I had a baby... 10 weeks early

Well, yesterday was a whirlwind experience. My husband and I got to the Akron City Hospital about 1:30 yesterday afternoon. We still didn't know if we were going to be delivering that day or not. We spoke with one of the doctors here and he spoke with my doctor and it sounded like they were going to keep me and observe me for a little while. As soon as any of the labs came back funky or we noticed anything strange going on with the baby then we would deliver her.

So I was getting my labs drawn and getting ready to order something to eat when the doctor came back in and said my doc was on his way and we were going to deliver the baby then. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! I can't say that I totally panicked because I had the entire trip up from Columbus to Akron to think about things and prepare myself for the fact that I was about to have a baby at 30 weeks.

My Doc had spoken with the Neonatologists and decided that it would just be best to get her out and continue her care outside the womb. As nervous as I was, I was also relieved. I am so glad to be done with this pregnancy. Like I said before, I always just felt like I was sitting at the top of a slipper slope and it was so hard not knowing when you were going to go down.

When I got into the OR I tried to remain calm. All the while, i was having flash backs to my delivery with Kelsi. However, I still felt confident that things would go okay with her. At one point, when they were placing the spinal, I did have a moment of frantic prayer asking my Father in Heaven to please please please let everything be okay with my baby and myself. I have already shown that I play against the odds in these circumstances and I don't want to be one that dies during a routine c-section. Morbid, I Know, but it is what it is.

I must say that having a c-section with a spinal is not exactly comfortable. I could still feel things, though they didn't hurt, they were quite uncomfortable. My doctor got the baby out and she cried right away. Quite quickly he held her over the draping so that I could see her. She was so small. Not nearly as small as Kelsi, but tiny nonetheless. The Neonatologist wisked my baby away into the next room where they cleaned her up and got her all prepared. Garth came back in to tell me that she was born at 4:38 PM weighing in at 3 pounds 7 ounces. She measured 16" long. She was a very big girl for being 29w 6d along. I missed my goal of 30 weeks by just hours. :)

Once she was out, the real work for my doctor began. He worked on me to perform a tubal ligation and the normal clean up from a c-section. Interestingly my ovaries were in quite the condition. I guess my left ovary was about the size of a grapefruit, at least. It was FULL of large cysts. My right ovary was quite small, but also covered in cysts. So I now have the official diagnosis of what I had always suspected, Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). I had always suspected it because I have had the symptoms for ever. But it had never been confirmed until now.

I was taken to recovery for a couple of hours and just before they took me to my room they wheeled me in to see Kiari. She was so stinking cute...from what i could see of her. She had been intubated to help her breath. Nice thing was that she was on room air and the vent was only there to help support her own breathing efforts. When I reached in to hold her hand, she took my finger and gripped it nicely. I love holding her little hand. She has the cutest and most perfect fingers and toes. She is most certainly my child as her feet are long and skinny. Just like all three of her sisters before her. HAHAHAHAHA

The first night of recovery for me was difficult. They had me up 8 hours after the surgery. That was pretty painful, but worth every bit of it as we went over to see my sweet baby once again. She was still doing great. Her bilirubin levels had gone up slightly, but nothing that we were concerned with at that point. Other than that, she was hangining in there. I didn't get much sleep last night due to the pain of the surgery and just not being able to sleep. I slept for short periods of time and went back in to see Kiari early this morning. Nothing much had changed with her, so that was a relief.

Today has been pretty good. I am working really hard at getting my systems back to functioning, which has always been difficult for me after my c-sections. I finally got to shower, a dream after having surgery. I always love feeling nice and clean again after surgeries. My girls came over this morning and were so excited to see the baby. They got to spend about 15 minutes with her before they had to leave due to Riley having a swim meet today. But they came back in tonight to see her again.

They have removed her from the ventilator and placed a nasal cannula. Her Bilirubin levels had gone up a bit and they were preparing to send her to Children's Hospital. They said that if they ran it again and it hadn't changed or gone up she would be transfered. Luckily they went down a little bit, but dang that baby of mine is glowing blue!!! Lots and lots of lights. I was able to get some pictures of her while they had everything off of her face while removing the breathing tube and placing the nasal cannula. I got some pictures too, however, I am not able to upload them yet. I will as soon as I get home. She looks just like her daddy. Not that it surprises me at all. In one of her ultrasounds, I could see that she looked just like him.

The docs and nurses are amazed with her. She really truly is a fighter, but we already knew that with all that she has been through to this point. The neonatolgist was talking with me today about all that she had been through and said, she is just truly a miracle. She also gave me big kudos for picking up on the change in movement at 24 weeks. She just looked at me and said, you know you saved her life. I am so glad that I was given the gift of noticing her movements and knowing something was wrong. I was so blessed!!!

For now, Kiari is still here in the hospital with me. But that can change at any moment as she is still fighting against the antibodies and such. But I will enjoy my visists with her tonight as I wake to pump milk and take what few drops I get over to her. Now that they have removed the vent, she can cry and it is the cutest little cry. I am totally smitten with my tiny little girl. I am really excited to get to know this feisty little girl that has come to my family.

We are nowhere near out of the woods, yet again, but I am so glad she is here, alive, safe and sound at last. Now the next roller coast ride begins. Thank you all so much for your love, support and prayers. I truly believe they have made all the difference in this difficult pregnancy. Please continue to send them now to my little girl that she might overcome the challenges that lay ahead.