I have had a lot of people ask what happened with my pregnancy with Kaden, and what happened to him after. I figured his would be a good way to get it all out without telling the story 100 times. There's probably way more details than anybody wants to know, so feel free to just look at the cute pictures!!
Long story short: I developed pre-eclampsia at 35 weeks, the doctor delivered me at 36 weeks, and my baby ended up in respiratory distress seconds after delivery. He was life flighted to U of U hospital and was there for 12 days. He came home on oxygen, but is doing great now!
Now the long story:
I chose to go back to my doctor from last pregnancy, Dr. Nolte, which meant my appointments and delivery would be in Roosevelt again.
Because I had gestational diabetes with my last pregnancy, I got tested early on. They got my A1c level (an average of my blood sugar for the past three months) and it was 5.2 (perfect) but I still developed gestational diabetes in my first trimester, which I guess is super rare. (yay me!) This time i needed metformin and insulin to control it which was devastating at first, but it wasn't so bad. It was pretty easy to control, and I'm all back to normal now.
My blood pressure was low at the beginning of my pregnancy, but as the pregnancy progressed it got a little higher. By the time I reached the 3rd trimester it had definitely gotten notably higher. At 28 weeks I had to do weekly doctor visits, plus weekly NSTs and biophysical profiles to monitor the baby's heart rate, activity, and growth, because of my GD and high blood pressure. Everything looked awesome until about 34 weeks. That's when my blood pressure started to stay high during the NSTs, and not dropping. My baby was passing with flying colors, but I was failing.
At 35 weeks when I went in for my NST I ended up staying the night. My blood pressure was anywhere from 140/90 to 160/110. It was crazy. There was also protein in my urine, I had a constant headache, and my platelets were dropping. It was pretty obvious I had pre-eclampsia again. The next morning my doctor said if I had been 37 weeks he would want to deliver me, but he wanted to try and buy the baby some more time. He really wanted me to stay at the hospital until the baby was born. I was devastated. Luckily he ended up being OK with me going home on bedrest.
The next week I had three appointments scheduled, after the second one I was told I needed to stay the night again, and I would probably have the baby the next morning. My platelets had been dropping drastically, while I still had all of my other crazy symptoms.
The next day I was 36 weeks, and 6 days pregnant. SO close to 37 weeks. My platelets had fallen a ton over night, so he didn't give me an option, I was having the baby. I was ready to be done. With all of the crazy stuff happening, I just didn't feel good.
I had already started to dilate, so at 9:30 he broke my water and hooked me up to pitocin. The only bad thing is my platelets had fallen so low I couldn't get an epidural. I had my last two babies with no epidural, but I had been planning on one this time. So that threw a huge curve ball at me. It had been two years since I had looked at my hypnobirthing stuff. It was all fine and great until I was dilated to about a 5. I went from a 5 to a 10 in less than 30 minutes. With the help of Jason, pandora, and a little bit of oxygen, I survived to tell about it! (Barely)
Kaden was born about 3:40 pm. Once again, I had to try NOT to push him out. He came out so fast, he basically fell out, and the doctor almost dropped him! I started to bleed too much again, but luckily the doctor was on top of it and I got a shot to stop it before it got worse, so we didn't have a repeat of last time. He weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. and was 18 inches long.
His chest started to retract so he was taken pretty fast to the nursery. They kept his lungs open with a cpap, hoping he would come out of it, but he just got worse. Our pediatrician, Dr. Staker, who we LOVE, was on call. He did such a good job with him. They did two x-rays and it looked like he had pneumonia, and the doctor was pretty sure his lungs weren't completely developed. He was given his first dose of antibiotics, and He intubated him, which meant he had to be life flighted to salt lake. Of course I was devastated, but we had gone through the exact same thing with Livie (minus the intubation and life flight) so that helped my worry level a little bit, I was pretty sure he'd be just fine. Dr. Staker called the U of U hospital to give them information, and we waited for life flight.
He had sent an airplane instead of the helicopter because he was pretty stable, and the airplane would allow one of us to go with him. Obviously they wouldn't release me, so Jason got to go.
Words can not describe the feeling of watching your brand new baby, hours old, being loaded up into the life flight incubator. I am usually pretty good at hiding tears in public, but I couldn't hold them back this time. The life flight crew was amazing, they were so good at explaining what was going on. I said goodbye to Jason and Kaden and went back to my room and never felt so alone in my entire life. When Jason arrived at the hospital he had Kaden's nurse call me to give me an update, which thankfully was VERY positive. She said he was already doing a little better, and she gave me the plan for the night, and the next few days.
