November 16th started out like many of our Wednesdays. We had an ultrasound scheduled for the morning and a check-in dr.'s appointment in the afternoon. Brian had to work, so Granny Jan went along for this one.
While we waited to be taken back for the ultrasound, we talked about how soon our little girl would be here and how fast the time had gone. We were hoping to make it to Thanksgiving, when she'd be 36 weeks, but figured we wouldn't get much past that.
We went back for the test and when the nurse took my blood pressure it was high, REALLY high, so she had another nurse come in and take it again a few minutes later. I had been getting high readings every time I went in for an appointment, but never when I took it myself at home, so I wasn't surprised it was high, but it had never been THIS high before. The doctor came in to check the ultrasound and my fluid was slightly low, however he wasn't that concerned about it. I expected to be told I was going to be put on medicine for my bp and sent along.
The doctor left the office to confer with our regular ob and the next thing I knew I was being walked to Labor and Delivery. I was admitted, hooked up to monitors and had blood drawn. I had no idea why I was there, if it was just for observation or something else. After about an hour, the on call ob came in to tell me my blood work came back fine, but they were waiting for one more test. It was the protein check that I had done 3 times before and to be honest, I thought I'd be passing with no problem. The next time the OB came in, she didn't have great news. I had gone from a 71 count to 6100! Anything over 300 is bad and they told me they had never seen a jump that high before....way to be an over achiever.
I wasn't going anywhere, they wanted to monitor my bp and see if they could get it under control and if I was going to be released it would be home to bed rest. Over the next few hours my bp wouldn't go down, so they decided it would be best to induce labor and get our little girl out. Since the only cure for pre-eclampsia, which is what I was now diagnosed with, was delivering the baby. The first round of induction didn't do anything, so they tried again. The 2nd round didn't do anything either. My body just wasn't ready to have a baby yet. At just over 34 weeks, it figured it still had plenty of time. A c-section was scheduled for 7:30pm November 17th. YIKES! I wasn't planning on having a baby when I went in for an ultrasound!
Brian made a call to our Birth Doula, Kathy and our photographer Kerri to see if they would be willing to come out. Both were happy to come and I was happy to have them. This was not the birth we had been planning on or working toward, but it was still very important to have these people there for it. Kathy was such a comfort and while she couldn't help coach us through any contractions, she was able to keep me calm as my condition worsened toward the delivery time. I will be forever grateful for all of the cool wash clothes :).
Kerri was also able to take some wonderful pictures of before and after the birth. While she couldn't get any of Genevieve being born, I appreciate having the moments leading up to her arrival forever captured. Especially the ones of Brian in his OR garb.
At 7:00pm, a nurse came in to tell us that we had been pushed back by an emergency c-section, so we'd now have our little girl at 8:30 instead. What felt like minutes later I was being wheeled in to the OR, given a spinal and totally numb from the waist down. As I laid behind a blue curtain with my husband sitting next to me, what was actually happening was hard for me to believe. A few minutes later, I heard the sweetest cry I've ever heard. Our little girl was out and sounding great. Genevieve Ann Porter was welcomed in to the world at 8:46pm. All 4lbs of her :).
She was cleaned off, wrapped up, and I got to kiss her before she was taken to the NICU. The doctors finished up and I was wheeled back in to my room, where my mom and our Doula, Kathy were waiting. My mom stayed with me, since Brian was down with Genevieve while they checked her out. She was strong and didn't need any help breathing. What a relief!
It was another 24 hours before I got to hold my little girl. The amount of emotion I had as I was taken in to see her is indescribable. She was so tiny, but so beautiful. We spent much of the next 2 days in the NICU with our little girl, feeding her, changing diapers and falling even more in love.
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