On Monday, November 1, 2010, one day shy of being 37 weeks pregnant (due date was November 22, although that was never really definite for the whole pregnancy, at least not in my mind), I went in for my weekly doctor's visit. During the appointment Dr. Cook looked at my chart and noticed that Dr. Reiter, the maternal fetal medicine specialist that he had sent me to for some ultrasounds to make sure the baby was growing properly, noted that my amniotic fluid level was lower than he would have liked. It normally decreases at the end of a pregnancy because the baby starts taking up more room, but mine was a little lower than it should have been. At my appointment with Dr. Reiter a couple of weeks prior to this, he noted that the baby was growing fine but the fluid level was low (about at an 8 or 9, and if it gets down to 5 they will deliver the baby - I have no idea what these numbers actually mean, but a low fluid level can lead to bad things including stillbirth). He said that it needed to be watched carefully and told me to come back in one week. In the meantime, I went for my regular checkup with Dr. Cook, who I thought for sure would want to put me on bedrest (I may or may not have had my fingers crossed for this). But he said that it was not anything to be concerned about at this point. The next week when Dr. Reiter checked the fluid level again, it was a little better, no worse, so he was not worried. This brings us to that Monday, November 1. On this day when Dr. Cook saw what my fluid level was (and actually it was a little higher than it had been the last time he saw me and was not worried) he was concerned. He decided to do an ultrasound to check it himself. Of course it was low, and so he said I needed to go into the hospital for observation. He said I could go home first to get my things and come back. The plan was to start an IV to get more fluid in me, monitor overnight, check another ultrasound in the morning, and if the fluid level was no better, they would go ahead and deliver the baby.
I called Phillip on my way home, who was in a meeting at work and did not answer his phone for about the first 5 times I called. Finally he noticed all the missed calls from me and remembered that I had been to the doctor that morning and knew something was up. He called back and I told him to come home. It was time to go to the hospital. We met at the house, made calls to our families to let them know what was going on, and changed into more comfy clothes. I put the last few things I needed into my already partially-packed hospital bag and we loaded the car and said goodbye to Maddie. We even stopped for gas and a carwash! Getting to the hospital when it was time for the baby to come was one of the things I had been most worried about because the hospital is in the medical center - about 25-30 minutes away without traffic, and if there is traffic, you can just forget about it. So we were both very thankful that we were able to take our time getting there and there was no rush.
A little later, once we were all situated in a room, they took me upstairs in a wheelchair (my first wheelchair ride!...at least my first legitimate wheelchair ride) and did another ultrasound. I thought they were going to wait until the next morning for this but they didn't and I guess it was a good thing. Later that afternoon Dr. Cook came to see us and told us that according to that ultrasound, the fluid level was at a 4 and that meant they needed to go ahead and deliver. The plan was to start Cervidil late that night and pitocin early the next morning to induce labor. Phillip's mom, dad, and sister Lisa came to see us that night and brought us food from Olive Garden (my last meal) so we wouldn't have to eat the hospital food (which it later turned out actually wasn't that bad). My mom and dad got to town about 9:00 that night and came up to the hospital before going to our house. I told them not to hurry trying to get back to the hospital in the morning because it was going to take all day, and it would be easier if they waited until the morning traffic died down first. Side note: I had written them explicit driving instructions for getting to the hospital both from coming straight into town and coming from our house, AND walking instructions for getting around in the hospital so that there would be no way for them to get lost. I think they still might have taken a couple of wrong turns initially but by the end of the week they were pros.
I was hooked up to a fetal monitor and an IV all night (which resulted in many trips to the bathroom and that was a pain because I had to unhook the monitor first and also walk around with the IV pole - have I mentioned this was my first hospital experience EVER?). After I got the Cervidil I was starting to get a little bit uncomfortable (I never got to experience true labor - even though according to the fetal monitor I was having contractions - something for which a part of me is grateful but another part of me regrets a little bit). The nurse gave me some pain medicine, which also helped me sleep. It was pretty good sleep (I was wishing for more of that medicine later in the week), but I was aware of her coming in and out of the room all night to check the fetal monitor. At one point in the night she told me, just to put the bug in my ear she said, that the baby was not acting just like she should and that they may decide to perform a C-section, which I was sort of expecting anyway. Sure enough, at about 8:00 the next morning, Dr. Cook along with a few other doctors and nurses, came into the room, turned on the light, and said the baby was not responding well to even the small amount of Pitocin they had given me to start with. She was having heart decelerations and we needed to do a C-section today. Then Dr. Cook said "There's an OR available right now, so let's do it! You ready?"
Ready or not here she comes.
From there it was sort of a whirlwind experience.
They wheeled me off to surgery. Phillip hurried to make phone calls to our parents to tell them there had been a small change of plans and the baby was coming NOW - after I had told my parents not to rush to get there in the morning. He had to wait outside of the OR while they prepped me and then he came in. Things are a little fuzzy from this point, but I do remember that it was a strange sensation to have the lower half of my body numb. I couldn't feel anything but some pulling and tugging, and at 8:52 a.m. on Tuesday, November 2, Bailey Elizabeth was born three weeks early. I never worried despite all the events of the last 24 hours that she wouldn't be healthy, and she was perfect.
She weighed 6 lbs and was 18 3/4 inches long. One of the first things Dr. Cook said about her was, "She's got lots of dark hair!" Did she ever! I was expecting a little light colored peach fuzz or bald baby, so that was the biggest surprise to everyone. But I was born with that hair too. That is still pretty much the first thing anyone says about her when seeing her for the first time - "Look at all that hair! My kids never had any hair till they were 2!"
By the way, it turned out the reason for the decreasing fluid level was that the placenta had become partially detached and was no longer functioning as well as it should. As I said before, this can cause serious complications, so it was a very good thing the doctors caught it and it was not a problem.
Our hospital stay was pretty uneventful I would say, other than my freezing Phillip out of the room the first night or two when I was burning up because my legs were wrapped in layers of compression stockings and foam pads and I don't know what all, and I had Bailey sleeping on my chest - the child puts out A LOT of heat. All our doctors and nurses were super nice and helpful. Bailey continued to be healthy and stayed in our room with us most of the time. No more sending babies off to the nursery to let the nurses take care of them - they want the parents learning in the hospital while there are nurses there to help because once you go home, you're on your own! After what seemed like forever in the hospital, we finally got to go home on Friday afternoon. Bailey weighed 5 lbs 6 ounces when we left the hospital. She was a tiny little thing. Phillip's mom was there to greet us when we got home and had brought Maddie back, who had been staying at their house all week while we were in the hospital. After we unloaded the car, we both crashed while his mom watched the baby and cooked us a good meal. My parents had to go home, but my mom came back the next day and stayed for the week to help out. Thank goodness for grandparents!
Bailey has been a very good baby so far and we have been very blessed by her. She has continued to grow into a sweet and beautiful girl. I will leave here and pick up later with more about her first seven months.
Before I go, here are some pictures from the hospital:
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| The night before she was born |
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| First family picture |
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| Our first time to really get a good look at her |
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