was still hurting really bad and was showing no signs of improvement. I took a nap that afternoon and woke up cramping and I was sure my water had broke. We ran some tests and I was assured that everything was fine. Thursday evening was long and I didn't feel the best.
Friday they decided to do the surgery and put the stints in both kidneys since nothing had improved. Before surgery Turkey and my mom took me for a walk and I felt something go down my leg. I had forgotten about it because I was taken to surgery shortly after. I went in and they put the stints in. I woke in recovery the most awake I have ever been coming out of surgery. I was very aware of what was going on. I was in labor. I was having contractions and was having gushes of fluid. I freaked out! I was 27 weeks 6 days, I couldn't have my baby yet. The nurse thought I was just being out of control from the surgery. She realized after a little bit that guess what I was really having contractions. I got rushed to Labor & Delivery. They ran tests to make sure that my water had actually broken. They determined that my water had broke Thursday sometime. They got a doctor in there to check me and I had not dilated. I was having contractions about 5 minutes about. I don't remember a lot of what happened. I remember there was one nurse who really helped me focus and get through a lot of the pain. And who stayed with me through everything. My sense of time is non existent. I have no idea how long I was in Labor & Delivery. They called the ambulance to transfer me to hospital that has one of the best NICUs in the US. I will write about my transfer and what has happened since in another post. I am tired and going to bed.
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