Spring is always a beautiful time of year. While the dandelions are still yellow, the tulips are blooming, and every tree’s leaf is that brand-new green color–that’s the prettiest time, when things are brand new. We’ve got a brand new baby in our family, and it’s made this spring very exciting and very busy! Jonathan, our fourth child, was born April 18th, a month early and unexpectedly and not without a scare (there were complications)….but we made it to May and he’s home and healthy and we’re both doing great now.
This has been the longest I’ve ever been away from my blog (I didn’t blog at all last month!) but this baby is a lot more work than our other babies were and I’m still trying to juggle a full time job, parenting 3 other kids, housework and laundry (a losing battle!)….needless to say, the blog has not been a top priority. My husband has shouldered most of the parenting, housework, and all of the horse chores for the last several months. I am mainly focused on this guy:
Jonathan was born four weeks early, as I had unknowlingly developed a condition known as HELLP Syndrome. I’d had weird upper back pain for a week, and sometimes nausea (I’ve never had morning sickness during any pregnancy), but I would go to work and mid-morning the pain would go away, and I’d feel fine all day until half way through sleeping at night, would wake at 2:00am with pain between my shoulder blades and through to my upper stomach just below my ribs. My doctor thought maybe it was acid reflux, but antacid pills didn’t help at all.
So after about a week of these symptoms, in the middle of the night I started having contractions, and timed them every two minutes. After two hours, I got up and started laundry because I wanted to pack clean clothes to take to the hospital. I called the hospital and told them what was going on, and they said I had better come in. So I woke up my husband, who almost panicked, threw the kids in the car, and drove way too fast (I knew I wasn’t close, but the contractions were steady).
At the hospital, the nurse said I wasn’t actually in labor and they would probably send me home. But she said, “We’ll do a blood test first.” That was a life-saving decision, one of many small miracles that happened along the way. (The first miracle was that I started having contractions which made me go to the hospital!)
The blood test revealed that my platelets were low and I had elevated levels of protein in my liver. I felt fine, so it was rather alarming when the nurse said the were sending me to Omaha by helicopter or ambulance, and to tell my husband to take the kids home to Grandma and get back as soon as possible, because I was going to be induced and the baby had to be born today. She said the current hospital was not equipped to give platelets, and I was likely going to need a transfusion.
Since I didn’t feel sick, it was surreal to me to be packed into an ambulance, fitted with two IV ports and given a high dose of Magnesium to keep me from having seizures. My husband returned in time to follow the ambulance, and we drove like mad over to Methodist Women’s Hospital in Omaha.
Once there, we were consulted by a doctor who told us very seriously that this was a life-threatening condition which, in earlier years before it was researched, took the lives of many young, healthy women before they ever got to full term or delivery. He said a young doctor lost a patient to this condition, and started asking other doctors if they had similar occurrences, and believed that when a pregnant woman’s platelets drop, blood pressure spikes, and liver has bleeding or ruptures, someone should yell “Help!” The only cure he found for this condition was to induce labor or take the baby right away, and the woman’s condition would usually improve. The name HELLP stands for: H- hemolysis (breakdown of red blood cells); EL- elevated liver enzymes (liver function); LP- low platelets.
So the proper drugs were given to start labor (I was still having regular contractions, but not strong enough yet.) Most of the day went by, and only around 5:00pm did things start to get interesting. By then, the contractions were so strong and the constant pain in my upper back was also strengthening, so I asked if they could put some pain killer in my IV. They did, and I instantly felt wonderful! That’s when I realized that the back pain was much worse than I thought.
Everything progressed quickly then, the doctors were called in, and that was when it was discovered that the baby was in breech position. I remember how the doctor’s face fell when he announced it, thinking I would need to have a c-section (which they said if that happened, I would risk bleeding to death because I had no clotting capabilities). But the residency doctor said no, let’s try, and after two good contractions he was born. Another miracle was our baby was only 4 lbs 11 oz, otherwise they would have had to do a c-section and I could have died.
I thought we were all clear then, as he was perfect, lungs were fully developed and he was able to cuddle with me and nurse. However, through the night as my husband slept on the cot nearby, my pain grew steadily worse until I told the nurse I could no longer hold my baby. That’s how I know I was really sick—I would never have given them my baby if I had been in my right mind!
So again, our serious doctor told us I would be transferred to yet a third hospital, because my liver was in danger of rupturing and there was a good liver specialist at Methodist Hospital in Omaha. So again I was loaded into an ambulance and put into ICU at Methodist. I went through two ultrasounds and a CAT scan, and was given a transfusion of platelets. I remember it was a Sunday morning, and two doctors were in my room talking, and I looked at them and said, “My pain just went away. Right now, while you are standing here, it’s gone. I don’t hurt anymore.” It was 9:30am on Sunday, April 19th, and I know that was another miracle, as many friends and family told me later that their churches had started a prayer chain for me and they were praying around the clock.
So our baby was transferred to Children’s Hospital, which happens to have 2 floors in the same building as Methodist Hospital…so finally we were both in the same building, just on different floors. I felt perfectly fine, and was released from the hospital a few days later. Jonathan had to stay in the NICU for almost a week after I got out, so I stayed in Omaha to be near him. I was gone from home for nine days, which was extremely strange to me. I was so happy it was all over with and we could be all together again! Our two year old was not allowed in the NICU, so he wasn’t able to meet Jonathan until we came home. It was love at first sight:
We are doing great now, and are so happy to have our little Jonathan safely here and growing well.