The next day my doctor got there nice and early to discharge me. I made him promise the night before that he would be there first thing so I could get out of there. Before I was discharged, the EMT who had been driven the ambulance to and from the airport for the life flight team stopped by to visit, and bring me a gift. That made a HUGE difference in my mood. She will never know how much that visit meant to me.
I had woken up with a scratchy throat and I was so worried I was coming down with a cold, so I didn't dare drive to Salt Lake to be with Kaden, but I did make it up the next day, Sunday. He was in a room where they put the newly admitted babies, and every time a new baby came in, all the parents had to leave. There were a few new babies so I wasn't allowed to see him at first. The lady at the desk finally snuck me in to see him because she knew I hadn't had the chance to see him yet. Just a few minutes after that they moved him into a different room where nobody is asked to leave, and where he stayed the rest of his stay.
The next day I woke up and did not feel good at all. We had to run to wal mart to get some things, and I was feeling more sick by the minute. By the time we left wal mart I felt like I had the full fledge flu and I even had a fever. (It happened that fast!) Then I realized I had felt like this before, when Livie was in the NICU and I knew exactly what it was. Mastitis. I was able to get a prescription called in for antibiotics that Jason picked up for me, and I slept the entire day because I just didn't feel good enough to visit Kaden. Luckily I was starting to feel better and was able to finally go spend time with him the next day. About this time Robert was having a really hard time back at home, so Jason went back to Vernal to get the kids on somewhat of a normal schedule.
The next few days were filled with him getting weaned down on his oxygen, bililights, antibiotics, and A LOT of snuggles. I tried to get there before 9:00 each morning and I'd usually stay until after 10:00 pm. After his antibiotics were over he to prove he could eat (which he had no problems doing, thank goodness!) He did so well through his whole stay. He had a few setbacks, and I had a few good scares, but he really did great! We were finally given the OK to leave after 12 days. Nothing felt better than getting out of there! He had to come home on oxygen, but we dealt with that with Livie, and it's definitely not a big deal.
I am so thankful that Kaden's stay was relatively short, and his treatment was pretty standard, and nothing complicated. Other Moms and babies there definitely had it much, much worse. The nurses, NNPs, and the neonatologist were all so amazing!! We couldn't have asked for better care!!
Shortly after getting home from the hospital I started experiencing symptoms of PTSD and very quickly I definitely have postpartum PTSD. That has created its own challenges, but I'm just trying to focus on how wonderful it feels to be home with a healthy baby.
This was right after being intubated, before heading to salt lake.
That's how they transported Kaden!
This was in the Roosevelt Nursery before heading out. This picture has been SO hard to look at.
They had him on an oscillator during the transport.
This is proof that Kaden has officially flown in an airplane.
That is Jeff, he was really awesome. He even came to check on him in the NICU a few days later.
It took almost a full week before his chest finally stopped retracting like that.
Jason got to hold him before I got there. I was so jealous, but SO happy he could be there with him.
That is the cpap they had him on. It looks way more comfortable than the one Livie had.
They said it's much more gentle.
The day he FINALLY got to suck on a bottle.
They had to wait until he was off the cpap.
I am SO incredibly grateful for the Ronald McDonald house, and the chance that I had to stay there. They were absolutely incredible.
This hospital is HUGE and it was so intimidating.
The entrance to the NICU
There were so many emotions each time I pushed the buzzer to be let in,
This was right before he finished his antibiotics.
You could tell he was feeling better, and he was much more alert.
They finally let him have clothes when they took his IV out and he could prove he could maintain his body temperature.
After he proved he could maintain his body temperature they moved him to a crib because he didn't need the warmer anymore. He decided to pull his feeding tube out during his day in the crib. The nurse was a little excited, and said she wouldn't put it back in unless he needed it. Luckily he finished all of his feeds by mouth, and never needed it again!
I think he knew what he needed to do to get home.
Next to the day we left, this was the best day at the NICU. The day we finally had a "steps to discharge" list. That meant we were super close!
This was his last full day in the NICU. I admit, I did enjoy snuggling him all day, and having him all to myself, with nobody else that needed my attention. I soaked up that last day.
Home at last! It's hard to tell how little he is, but those are preemie pajamas!
No comments:
Post a Comment