So I have had this question quite a bit in reference to Samuel's birth so I figured I would finally write it all out. You can skip this post if you already know!
David and I found out we were expecting a baby on August 30, 2007, and we were thrilled. We had our first little ultrasound on October 2
nd and it was just amazing to see little Samuel bean. He was only 4.9 cm head to rump, but we loved him. He was completely worth the morning sickness.
My pregnancy seemed to progress just fine and on December 19
th we had our "big" ultrasound and found out our little bean would be a little boy and everything looked perfect.
In January we found out that I had gestational diabetes (GD), but that was no big deal. I just watched my diet and pretty well forced myself to eat, and eat a lot. I had to eat 2400 calories/day which was significantly more than I really wanted, and I still didn't gain any weight. However, I was fortunate to never have to go on
insulin, I could control it completely with diet.
Because of the GD I got to have another ultrasound on February 27
th to make sure everything was fine. I wasn't scheduled to meet with the OB that day, but he
happened to be the
office and the tech ran out of the room to get him - it was at that point that David and I realized something wasn't right. The doctor came in and told me that I had a condition called
polyhydramnios which means that I had too much amniotic fluid. He wasn't too concerned but wanted me to have regular non-stress tests (
NST) from now on and he would refer me to a high-risk doctor so that we could have a higher resolution ultrasound to see how Samuel was developing.
At that point I started going to the
OB's office twice a week for an
NST....these are really quite relaxing I think. I mean, I would just sit, belly exposed, in a nice recliner with the monitor on my belly and it seemed that where ever they placed the monitor pads, Samuel would go to town kicking the monitor until they finally had to move it to a new place so they could hear his heartbeat and not him kicking. The room had dim lights and so I would just relax for about 20-30 minutes. Samuel always passed these with no problems so the OB believed that the
polyhydramnios was just related to the GD.
On March 12, 2008, we went to see the high-risk doc. He did the high-resolution ultrasound. Things were looking good and then the doc got quiet and kept looking at the same area over and over again and trying to get Samuel to move so that he could get better pictures. After quite a little while the doc told us what he found. Samuel had a
duodenal atresia and it also appeared that Samuel had a problem with his heart. The doc told us that with those two abnormalities that there was a very high likelihood that Samuel would have Downs Syndrome.
The doc then said something that I don't think I will ever forget, and it makes me cry every time I think about it. He told David and I that while I was too far along for it to be legal in Florida, it would be legal for me to go to Kansas to abort the baby.
We made it very clear to the doctor that we loved Samuel and regardless of what any tests may show, we would NEVER consider not having him in our family.
The doctor explained that he is required to let us know of our options and that he would never bring it up to us again. He did however talk to us about having an
amniocentesis done so that we could know before the birth and make any preparations. He left the room and had all patients that were waiting for him go to a different area so that David and I could talk.
Can I just say that I am so incredibly grateful for David, he is such an honorable priesthood holder and I am thankful that he had so much
strength that day and on the days, weeks, months to follow. Anyway, we decided to go ahead with the
amniocentesis. I was nervous, but it really wasn't bad at all. Samuel was typically such a wiggly little guy that I was afraid of him bumping the needle, but he was on his best behavior and stayed very still while the doctor was drawing the amniotic fluid. We then met with the genetic counsellor. He was awesome - he didn't have any openings that day, but he said he would skip lunch and meet with us. He assured us that there was nothing I did or didn't do during the pregnancy that would cause any of the issues. We talked about our families and he said that there didn't seem to be anything in the family history to show that there would be a genetic abnormality. After that appointment we left to wait....then on Friday we got the results that Samuel was definitely a boy and he did NOT have Downs Syndrome.
On Monday, March 17
th, we went in for our regularly scheduled
NST in the morning. Samuel and I were both doing great. My blood pressure looked wonderful and Samuel was acting just a any little growing baby should. The doctor was so shocked to hear that Samuel had an abnormality, but because we were doing so well he said he thought it pretty likely I would be able to go to full term!
That afternoon after eating lunch I started to have a pain. It was awful and I just felt
sooo tired - not normal pregnancy tired, but something more. I called David and he said maybe I should just go to the hospital. I thought that was silliness because the doc had just said I looked great. I told my friend at work that I was going to just go home and rest. The next day we had a statewide conference so I knew I would need to be feeling better for that even though I truly didn't feel like going.
I got home and the pain was getting worse. We took my blood pressure on the home machine that we bought and it was high, but I thought it was also unreliable. So David gave me the options of calling 911, going to
CVS to use that blood pressure machine, or him driving me to the hospital. All very silly in my book because I just kept thinking that it was likely just my lunch not settling well. Finally I gave in and told him we could go to
CVS. We got in the car and as we were driving the on-call nurse called us back. I answered and she asked to speak with David. She told him that he was to not stop anywhere but to take me directly to the hospital. I was annoyed and felt very tricked!!!! Then the pain got worse and I agreed that we should just go to the hospital.
So we got to the hospital about 5:30 PM and it was
soooo busy! Lots and lots of
preggo women waiting to be checked-in. The pain kept getting worse as we waited and then the nausea set it. Poor David didn't know what to do to help and I was getting cranky and more nauseated because of the pain. I went to ask the nurse if there was a bathroom close by because I felt I was going to be sick, unfortunately before I could say anything I just grabbed her trash can and lost it. I just knelt there on the floor hovering over that trash can for about another 30 minutes and every time I would throw-up again, the receptionist would say how sorry she was and assure me that they are trying to get me back to a room.
