Big Blessings in Small Packages

So we went into the obgyn office on Tuesday September 2 at 8:30 a.m. to have our first non-stress test to make sure everything was looking ok. The test itself was ok, Ella was a little unresponsive (but they also forgot to tell me to drink a big Dr. Pepper before coming in to take the test). BUT they took my blood pressure and the first reading was 170/108, the second was 165/110, and they waited to take it one more time and got 206/113. Umm . . . yikes (my blood pressure had been great up to this point). So they checked my urine for protein and it was 3+ and the doctor says to me," Well, we're really worried about your pressures. We need to rule out pre-eclampsia. Head to the hospital - it may be time to have a baby." We're in a bit of a panic -- it is more than a month ahead of schedule and we are headed an hour from home to the hospital - No car seat, no hospital bag, a long list of things to do still and pretty nervous.
We get to the hospital around 10:00 a.m. and my blood pressure is still really high. The plan was to hook me up to an IV and give me medications to see if my blood pressure would stabilize. The funny thing is we had spent several hours the night before making this beautiful natural birthing plan so I wouldn't be restricted to a bed and have so many wires and so many monitors and that basically went straight out the window. First bolus of meds - no change in pressure. Second bolus of meds (which by the way made me feel awful - raising my heart rate, making me nauseous and dizzy) did help but didn't bring it all the way back to normal.
At this point the doctor comes in to say that having that high of a blood pressure reading and protein in the urine is very bad for me and b/c the baby is already 35 weeks along - the most healthy thing for both of us would be to go ahead and have the baby now. If I had been only 32 weeks along we would have tried to settle the numbers and wait things out, but 35 plus babies do really well so it's time to get her out of there and the placenta out which is causing all the problems in my body (i.e. Pre-Eclampsia). At this point doctors don't know why some women have this condition and others don't and it doesn't make having more babies anymore risky, but there is some correlation between a high AFP and problematic conditions like this.
Thus it was time for Ella to be born and they started me on a Pitosin (oxytocin) drip around 3p.m. that afternoon (after allowing me a last Chick-Fil-A meal thank goodness). By 7 my contractions were coming regularly and getting stronger but manageable. The doctor had warned me than induction births can take up to 24 hours and I was bracing myself for a long night. I had one dose of IV relaxation meds to help me get some sleep in case this was going to be a 24 hour job. By around 11 the contractions were coming fast (about every minute) and much stronger and by 12 or so we decided to go ahead with an epidural so I could rest during the night. By 12:30 the water had broken and despite all the nurses saying don't start to push - I could tell this baby was coming fast. I pushed through 3 contractions, the nurses cried don't push anymore, I said I can't help it and Ella came flying out on to the table with no doctor in the room and no neonatal doctors around yet. We went from 3 nurses to like 20 people in the room in 2 minutes. Ella cried just a little and had INCREDIBLE apgar (new baby vital signs score) scores right off the bat (8 at 3 min and 9 at 10 min). I had a small tear that was repaired easily and the placenta looked very good.

Post-Birthing
Ella did so great and moved from NICU to the intermediate nursery to the regular nursery (which means in the room with us) right away with no difficulty breathing, no trouble eating, and doing just fabulously. My blood pressure stayed fairly high for the next two days and they started me on blood pressure meds to go home. We finally came home yesterday 9/5/08 (pics to follow) We're both recovering well now, getting used to the new schedules, and learning about each other. What a fun time!!

Keep us in your prayers as we continue to recover and learn how to get this breastfeeding thing down. Stay tuned, I'll do my best to keep this updated. More pictures to follow . . .