It’s hard to believe that my little girl is already 4 weeks old…WOW!!! It only feels like she is a couple of weeks old because we just brought her home. She is seriously THE PRINCESS of the house and everyone knows it. She is the best baby by far, she doesn’t cry very often, she doesn’t like her formula cold, it has to be warm, she only likes Avent bottles and she lets us know. She loves to make the funniest noises even when she is sleeping, it makes me smile. She is so funny! Her personality is coming out slowly, she knows my voice and I love it! She is not quite drinking 4oz, she is at 3 and half every 4 hours. But she has come a long way and I am so proud of her.
A little story about everything that happened since I never documented it all…(read if you want...WARNING, its long!!)
It was Monday, May 11th, 2009 and I hadn’t feeling good for two weeks now, but things had gotten worse the night before. I didn’t feel right and it took every power in me to make it to 10am at work. I finally broke down at lunch and called the nurse who made me an appointment for Wednesday, I kept thinking to myself, “How am I going to make it two more days?” So I called back and talked to another nurse, explain my pain in more detail, told her my history from my last pregnancy. She was really concerned and said “Get to L&D immediately!” I was trying to catch my emotions enough to explain to my counterpart at work that I was leaving and probably wouldn’t be returning, but I couldn’t. I remember praying to myself…Please let everything be okay! I was worried sick and there is nothing that can explain the pain I was in.
So I arrived to L&D a little after 11am, talked with the nurse who had already spoke to Dr. Housel who advised that I was to go nowhere and not eat or drink anything that more than likely I would be having a baby. Wow! A baby, I still have 3 weeks left! I called my Mom and Sister, who was going to be going in the OR with me and told them that they might want to get to the hospital as soon as possible. My nurse came in again, gave me an IV and advised that Dr. Housel had said I was going in at 3pm. By this time I was already on medication and so I wasn’t as emotional and wasn’t in as much pain as when I came in. But the one question I wanted answered was whether my baby would be okay. I spoke with Dr. Housel who advised that he was sure the baby would be fine, but wanted to talk with the Peronatologist before proceeding with everything. He said he needed his blessing to proceed. I understood, but he advised that I was still going nowhere. So around 5pm, another nurse came in and said that I would be going to the OR at 7pm. By this time I was out and really didn’t know much of what was going on. Then at 9pm, they came and woke me up and advised that Dr. Housel was on his way up to the hospital to do an Ambiosutisis (SP?). They wanted to double check that the baby’s lungs would be okay and that was the only way to really tell. At 10pm Dr Housel showed up and did the procedure. I thought for sure it would be the most painful thing in the whole world especially after seeing how long and huge that needle was, but I did well and I stayed strong. He advised that the first results would be 4 hours and the other two would take 12 hours. He told me NOTHING to eat or drink and that I pretty much would be there until I delivered, whether it is 1 day, 3 days or a week or two. I came to grips real fast that I would might be at the hospital for awhile, but it was still frustrating not really knowing everything that was going on and not because of my doctor, who was great through this all.
So at 12:30 am my first results came back inconclusive, which meant that the lungs weren’t premature but they weren’t mature. So Dr. Housel wanted to wait for the 12 hour results that would be back later in the day. I was scheduled to meet with the peronatologist at 9am that morning, he would go over some things and then we would talk about the options. Well 9am turned into 4pm real fast, I mean real slow. It was by far the longest day of my life and during all this we had gotten our 12 hour results back, one showed that her lungs were just fine and the other was border lined showing that they weren’t mature, but not premature. Little did we know at the time that the first results sent to us were wrong, they should have shown that her lungs were just fine and we could have had the baby that night. But that’s alright! After meeting with the specialist who advised of our options, 1. Have the baby taken c-section that night and realize that a premature baby can be fixed. 2. Take it one day at a time, but know that my uterus could rupture at any time and both the baby and I could die. Bob and I looked at each other and Bob spoke up before I even could and told the specialist that there was no way he was risking my life or the babies and the baby would be taken that night in which the specialist agreed and said that is the option he would choose to. He advised us that it isn’t worth the wait to play with death and that he recommends the baby be taken. He called my doctor and spoke with him and we made our way back to our room to call family.
So now the real fun begins…My family shows up and I am told that I will be taken into the OR at 7pm. Well 7pm passes and nothing. Dr. Housel calls and advises that he is running behind and that he is on his way to the hospital and has some surgeries that were scheduled for earlier in the day and then I am next. At10pm, I get my epidural or spinal block as they refer to it for C-sections. Then I pass out and a little before midnight I am taken to the OR. It was so weird this time, I had the weirdest feelings that I don’t ever remember having with my boys, I couldn’t breathe and I had this really bad and horrible pain in my arm. I was seriously in tears and I couldn’t’ stop throwing up. Finally I calmed myself now and at 12:14am, I heard the sweetest and softest cry and there was my beautiful little girl. I cried, like I do every time, there is nothing better in this world than giving birth to a child whether is vaginal or c-section. Seeing your child for the first few moments of life is the most precious thing on earth. I would do it 10 times if I could, but unfortunately I can’t and it sucks!
Lexi was totally worth every tear, sweat, pain and day I went through. She is everything I dreamed of and more. I can’t wait to watch her grow and learn every day, okay I can, but you know what I mean.
I have so many people to thank for getting me through those two hardest weeks ever. Thanks to my family for watching the boys, listening to me cry, and just keeping my spirits up. Thanks to my Husband who let me cry when I needed to and just listened. Thanks to my friends for supporting me and keeping me going and for all the comments to let me know that things would be okay and work out soon. Thanks everyone!!!
