So, I'm starting this blog so that I can better remember the things about my days with Lena that I might otherwise blur into several days. I hope that someday, Lena can read this and laugh at the things we did together.
Lena was born on June 12, 2010... Here is what I remember about that experience:
On June 11, I went in to see my OB for a regular check-up appointment. I had been experiencing some pre-eclampsia, which is when your blood pressure spikes rapidly and unexplainably during pregnancy, so my docs had been monitoring that, and had prescribed 'modified bed rest' for the remainder of my pregnancy. I, of course, had pretty much ignored that whole 'bed rest' thing, because I felt fine and saw no reason to slow down at all. So, I go in to the office, waiting patiently, but excited to be out of school for the summer and only three weeks away from my due date (July 4th). The nurse took my blood pressure, gets a funny look on her face, and asks me to wait for just a minute... she came back with a different bp cuff, and took it again, coming up with the same very high bp (I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was pretty high, even for the fat prego lady). She wrote it on the chart and said the doc would be in shortly. Usually this means at least a 15 minute wait, but within 5 minutes, there was a short knock on the door, and the doc's face peered around, followed by the rest of her. She asked me the typical questions, "how are you feeling?" and "are you getting excited?" She then asked me which hospital I was registered for the birth, followed by something that I'll never forget. The very friendly and calm (smiling all the way) doctor told me to check myself into the hospital, because I would have my baby within 24 hours, because my bp was so high, and getting higher (well, duh, after that news).
I checked myself into Memorial Hospital (right across the street from my OB's office) about 15 minutes later, following a very panicked call to my husband (who was at work, and subsequently panicked himself), and another one to my mother (who was at home, and calmly reassured me and asked me to call her back when I knew more). I was a little scared and very nervous, but not really about having the baby, more because we didn't have the nursery set up quite yet. (Word to the wise... set up the nursery at least a month in advance) I was also nervous because our house was an absolute mess (as usual) and I knew that both my mother and mother in law would be visiting very soon! I still didn't really think that I was very sick, or that this baby was going to come out soon. I really thought that they would let me calm down and go home with strict orders of bed rest. Or something.
The next 24 hours were a big blur for me... I remember talking to my husband several times on the phone, trying to get him to calm down, go home and take a shower, and bring me some damn sweats! I remember talking to my mother, who finally decided that she needed to be on her way North to get here for the birth. I remember getting hooked up to an IV in my hand, which hurt like hell because the nurse couldn't find my damn vein, and getting started on some medicine that was supposed to bring my bp back to normal-land. I remember being very, very cold and then very warm due to the medicine, and I remember the nurse turning up the medicine several times. I remember the monitors that they stuck on my belly to monitor Lena (which was very cool cause I got to see her heartbeat). At one point, someone decided that my bp wasn't coming down (like it was supposed to), but actually still rising (NOT supposed to), so my doc (a different one, but from the same practice) started trying to induce me. I won't go into those details.
My wonderful husband spent a very sleepless night with me in the hospital (thank you, Justin), waiting to see when Lena would appear.
By 10am on Saturday, the 12th, the doc decided that I was not progressing in my labor (apparently Lena liked it in there), and my bp was still rising (NOT going down), so he said we would have to do a C-section. At this point, I would like to say that I was disappointed because I wanted to have a 'regular' birth, but I was so sick that I just couldn't wait to have her out of me and to feel better. Whatever the doc wanted me to do at that point, I would have done it, just to feel better. The very good thing about all of this was that, for all the craziness going on around her, Lena was just chilling out in my belly. She was in no distress at all, which was very fortunate.
And so, Lena was born, via C-section, at about 11:30am on Saturday, June 12th. And immediately taken to the NICU. Ok, so when I say immediately, I mean within about a half an hour. My mom, Justin's mom and aunt, got to come down and see us before they took her, but that was it. I was whisked off to my intensive care room, and Lena was whisked off to hers (In different areas of the hospital). She was having trouble breathing, though everything else looked very good. We thought that she would stay in the NICU for a day or two, and then go home with us. Not so much.
For the rest of that day, almost every member of Justin's family came to see us in the hospital, which was very nice, but all I really wanted was to go see Lena and take a nap. In that order. Unfortunately, I was told that since I was still on several IVs, I was not allowed to leave my room until all the IVs were out, which would be when my bp finally came down to a sort of normal level, which would actually not be until the next day. Argh.
Justin got to take people down to see Lena, and he did take several of our visitors down there, while I tried to take a nap.
More tomorrow...
