So as I'm pretty certain those of you reading this know, I was admitted to the hospital on January 6th. Test results from a one night stay at Baylor Frisco revealed that I had preeclampsia, and it was getting worse. I got a call that Monday telling me to get Kendall and go straight to Plano Presby where they have a high risk OB unit. I was panicked. I had been sitting in Logan's room organizing things in a nursery that was (is) nowhere near being ready for her arrival. I was bummed to just be on at-home modified bedrest. Little did I know what I had facing me.
Randy rushed home from work and drove Kendall and me to the hospital. They already had my room ready and told me to get comfortable. They said that test results showed that I was spilling vast amounts of protein in my urine and would need to do another 24 hour catch. Yep...you have to keep all of your urine in a jug on ice for 24 hours after which point they send it to a lab for further evaluation. I had hopes that once I completed the test, I would be given strict instructions to chill at home. Oh how wrong I was.
The next day, my labs came back showing all was well! Urine test looked good! That evening, a high risk OBGYN, Dr. Zink from Children's Legacy, came to do a sonogram. It was the coolest one we had seen because her equipment was so high tech. We saw Logan's gorgeous little pouty lips, wavy hair, and her with her foot literally in her mouth! It was incredible. She was bouncing all over the place. We were told that she looked awesome...except for the fact that at 34 weeks she was only measuring 4.3lbs. Dr. Zink said that due to her small size I would definitely be in the hospital for the remainder of the pregnancy. At that point she should've been at least a whole pound heavier.
Every day, I had labs drawn at 5am to check everything basically but with special attention paid to liver enzymes. This is a part of preeclampsia. Let's allow good ol' wiki to further explain...
Pre-eclampsia or preeclampsia is a medical condition characterized by high blood pressure and significant amounts of protein in the urine of a pregnant woman. If left untreated, it can develop into eclampsia, the life-threatening occurrence of seizures during pregnancy.
There are many different causes for the condition. It appears likely that there are substances from the placenta that can causeendothelial dysfunction in the maternal blood vessels of susceptible women.[1] While blood pressure elevation is the most visible sign of the disease, it involves generalised damage to the maternal endothelium, kidneys, and liver, with the release of vasoconstrictivefactors being a consequence of the original damage.
An outdated medical term for pre-eclampsia is toxemia of pregnancy, since it was thought that the condition was caused by toxins.[2]Pre-eclampsia may develop at any time after 20 weeks of gestation. Pre-eclampsia before 32 weeks is considered early onset, and is associated with increased morbidity. Its progress differs among patients; most cases are diagnosed before labor typically would begin. Pre-eclampsia may also occur up to six weeks after delivery. Apart from Caesarean section and induction of labor (and therefore delivery of the placenta), there is no known cure. It is the most common of the dangerous pregnancy complications; it may affect both the mother and fetus.[1]
My liver enzymes were dangerously high...so much so that my awesome doctor, Dr. Pepperell of Frisco OBGYN, told me that she thought I would not make it past the weekend before needing to induce or do a c-section. Ummm....no way. That weekend was Kendall's 3rd birthday. Wow. I was so not prepared to hear this. I became really depressed and anxious. After all, I now faced a baby that was premature, and I was stuck in a hospital room with only the "privileges" of going to the bathroom and a quick shower every other day. I couldn't walk the halls, visit the gift shops, nothing... and did I mention my view out the window was of another building? I couldn't see the sky, other people, traffic...anything. People who know me well were probably preparing to visit me in the psych ward. I don't do well with changes of this degree. I am a homebody who is perfectly content with just my family and my routine. Even long vacations make me twitch. I need structure...especially being ADD. Now, all of that was gone. My new structure would involve being in a bed for God only knew how long away from my family and all that was familiar. I cried every night knowing that I couldn't be there to tuck Kendall in and say prayers at bedtime. I couldn't curl up next to Randy while we watch TV before falling asleep in bed. I could go on and on about all of the little things that I now appreciate so much more than ever. It's easy to take things for granted. So very easy. I turned to prayer and the book, Jesus Calling, to give me peace and strength. I was and still am overwhelmed by the prayers that we received that poured in from Facebook, text messages, emails, deliveries, visits, phone calls....you name it. People that I haven't seen or spoken to in years came forward and gave so much. It made me take a good long look in the mirror at how I was not giving back as I should. My co-workers were unbelievable! There wasn't a day that passed that I didn't have my phone blowing up with texts, and my calendar full of them wanting to visit. They brought snacks, magazines, donuts for the nurses, gifts for Kendall, gifts for Logan, gift cards so that Randy wouldn't have to worry about cooking dinner, flowers to bring me cheer, cards.....it was unreal. I can't wait to start returning these gestures of such kindness and love. Randy and I have talked about how prayer truly impacted everything through all of this. We would post something on Facebook that we felt needed prayer, and lo and behold, our prayer warriors showed us God's power and grace and mercy. He kept me pregnant for so much longer than the doctors ever expected. He gave me peace and made the days go faster. He gave me the most amazing nurses and doctors through the whole ordeal. They became a little part of my family, and I seriously loved them all. Our God truly is an awesome God.
