Monday, August 8, 2011

Not your normal hospital stay or delivery

Hello blogging world and all our friends who are going to read this-

Where do i even begin.. I guess I can start from the beginning as everyone has bits and pieces and not the whole story..

At only 25 weeks.. we were not prepared at all for our little miracles to come yet but I guess they had to do it in such a grand way..
It all started on July 28, we went for a routine check up and during my ultrasound they realized that my cervix was funneling (in other words, the fluid was thinning out) and that I was aleady dilated 2cm.  So that pretty much meant, we we had to go straight from the doctors office, straight to the hospital for 24 hour bed rest. The oncall doctor at hospital said he did not want to do a cerclage (a procedure to go in and close my cervix) because i was too far along so he wanted to leave me on bedrest for 24 hours to help relieve some of the pressure on my cervix so that means i pretty much had to lay with the bed adjusted so that i'm pretty much half way upside down. They gave me some meds to help stop my contractions and that made me feel worse and just sleep.
Come friday, the new oncall doctor feels confident he can do the cerclage even though i was already past the max of when one should be done but I also went down half a cm dilated so Scott and I dicussed and hoped that it would by us some more time for the girls so we said lets do.. So they prepped me for a spinal tap (thank goodnses that wasn't as bad as i thought) and on to the procedure. Few hours later we found out that the doctor was unsucessful in completeing the procedure  and when he went in for the 3rd stich, he broke my water. So he had to stop. They gave me maginesum sulfate to help stop with the contractions and that by far was the worst stuff that i've ever been on.. It pretty much slows down your whole system so on to more drug induced sleep for me. Then comes 2am saturday morning.. Due to getting a spinal tap, i was pumped with 8000 cc of iv fluids but due to the maginuesum, i wasn't pushing but only 1800 cc of fluids out thus creating pulmeria adeim (pretty much too much fluid on my lungs) which meant, i couldn't breath. I started coughing up blood and ended up throwing a blood clot in my eye, so the nurses and a heart doctor came in and pushed another fluid through my iv that was to help pushing the fluids out. I had to get a chest xray and ekg done and they finally got me stable at 9 a.m.
Around 10ish i feel a painful contraction and out of all the contractions i had, this was the first one i actually felt. Come a few mins later, i felt another one and felt the urge to push so my nurse goes for the doctor and he comes in and checks me out and from there it just went all so fast. He tells me that I have to deliever now because Mackenzie was right there and ready to come. He proceeds to tell me from there also that I will have to do it vaginal and without any drugs for the fear that if i have a epidural i could push and not realize it and there was not enough time for me to have a c-section with Mackenzie. Next thing i know, there are 4 nurses unconnecting me from everything and wheeling me off down the hall. I get to the operating room with 16 other people, none which were Scott which scared me more. (they told me he had to get scrubbed in but i didnt know how long that would take him) I was scared and felt so alone. But they told me i had to push which was hard because i was just trying to recovery from breathing. I broke down and cried and after my first push, there was Scott, so I pulled it together and at 1051 a.m. our little Mackenzie arrived. Got scared again becuase we didnt know if she made it and all we were told is that the NICU team was working on her. From then i had to get another spinal tap, but that didnt work intime so they had to put me under. That was the last i remember, but at 11:05 a.m. our little Alexis was born via c-section. She was breached so they had to cut my uterus one way and the outside another way (also known as a traditonal cut) I finally did not wake up until about 11 pm . 
Sunday rolls around and they gave me perciax (sorry for the misspelling but a pain relieving drug) well due to the fact i really haven't eaten in 72 hours, the drug made me puke all day. I could not keep anything down so once again i was back on another drug induced sleep all day. I finally got to see the girls breifly for about 2 mins because i got really light headed and had to get back in bed.
Monday rolled around and it was so hard for me to sit up and move around without getting real bad headaches and getting lighted head.. come to find out,  they were spinal headaches from the two spinal taps i had so once again another drugged induced sleep day. 
Tuesday rolls around and finally a sign for some relief. I finally got the ok do do a blood patch which means they would draw blood from my arm and insert back into my spine (pretty much like another spinal tap but much much more painful) finally after 45 mins i got all the relief i needed and i was up and down the hall finally visiting with our little divas. It was such a awesome day. 
Our precious Mackenzie right after birth

Alexis holding daddys finger for the first time
Wednesday was discharged day almost got deterred because i became more anemic and the doctor wanted to keep me for 24 hours for a iv iron but it can't be done tilll two week after birth so i finally got to be jailed breaked and to home I went, but not with my little divas as we will be spending some time in the NICU.... 

4 comments:

  1. Ok...let me gather myself since I just broke down...I love, love, love, love you to pieces!!! You've always been strong and this just proves it even more so. And, obviously, you've passed that strength onto Alexis & Mackenzie. You have no idea how happy it makes to see those little ladies thrive like the champions they are!! And here I go crying again, so I'll leave with that. I love you all and am so grateful for all the positives so far!

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  2. July, you did a wonderful job explaining the long,hard journey that you and Scott have experienced to bring your beautiful baby girls into this world. So many people fight extraordinary battles that most people never know about. You and Scott are two of those people. Thank you for sharing your story with us.I think about y'all and pray for y'all everyday. Little McKenzie and Alexis are blessed to have y'all for parents.,

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  3. I had no idea the extent of what you went through. You have that amazingly fiesty personality that will keep you pushing ahead. So thankful for your little miracles and that THIS is the story you get to tell. I have everyone I know praying for all of you! Sending love!!

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  4. wow. i see where the girls get there strength from. :)

    we were in NYC on a little vacay when i was checking FB and spotted scott's update. needless to say, joe & i tried to stay abreast of your situation and our thoughts were on your fam constantly. in terms of gestation, we are/were a week behind you...so i could only imagine the fear and feelings you were going thru at the time. even though you didn't have to, thank you for sharing this blog. i hope you find it therapeutic and we will continue to send positive vibes your way.

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