what's been going on

 Lorelei Josephine

But wait!  She wasn't due until January 16th, right??  Yep, that's right.  Sit back and et me tell you the story of what has gone down in the past 3 weeks...

December 17th - A regular OB check up

On Thursday the 17th, Alex and I went to my OB check up.  My blood pressure was still creeping up, so my doctor decided to run some tests on the baby to see how she was tolerating things.  The first test he ran checked for variations in her heart rate when she moved.  She was super asleep when we started that test, so they had to use this funny little baby taser on my belly to wake her up.  But even with movement, she wasn't having very good variations on her heart rate.  So, the doctor sent me to ultra sound for another test that would measure her all over to see if her growth was where it was supposed to be.  

And it wasn't.

Her head measured out to her exact gestational age, but her little belly measured 5 weeks younger than that.  That told my doctor that she was no longer getting the nourishment she needed from my placenta - and since the only thing my placenta seemed to be doing well was making me sicker and sicker by the minute - it was time to get the baby out.

So, the doctor instructed Alex and me to go to the hospital, directly to the hospital, do NOT pass go, do NOT collect $200.  We were going to have a C-section pronto.  There was no time to even stop by our house to grab our already packed hospital bags...  We just had to GO GO GO GO!

The next hour and a half were a whirlwind, and to tell you the truth, I don't remember a whole lot of the details...  There was an awful lot of sticking me with needles, starting IVs, monitoring of my blood pressure (which was 200/100 at one point), and general running about on the part of the nurses.  I remember getting into the OR - and it being approximately 8 degrees in there.  I remember my spinal - the anesthesiologist had to stick me twice to get it.  It wasn't pleasant, but to be really honest - it wasn't as painful as I had worked it up in my head to be.  Really, the worst part was I was terrified, overwhelmed, and FREEZING - therefore shivering.... oh - and alone.  Because until the spinal was in place, Alex couldn't be in the OR.

At 6:12pm, the doctor brought Lorelei into the world.  He put her little face over the drop cloth, and although it was purple, it was SO CUTE!  Right away the team of nurses began to check our baby out – and they soon called Alex over to see her.  They put her feet prints on his scrub shirt (IMPOSSIBLY PRECIOUS!!).  While they worked on stitching me back up, they whisked Alex and Lola off to the NICU, and I was alone again.  The rest of the surgery and getting to the recovery room is a complete blur.  I remember being in the recovery room, and the nurse (who wasn’t allowed to leave me) taking my blood pressure every 2 minutes for at least the first hour post op.  I felt fine.  I didn’t like that I couldn’t feel (or wiggle) my toes, but by about 1am, I could – and I was able to get out of bed & go to the bathroom (one of the first hurdles for a post op person).

I didn’t get to go to the NICU to see Lorelei until the next morning.  But as soon as I was allowed – I was up and walking around that hospital like a crazy person.  We had TONS of visitors that day – and I was walking back and forth from my room to the NICU all day long.  I felt remarkably good.  Not a care in the world – a little sore at the incision site, but nothing that was even going to slow me down.

Lorelei was in an isolette to help regulate her temperature.  There were 2 portholes on either side of the isolette for people to put their hands inside.  We were allowed to hold her at certain times, but only then – so we didn’t over stimulate her.  It quickly became apparent that she was healthy and she was put in an open crib after just a few short days.  Lorelei – the trooper that she is – was improving all the time.  Her Mommy on the other hand, was SWIFTLY deteriorating. 

It seems that I had an illeus, or a small bowel obstruction.  I had gas built up in my stomach to the point that I was in EXCRUCIATING pain (to the point of hallucinating).  I have never in my life been in such pain.  After a couple of days dealing with this pain, my doctor had tried everything else he could think of, so he had an NG tube placed in my nose that went down to my stomach.  The idea here was that it would suck out all of the contents of my stomach INCLUDING all the gas.  I had that tube in for 3 days.  Lorelei had an NG tube too – hers was for feeding though….  I didn’t get to eat for the entire time I had the tube, and oh – by the way, I was still pumping and providing breastmilk for Lola…  On zero calories.  ZERO.

Needless to say, my spending 10 days in the hospital was rough.  Lorelei, on the other hand, had to spend 3 weeks in the NICU.  Her problem was simple…  She couldn’t stay awake through an entire feeding.  Being so tiny, the doctors couldn’t allow her to not finish a feeding, so whatever she didn’t finish by mouth had to go in the NG tube.  This went on for at least a week – and then all of a sudden, she got it!  Now she eats with no problems!  She is gaining weight everyday, and she is getting stronger all the time.  

She does have a small issue – an inter ventricular heamorage.  There are 4 levels of this type of bleed in the brain, Grades 1-4.  Grade 1 is no problem, Grade 4 is BIG PROBLEMS.  Hers appears to be a Grade 2.  From what we understand, this should resolve itself with little or no impact on her long term.  However, in an abundance of caution – she will be seeing a neurologist this coming week, and we will be keeping a VERY close eye on her.

It was a crazy 3 weeks.  And now, having her home – there are new challenges all the time.  Not enough sleep for me – getting her used to her new surroundings and schedule.  Being a family.  It’s been fun, but definitely challenging at the same time.

All in all – I’ve never been happier.  I feel like my old self.  I am within 6 pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight.  I have a precious little beautiful baby.  I have the sweetest husband in the world.  My Mother is HANDS DOWN the BEST MOTHER IN THE UNIVERSE!  She has been here every weekend cleaning, cooking, organizing, helping in any way she can since November when I went on bedrest.  I cannot express how much I appreciate everything she has done/continues to do.  I feel bad that she’s my Mom and not yours – because honestly, everyone should have a Mom this great.  But I’m glad (and thankful) that I’m the one who has her.  She’s AMAZING!

I’ll probably stop updating this site soon.  Now that Lola is home, there is much to do – and little time for blogging.

Thank you so much for reading!

- mama g