Lucy's Birth FS4SB #82
Yep, you guessed it, she's here. Born today, May 19th around 1:40pm. Crazy eh?
It looks as if the placenta abrupted from the uterus but, no one is really sure what happened yet. Anyway, for just over 32 weeks, we are pretty stoked at her weight of 4lbs. 11ozs. She is way cute and has been moving her legs and wiggling her toes. This makes us happy.
I'll let Rachel write more details later, as I have probably left out a lot!
Thanks for reading,
Aaron, Rachel, Leah and Lucy
Rachel checking in!
Oh my goodness, I feel so out of touch, not having internet access for 4 days! I'm still blown away by the fact that Lucy is here. 32 weeks 4 days. (10 weeks 1 day post-op) 4lbs. 11oz and 17 inches long. What happened?... a lot!
Thursday night I monitored and had 7 contractions in 1 hour. I had a bolus of medicine, ate dinner, drank water and monitored again, only having 2 contractions in 1 hour. At midnight, I woke up feeling very uncomfortable. My stomach hurt and I thought I must've eaten something bad. I kept waking up and changing positions and nothing seemed to help. This went on for most of the night and it never crossed my mind that I might be contracting. These did not feel like the tingly squeezing contractions I've come to know and fear.
Just before 5am I put my hands on my belly and it was rock hard. I woke up Aaron and asked him for the monitor. The Matria nurse called back and said that I had 17 contractions and please go to the hospital! I figured they'd adjust my medicine dose and we'd be home shortly. I grabbed our camera and some film, but figured it would be bad luck to bring the video camera and other "having a baby" preparations. We took no fetal surgery info. and didn't have any phone numbers for the doctors in Tennessee. We were not having a baby, just contractions.
On the way to the hospital I said to Aaron, "I can't stop thinking about the fact that the average delivery time after Fetal Surgery for Spina Bifida(FS4SB) is 33 weeks. That's not the most comforting thought right now!"
We got to the hospital having contractions 4-5 minutes apart. They monitored me and bolused me. The contractions kept coming. My cervix hadn't changed. The terbutaline wasn't doing the trick. They stopped my terb. pump and gave me an IV of Magnesium Sulfate. The plan was for a 24 hour MAG wash, after which my body should be receptive to the terb. again. They gave me a steroid shot and the neonatalogist came in to chat with us about babies born @ 32 weeks. I knew Aaron was dreading "24 hours of Rachel on MAG!" So, I told him to go home and maybe take Leah to a movie. He left and my contractions started up again. They checked me and my cervix was 2cm and I'd lost my mucous plug. I asked, "What is the point of no return with my cervix?" They said 3cm would mean delivery.
It was now noon and my uterus had been going for 12 hours! They called my doctor and she checked me...2 and1/2 and more "bloody show." She got an ultrasound machine. Lucy showed no signs of distress the entire time. Dr. Schmidt started the ultrasound and said, "I have done thousands of ultrasounds and never seen anything like this! There is debris in there and I think it's blood and it looks as if the membranes have collapsed all around the baby." I started saying, "GET HER OUT! GET HER OUT!"
They gave me a blue hairnet and started prepping me. I grabbed the phone and called Aaron. He had been home 10 minutes. "Aaron come back now!"
He said, "Are we having her?"
I said, "YES!" and we hung up.
They wheeled me down the hall and I asked the anesthesiologist if they were going to give me an epidural. He said there was not enough time but, would give me a spinal block. I asked the nurse to call Aaron's cell phone and tell him I'm in the O.R., so HURRY! They called and he said he was 10 minutes away. I was on the table, numb and ready to go. Aaron walked in and they started.
When they got into the uterus, it was full of blood. They pulled Lucy out. She had blood in her stomach and lungs. They weren't sure if it was hers or mine! I could see her little hand and saw a full head of black hair. They finally decided the blood was mine. We are still a little unclear as to what really happened in there.
They think it may have been "old blood" since Lucy has it through her system. She's even pooping it out. The scar on my uterus was still intact. The wall of my uterus around the scar was paper thin. The doctor could see her hand through it. The area around the scar was "bruised" purple and black. They said it's possible that the wall of the uterus had started bleeding, maybe even days before and had closed itself off. They sent my placenta to the lab to see if there were any clots or signs that it may have abrupted and caused the blood.
Lucy is doing awesome! They started feeding her my breast milk today, through a tube of course. Her kidneys are working great. Her head has even gotten a little smaller. The highlight of my day was when Aaron walked into NICU to find that jerk neonatalogist reading the entire packet I had put together about FS4SB. This guy had told us 4 weeks ago that Lucy was going to get a shunt because 100% off SB babies need a shunt. So... this guy looks up at Aaron and says, "It sure looks as if this little girl does not need a shunt."
We definitely feel that we've had our victories over the past few days. Lucy is blowing everyone away. Her CT scan was great. Her brain and kidney ultrasounds were great. She does have a cast on her right foot. It's not clubbed, but has started turning in a little since birth. They keep throwing new ones at us. Today it was that her optic nerves are too small. They got an eye doctor to check her out and he said there's nothing wrong at all.
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