Finally at 7:30 PM I got a room in triage. I got to change into a hospital gown, had to give a urine sample, and then they hooked me up to the monitors. Samuel was luckily doing very well. As they ran the preliminary tests the
high risk doctor decided I needed to be admitted to the hospital. I called my dad to let him know and then we called a friend (John) who is also the Elders Quorum president in our ward to come up and help in giving me a blessing.
I am very grateful for the priesthood and that John was so willing to come up to the hospital. I don't remember what was said in the blessing but I do remember feeling peace. Around 9:30PM I was moved to a room on the long-term stay floor. My blood pressure continued to rise and the pain was still getting worse. They did however give me something for nausea. They also gave me an injection to help Samuel so that if he had to be born it would help his lungs. The nurse came in and checked on me regularly and the monitor kept loosing Samuel so she would have to come in to adjust it so we could hear him, but the doctors weren't sure what to do. They were thinking that perhaps they would just keep me for observation for about a week or longer. The assured us that nothing would happen that night so around 1 AM David and I decided it would be good for him to go home and get things for us (we hadn't brought anything at all).
At about 1:45 AM the doctor came in and said that with my condition it was urgent that they prepare me to have an emergency c-section; I had severe
pre-eclampsia and the baby needed to come out now. I asked if they could wait until David got back and he said that David needed to hurry, because they would not wait for him.
I called David, but I didn't want him to panic so I simply asked where he was at and I told him to hurry because I was lonely and didn't like being there alone. About 30 minutes later the doctor returned and asked if David had arrived yet because they were getting ready to take me to the OR. I called David again and asked him where he was. He was right by the parking terrace so I told him to really hurry because they were getting ready to take me in.
Then we waited. The nurse kept giving me injections of something and finally I asked her what was going on. She said that they were worried because my blood pressure had gotten so high that it was too dangerous to take me in to surgery but that it was not responding to the medication.
Finally after the 5
th injection my blood pressure came down enough. They took us down to the OR where we were introduced to a team of doctors. As they wheeled me in to the OR though there was a shift change so then as they were starting the preparations I was introduced to a whole new team of people....needless to say I don't remember many names.
However, I do remember Dr Alexander. He came over to me and introduced himself. He told me that he was the
neonatologist that would be caring for my baby. He told me that because of Samuel's age he likely wouldn't cry and that they would have to
intibate him to get him to breathe. He told me to not worry, that he would take good care of Samuel. He was so nice, so calm, that I did trust him.
Finally, they allowed David to come into the room. I was so glad to see him, and he was quite relieved to be back in the room with me. While he was in the waiting area he received no updates on what was going on and he was getting very worried.
At 7:22 AM on March 18th Samuel was born (he was 8 weeks early) and he immediately started crying. It was an amazing feeling - I felt no pain of course, but I could feel when he had been taken out. They examined him and discovered that Samuel had an
imperforate anus, but other than that he was perfect and so beautiful. He weighed 4 lbs 9 oz, and measured 18 inches long. After they did the preliminary exam and before they took him to the
NICU, they laid Samuel on my chest. I don't think there are words for the feelings at had when I was looking at him and he was looking at me for the first time. He was only allowed to be on my chest for about a minute before they had to rush him to the
NICU, but it was one of the most memorable minutes of my life.
Post-op was kind of funny. Like I mentioned before, there was a statewide conference at work and I was suppose to be there. I asked the post-op nurse if there was a phone close by that I could use thinking that I would just get up and make the phone call. However, I was also pleased to report to the nurse that I could wiggle my toes. Needless to say I was heavily medicated and very sleep deprived (David and I had been up for over 27 hours at that point). Luckily my worry about calling my work was needless, as David, while waiting for the nurses to allow him to come back to be with me, called my work and our families to let them know the news. Finally that afternoon we were put in a room and we both slept for a few hours.
David would also go back and forth to visit me and Samuel. I think that the nurses would have nominated David for Daddy of the year award for how attentive he was to Samuel and I. He really did an excellent job.
On March 19
th I got to go down to the
NICU to see Samuel. I only got to be there for a little bit because I was still very weak. Then on March 20
th Samuel was taken in to surgery to correct the
duodenal atresia and also get an
ostomy (that was the first step in the 3 part process of correcting the
imperforate anus).
I was released from the hospital on March 22
nd, but Samuel still needed to stay in the
NICU. While there Samuel did really well. We had our ups (Samuel smiling, gaining weight) and downs (he got RSV while there), but on May 16
th he finally got to come home. YAHOO!!
June - I was in the hospital for the first week. Samuel was blessed and both sets of grandparents came out for the event and I got laid off from my job
July - I was unemployed the entire month (turns out this was a huge blessing for me because it allowed me some time to recuperate from both of the surgeries).
Then on Tuesday we went to the mall so that Samuel could meet Santa. He fell asleep while we were in line and woke up as I put him on Santa's lap. Santa is great with children so Samuel wasn't scared, just a little confused about what was going on :)
Funny story about the car that Samuel is sitting on - One of David's coworkers received it from Target by she hadn't ordered it. She called Target and told them about the mistake. Target told her to just go ahead and keep it. Well, she doesn't have any children so she decided to give it to Samuel. I figured Samuel wouldn't be able to use it for a while, but to my surprise, it is just right for him right now. He loves it!
Now the shuttle has passed the moon and so the top bright spot is the shuttle.
I also think he is really loving his new little chair. Such a good little boy!
We just got a call from the surgery nurse - they started surgery about 15 minutes ago (10:30 AM). He went under very well and is looking good. We will keep you posted!