I can't forget to thank our family members as well. My mom basically moved in with us to help with Kendall during the week while Randy was at work. My house has never been more organized! Haha! She also made sure to work on Kendall's numbers and letters just as she would if she were in school. Randy's mom and my sister, Sandy, also took turns watching Kendall overnight to give her a change of scenery and to distract from the chaos. She had a blast the entire time. Everyone made sure that she was so loved on. Pretty sure the girl is sad that things are back to normal. Haha!!!! She was spoiled, but rightfully so.
Ok so let's fast forward...Dr. Pepperell told me that everything looked so so so good with my body. My bp was the only thing that kept acting up. However we both contributed a great deal of it to anxiety in addition to the preeclampsia. She set a goal induction date of January 30th. The countdown began. At that point, I would be 37 weeks along and Logan would probably not require a NICU stay. We did have a consult from Dr. Santiago with the NICU which told us what to expect with Logan if she was born before 37 weeks. The different outcomes were terrifying. We put it all in God's hands.
Every day, I had a test called an NST (non-stress test). Again, I'll let wiki explain...
A nonstress test (NST) is a screening test used in pregnancy. A cardiotocograph is used to monitor the fetal heart rate.[1] The premise of the NST is that a well-oxygenated, non-acidemic fetus will spontaneously have temporary increases in the fetal heart rate (FHR).[2]Every day the nurses would tell me how awesome Logan would do. Her test results were "textbook good". In fact she was so wiggly during most of them that they would have to use extra straps to keep the monitors in place on my belly. On Wednesday, the 22nd, one NST at night showed very little movement. The nurse looked concerned. She brought me juice and had me switch positions often. After an hour, her movements increased. The next day, Thursday, I didn't feel Logan much at all. My gut told me something was up. Sure enough, that night, they did an NST and there was no movement. Her heart rate would go from 180 to 30 in a matter of a minute. The nurses put in a call to the doctor. She said I would need to be monitored all night. I called Randy at Benihana where he was having a work dinner to tell him he needed to come stay with me. Thank God my mom was at home with Kendall. I didn't sleep a wink that night. Dr. Pepperell called Friday morning and said, "Let's have a baby". She gave me the option of a c-section or an induction to try for a vaginal delivery. I do not like making medical decisions...especially ones that involve my children. So I told her to tell me what to do...what would be the safest way to get her here? She said that an induction wouldn't hurt to try because they would give me an epidural right away before they pushed the pitocin. That way, if they needed to get me to an operating room for the section, it was ready to go. She did say I should prepare myself mentally for a very strong possibility of a c-section. I took a quick shower, and then had Randy lead us in a prayer.
