On Thursday July 18th, I was 28 weeks 6 days gestation, anxiously awaiting the arrival of our sweet bundle of joy. I hadn't had a terrible pregnancy, but I was tired. Juggling college, work, and our four other children, who wouldn't be tired?! Like I mentioned, I hadn't been feeling awful. I had the occasional headaches and lots of exhaustion. I did have swelling, but nothing that wasn't controllable. I really felt healthy and felt like I really paid attention to my limits of this pregnancy.
Earlier in the morning I was having some severe tummy craping and chalked it up to gas and growing baby. Knowing I had an appointment, that afternoon, I tried not to freak out and took it easy until I could meet with my doctor. I was at my appointment no longer than 15 minutes, when I was sent to the hospital for further tests to be done. My blood pressure was through the roof and I had protein in my urine. My doctor thought I was preeclamptic and needed to do some blood tests.
After what felt like hours of crying and fear for my baby, I was settled in at the Labor and Delivery Unit of the hospital. The nurses, phlebotomists, and techs went to work collecting my blood, hooking me to IV's, and pumping me with steroids. I was basically put in a "time-out", or so my husband and I have laughed about now, I wasn't allowed to have visitors or watch T.V.--I was supposed to sit in the dark and be quiet and do nothing. (This was to lower my Blood Pressure)
Twelve hours later I was still laying in Labor and Delivery on my 'time-out" and awaiting more instructions from my OB. I can't explain to you the fears running through my head at this point. I seriously thought there was no way I would be delivering. Shortly after, I met with and OB specialist who told me that preeclampsia in your fifth pregnancy was unheard of, and I had developed HELLP syndrome. He said they wanted at least another 12-24 hours to finish my steroids if possible and to continue resting.
That evening they released me to the Women's Care Unit and I thought I was in the clear and heading home the next day. Boy was I wrong...
The morning of July 20th, the doctors decided that we had hit the 48 hour mark and we could no longer prolong things. They took me back for an emergency C-section and at 7:44 am our little man was born. He weighed 2lbs. 4oz. and he was 14.5 inches long. As he was rushed off to NICU with the nurses and doctors, I got to lay on the table being stitched and laying in awe over what had just happened.
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