On Thursday, November 14th, I went into the doctor for one of my twice-weekly doctor appointments to see how you were doing. We had found out earlier in the week that my body was not doing well... there was protein in my urine, which meant my gestational hypertension was elevated to pre-eclampsia. The only way to "cure" pre-eclampsia is to deliver... this made me nervous because your body still needed time to grow! I had gone in that week for two shots to help speed up the development of your lungs in case they needed to deliver you early. At my doctor's appointment, the protein tests still weren't good, so my doctor had me check into the hospital for a 24-hour monitoring period. I was thankful she let me get my planned pedicure before checking in :-)
Your dad and I went to the hospital where they hooked me up to some monitors to check your heart rate and any braxton hicks contractions (which I didn't even realize I had been having) and did some blood work and other tests. I thought things were going well... every time they checked they told me how great you were doing. Little did I know that my body wasn't doing well. My liver enzymes kept jumping up every time they checked, which wasn't safe for either of us.
On the morning of the 15th, they told me that they needed to deliver you and that they were moving me to labor and delivery. Ready or not, it was time! They started giving me magnesium to prevent me from having a seizure (I had advanced to severe pre-eclampsia). Around 2:00 am on November 16th, after the magnesium had been in my body for about 12 hours, they started the pitosin to induce labor. They told me you would probably be joining our family that afternoon or evening!
At 2:00 pm that day they broke my water. Your head was down low and there was lots of pressure, and I had an epidural at 3:00 pm. The epidural definitely helped with the contractions... for a bit! They started getting painful again later that evening. I had to just try and breathe/whimper through them until I was dilated enough to push. Your dad was so encouraging the whole time. I was so glad he was there.
I didn't have to push much because you were so little. You came into this world at 10:48 pm on November 16th. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard your little cry. I couldn't see much - there were lots of people in the room ready to take good care of you... but your dad was right there and just told me how good you looked. They rushed you off to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit, and your dad was able to go down with you. He snapped a picture of you with his phone and texted it to me.
They told me you weighed 3 pounds 4.5 ounces and were 16 3/4 inches long. As soon as I was able, I joined your dad in the NICU to say hello. They let me hold you for a couple minutes before it was time for me to head to recovery. You were so small and so sweet and I already loved you.
Love,
Mom
No words reading this - just tears. SO precious!
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