Shelby's Birth Story: Part 1

I realize I haven't blogged any of my pregnancy stories, but I'm going to start this post with week 30. Since I had preeclampsia with Shasta my pregnancy with Shelby was considered high risk even though it was only a 20% chance that it would happen again. Once I hit 30 weeks I needed to be seen every week to check my blood pressure and urine just to make sure there weren't signs of preeclampsia.

At 30 weeks I had an ultra sound to make sure baby was growing normal and the placenta was functioning properly. It was a way for them to see if there were any signs that preeclampsia was coming. Everything looked great and baby was growing the way she should so there was nothing to worry about. HA!

I came in the next week for a check up and guess what... protein in my urine. Seriously? In a week's time I went from nothing to 2+ protein. For those that don't know 5+ protein is considered high risk and I was already at 2+. My doctor told me I had to go upstairs for a catheter sample and I cried. Throughout my whole pregnancy I had been preparing myself for the moment I would be told I had to go upstairs in hopes that that moment would never come. I played out several different reactions in my head, but crying wasn't one of them! The worst part was my doctor was headed out of town in the morning and would be gone for the next ELEVEN DAYS!!! We talked a little longer before I left his office because I had some questions I wanted answered before he left. One of them was if I could still have a vaginal birth being that I was so early and very aware that my pregnancy wasn't going to go full term. When he told me no I cried again. And a lot harder. Even though I knew that was the answer I was going to get, I wasn't ready to hear it and surely wasn't ready to face it's alternative.

Once Nick and I left his office I sat in the waiting area by the elevator and told Nick I wasn't going upstairs without a blessing. I called a friend from the ward who was able to come to the hospital and help. While we waited for him to get there I decided we should go upstairs and get checked in. They still had the "no children under 14 allowed" restriction and since we had Shasta with us I told the nurse that I would wait in the lobby until I had a blessing before I went to my room. Nick went back downstairs to wait for our friend and the whole time he was gone tears streamed down my face. Then when they came up we found a somewhat private area and they gave me a blessing. I sobbed the whole way through it. And Shasta sat so quietly, like she knew it was important for me to hear the words Nick spoke.

After the blessing our friend took Shasta back to his house to play with his kids. Nick walked out with him to buckle Shasta in and help her feel more comfortable and I went to my room and gowned up. When I had to have a catheter with Shasta it was no big deal. This time it hurt. A lot. She wanted to get every last drop so she started moving it around and it felt like a razor blade was scraping my insides. So very miserable. They tested it and found that I did indeed have protein in my urine and I had to stay over night for monitoring and a 24 hour urine sample to see how much protein I was sluffing. They also wanted to give the baby two steroid shots which needed to be given 24 hours apart.

They took my blood pressure every 10 minutes and it was higher than it should be, but not nearly as high as it was with Shasta. All day long I heard "just relax and try to think about other things". Uh, yeah, I'll get right on that! My doctor came in my room around one in the morning because he had just delivered a baby. He told me he was confident I still had 5 more weeks of pregnancy left in me. And he told me if I made it to week 36 he would let me try for a vaginal birth because he knew how much I wanted it. Love him!

Finally, the next afternoon the 24 hour urine sample confirmed that I was sluffing a good amount of protein, but my case wasn't severe yet so after the nurse gave me my second steroid shot I was sent home on limited bed rest. No school, no lifting Shasta, nothing that would raise my blood pressure. Basically I was allowed to eat, use the bathroom, and shower. Miserable.

After a week I went back in for my 32 week appointment. This time my doctor was out of town and my appointment was with the nurse practitioner. Nick had class and I wasn't allowed to drive so my mother in law went to the appointment with me. The first thing the nurse practitioner said when she came in was I had to go back upstairs. More tears. Mostly because I can't even begin to explain how badly I wanted my doctor to be in town. I went upstairs, was monitored for a few hours, and was sent home to do another 24 hour urine sample.

The next afternoon Nick took the sample to the lab and we waited to hear from the on call doctor. A few hours later my phone rang. "The doctor says you need to check into the hospital. There's not a huge rush. Pack an overnight bag if you need to, but come in as soon as you can." I called my mom and told her the news because I knew she was waiting to know and I cried yet again. Then I called Nick at work and told him he'd need to take me, but there wasn't a huge rush. I showered, packed a bag, and had dinner since I knew once I got there they'd tell me I couldn't eat anything. Two hours later I arrived at the hospital.

That night was extremely upsetting. When I got there they hooked me up to the monitors and took my blood pressure every 5 minutes for an hour. The on call doctor came in and told me I needed to stay at the hospital and most likely won't be going home until I have a baby. After he left the nurse unhooked me from the monitors and I didn't see her the rest of the night. I didn't sleep that night. I was fuming mad. Here I was told I had to be at the hospital for monitoring and I wasn't being monitored. They weren't checking my blood pressure, they weren't watching Shelby, nothing. As the night progressed I felt more and more upset about it. Why in the world was I there if they weren't watching me? For all they knew I had a seizure and died! Sounds dramatic, but seizures are a big concern with preeclampsia.

When the day shift nurse came in the next morning and took my blood pressure it was the highest it had been. Big surprise. I told her why it was high and she said the night nurse probably just wanted to let me sleep. I told her I would have slept a lot better at home and it would have cost me a whole lot less. After breakfast she came back in and told me they were moving me upstairs to the Mother/Baby floor because there was no telling how long I would be there and it's cheaper on that floor. It's occurred to me just now that maybe they did that because I complained about wasting my money!

Once I was upstairs my new nurse told me I'd be on that floor until I had the baby which could be anywhere from that day to 4 weeks when I reached 36 weeks of pregnancy. I asked her when the on call doctor would be in to see me and she said she was in surgery and would come see me when she was done. After the nurse left the room I called my mom and told her how frustrated I was. I felt like I had a better chance of lasting until my doctor got back if I was at home and not in the hospital constantly being monitored. I was frustrated that in the five days I had been in and out of the hospital I was now going to see a fifth doctor. Everyday was a different doctor because it was spring break and they were all on vacation. I felt like nobody was invested in me. I was just a name on a chart and their goal was to get me through the day so they could pass me off to the next doctor. After I hung up the phone I cried some more.

I felt a lot better once the doctor came in. She made me feel a little less like a name on a chart and more like a human being with real concerns and frustrations. She also told me she was on call all weekend which made me feel a lot better knowing I wouldn't be seeing a new doctor the next day. She also gave me hope that once my doctor got back in town he may let me have a few days of bed rest at home. And she thought I still had a good two weeks of pregnancy left in me so I didn't have to worry that I wouldn't last until my doctor got back in town. Big sigh of relief!

But of course my body had different plans. My blood pressure just kept creeping higher and higher. Later that night the on call doctor came back in to see me. I didn't recognize her because the first time she came in she still had a surgical cap on so I never saw her hair. When she came back the second time she didn't have it on and it wasn't until she left that I realized she was the doctor! Ha! Anyway, she told me that any other doctor would tell her she's crazy for not taking me to the OR and getting the baby out, but she was gonna give me some blood pressure medication and see if it would help. Thankfully it did.

Saturday and Sunday I watched General Conference... or what I could stay awake for anyway. Why is it that I could be wide awake through mindless tv and the second conference comes on it's like tryptophan and I'm out?! My blood pressure was still high, but when Sunday evening came I felt pretty confident I was going to make it until morning and finally get to tell my doctor how unbelievably glad I was to see his face!

But he didn't give me the chance...