- Reactive (normal)- presence of two or more fetal heart rate accelerations within a 20-minute period, with or without fetal movement discernible by the woman.[3] Accelerations are defined as 15 bpm above baselines for at least 15 seconds if beyond 32 weeks gestation, or 10 bpm for at least 10 seconds if at or below 32 weeks.[4]
Vibroacoustic stimulation can wake the fetus, and is sometimes used to speed up the test or to facilitate further evaluation of a nonreactive nonstress test.[5]
- Nonreactive- presence of less than two fetal heart rate accelerations within a 20-minute period over a 40-minute testing period.[3]
7am we were wheeled down to L&D. The anesthesiologist came in and did my epidural. With Kendall I was in labor for 19.5 hours and felt NOTHING. This was totally different. They needed me to feel the pressure and they needed things to move much faster. I definitely felt it. Once pitocin began, I quickly began to dilate. This is exactly what we needed my body to do. Logan's heart rate just wouldn't stay consistent. It kept dipping to dangerous levels. The nurse checked me at about 3:15 and to her surprise, I was at a 6! At noon I was only at a 1. Within about 5-15 minutes later, I told her my pain was pretty intense and I felt like she was right there. She had already called to have an OR prepped for a c-section. To humor me, she checked me again. I had gone from a 6 to a 10. It was time to push, and I couldn't because Dr. P was performing a c-section down the hall. They called her and she was there within a matter of minutes. However, she thought she was walking in to see me ready for the OR. She took one look and said, "Holy cow, Kelli! You did it!!!! Time to push!" One push, and her head was out. I saw a look on her face that told me something was wrong. She said to the nurse, "cord wrapped once...cord wrapped twice...........cord wrapped three times." She looked at me, and I knew Logan was in trouble. I pushed once more with everything I had and she was here. That was it. She placed her on my belly for maybe 3 seconds. Then the NICU team of about 8 people rushed in. They took her over to the warmer. There was no sound. Randy had his back to me staring at her. I could see that she wasn't moving, and she was purple. It seemed like an eternity was going by, and the doctors were saying things that might as well have been in Chinese. I didn't understand anything. I was an emotional wreck as the doctor delivered my placenta. She kept telling me that Logan would be ok. The nurse loved on my like a mom. Randy was so still and so quiet.
8 minutes passed and she finally let out a squeak. It was the most wonderful sound. She reached up and tried to pull her c-pap mask off her face. They said she was now breathing on her own. I found out that they had intibated (sp?) her. She was not breathing on her own for those 8 minutes. They started lots of tests and got her warm. They then handed her to Randy. He turned around and was in tears. I've never seen that look on his face. It was fear and relief and love all in one. He handed her to me, and I held her so tight. She was the tiniest baby I had ever held. She was 4lbs 10 ounces and was 17in long. Her head fit in the palm of my hand with room to spare...and I have little hands. They said they would need to run some more tests to determine if she would need to go to the NICU. While all of that transpired, and I was cleaned up, the doctor told me that my placenta was in pieces. She gave me a medical term for it and then told me, "basically, Kelli, your placenta was crap." She said it wasn't nourishing Logan and that was what probably contributed to her small size.
What she said next shook me to my core.
"I have never seen the cord wrapped 3 times and the baby survived. God was definitely here today."
The NICU nurse told me she passed all of her tests and was even eating on her own and doing an awesome job. They said that preemies need help regulating their body temperature. So they took her clothes off and placed her skin to skin on my chest. I never had that opportunity with Kendall because she had to go to the NICU for a few hours because I was on magnesium with her and it made her have very low muscle tone...she was basically drunk.
This time with Logan is time that I will never forget. All of the nurses and doctor kept calling her tiny but mighty. Boy is she. She is so so so strong. She has an attitude when she wakes up in the middle of the night. We can't get enough of it. Bring it on lil Logan. Show the world what you're made of. You are a mighty child of God.
Thank you, Laura Harbron for making this!!!!!
Big sister is smitten. She can't get enough of Logan. She wants to sit by her and has to know where she is at all times. She is the BEST helper.
We are so incredibly blessed.
