Birth Story Part 3

So the girls are 10 months old now... you'd think I'd be able to talk about their birth by now! Sheesh. (updated -- they are now 13 months old... way to go mom!)

Aaaaannnnyway ... with the help of Allen, I'll recount the week up to their birth.

So I was admitted to the hospital on Sunday night. We made the phone calls to all of the appropriate family members and, naturally, they were all in a panic. We reassured them that we would be okay, but my mother (bless her) made the trek over immediately. The thing was, Allen couldn't take any vacation and only had one week of paternity leave that we wanted to save for when the girls were actually born. At that point, it was our understanding that I would be admitted for monitoring. We did not believe birth to be imminent. Be it as it were, Allen still had to work during the day. Mom came over to keep me company on that day, Monday. No matter how old you are, you always need your momma. Love her for being there for me.

***TMI warning -- if you are squeamish or at all faint of the heart, stop reading. I'm going to get to every nitty gritty detail that you probably won't want to read. Remember that I am doing this for my girls ... and it just so happens to be a public forum. If something were to happen to me, they need to know this information for when they have kids of their own. I think I lost all modesty with this childbirth. Anyway, stop reading if you're going to be offended.***

So there I am in the hospital, I think it was 7400. I'm hooked up to every machine possible -- BP monitor, contractions monitior, a monitor for each baby and a pulse ocimeter (sp) and I had an IV port which sucked ... needless to say, I was extremely uncomfortable. I had to pee every two seconds and so it was pretty annoying to have to unhook all that stuff and then rehook it up. I had to pee in a hat (for those of you who don't know what a "hat" is, it is a little thing that hooks onto the toilet to collect urine ... yeah, TMI... lots of fun) so they could test for protein.

Anyway, Mom would brush my hair and bring me magazines and tons of fast food. I had my computer with me and pandoro (I think I was listening to Nora Jones radio, pretty mellow) so I was all set for boredom. I think I was too excited/nervous to be bored.

Allen would stay with me every night which was so sweet. He'd set up shop and slept in that uncomfortable hospital chair (becuase I was not yet in a L&D suite) ... he'd shower at the hospital and then go to work the next day. He'd come and check on me periodically throughout the day and it was always nice to see his bright and sunshiny face-- even though I know he was so scared of what was happening. I think I was blissfully unaware of the complications ... and he let me be, for which I am most thankful.

So this went on for a couple of days. My BP was slowly increasing, but I never spilled protein into my urine. On monday, they knew that pre-e was immenint. It was unusual that I never spilled protein. So they were operating under the assumption that I was pre- pre-eclamtic. Every morning they'd come into my room to draw blood to run a battery of tests. It wasn't until about wednesday that they determined that I was defintely pre-eclamptic, depsite the lack of protein. It was on Thursday that when they drew my labs, they saw that my liver enzymes became elevated and my platelets dropped ... I had developed HELLP Syndrome. Crap.

According to Wikipedia:

HELLP syndrome is a life-threatening obstetric complication usually considered to be a variant of pre-eclampsia. Both conditions occur during the later stages of pregnancy, or sometimes after childbirth. Often, a patient who develops HELLP syndrome has already been followed up for pregnancy-induced hypertension (gestational hypertension), or is suspected to develop pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure and proteinuria). Up to 8% of all cases present after delivery.
There is gradual but marked onset of headaches (30%), blurred vision, malaise (90%), nausea/vomiting (30%), "band pain" around the upper abdomen (65%) and paresthesia (tingling in the extremities). Edema may occur but its absence does not exclude HELLP syndrome. Arterial hypertension is a diagnostic requirement, but may be mild. Rupture of the liver capsule and a resultant hematoma may occur. If the patient gets a seizure or coma, the condition has progressed into full-blown eclampsia.

With this, they decided to induce labor ... that was Thursday morning. YIKES!!! More to follow in Birth Story Part 4.

Timeline:6.21.08 -- sent to ER for high BP (180/100)

6.21.08 -- admitted to hospital ... sent to L&D

6.22.08 -- Mom came to keep me company

6.22.08 -- transferred to 7400

6.26.08 -- BP (on meds) was 160/90, liver enzyemes became elevated, platelates dropped, never spilled protien in my urine (strangely) ... MFM decided to induce labor