Zoey Arrives .... Part 2

 Me... hours before my water broke!

So.... finally I am finishing this..

I came to my bedroom and laid down in the bed.  I dozed off as I knew I would.  I had had barely any sleep in days and had been up since 5am that day.  At 11:01pm I felt a gush.  I jumped out of bed and felt it gush again.  I yelled for Michael and ran to the bathroom.  Michael came in and asked if maybe I had peed on myself... lol  I replied that if I did it was still coming.  I knew that wasn't it.  I had called my mom from the bathroom and she was freaking out and rushing around to get to my house before we left.  I managed to call my doctor and he told me that it was ok and that I would have time to make it there. He also said that they would give me some meds to try to stop my labor for a bit and administer steroid shots for Zoey's lungs.  I started grabbing a few more things (I had already packed a few things along with Zoey's in her diaper bag) and I threw on my clothes.  I don't have a clue why I didn't throw on a pad ( I didn't when I had the massive bleed either).  I guess it's because I was rushing.  Instead of taking my car, my husband wanted to take his...(we actually just sold this car, too... anyway...) because it is faster.

Of course my car had gas and his didn't.  We ran to the gas station to get gas...we actually had to get it at "The Chicken" because Shell was already closed ... and there were a billion people there.  I was on my Blackberry (beloved phone RIP) the whole time with my friend Kim and my friend Deanna.  After getting gas, we ran back by my house and my momma was parked and waiting.  She grabbed Zoey's bag and car seat base from my car along with the car seat from her car and got in.  Off we went.... flying (literally) down the road.  For those of you who don't know my husband, let me tell ya, he is Mr. Fast.  He use to race his sports cars when he was young... this was his chance to do it again lol.  He flew to Knoxville.  Every time I would groan... he'd gun the car.  I was having contractions the whole way.  They were just funny feeling at first.. a little uncomfortable then they started to hurt a bit.  It was crazy and my poor momma was just Praying that we'd get there safely haha. 

We did get there safely.  I went to the ER and it was all too familiar.  I remember walking in the same ER with wet, bloody shorts back in July, now here I was walking in with wet maternity jeans and being wheeled up to have my lil girl!  What a blessing!   After arriving a L&D triage, I was welcomed by some of the residents that had seen me about 3 weeks prior for the BV infection.  They evaluated me and then put me in a triage room.  Another doctor, who was also pregnant, came in the check me.  The fluid didn't register as amniotic fluid on any of the 3 tests that they did.  She checked the fluid around Zoey via ultrasound and it was still pretty good... crazy!  I told her that I knew it was my water that had broken.. I knew I wasn't crazy.  She then checked me.  I was 4.5cm dilated.  They then knew that I was right... I knew I was in labor.  I had been feeling it all day and just didn't know that's what it was!  I always wondered if I would know a contraction... well I didn't.  It's true.  Folks tell you that you will just know that it's a contraction... well sometimes you just don't.  I didn't.  At least not until my water broke and they got harder.  I then realized that I had been feeling those all day and wasn't even realizing it. 

The pregnant doctor told me that I may go ahead and have Zoey.  I explained to her what Dr. Howard had said.  I also told her that if I had to have Zoey that night, I was requesting a C-section.  Now this has been a debate for awhile now between folks and I.  Mainly because everyone has a different view.  My view was only to keep my lil girl as safe as possible.  I have so many different issues (those of you who have followed our story know this) some of which could cause some issues with natural delivery.  I was in no way ready to take that chance... especially with a doctor that I didn't know.  I got a little heated with her and told her that I wasn't doing anything until I spoke with my doctors.  We ended on a good note..I wasn't trying to be rude but I did want her to know that I was serious about doing whatever my doctor felt would be ok for my daughter.

I was moved to a permanent room.  My doctor was called and they told me that they were starting me on some different drugs to try to stop my labor.  By then I was really feeling uncomfortable.  I probably would have moved really fast had I not taken these drugs but we were trying to get more time for Zoey so it was worth it.  I was also given a steroid shot around 1 am or so I think.  They told me that regardless of what happened with my labor, I would have this little girl by Sunday (November 29).  My water had broken and you are at risk for infection after that (and something did show up in my pathology report from the placenta). 

The whole night I was in and out of sleep.  Obviously, labor doesn't feel good... and the meds they gave me for pain just weren't cutting it.  I froze Michael and momma too death.  I was sooo miserably hot the entire time I was pregnant.  They slept on a fold out couch in my room under covers and coats.  You could almost see your breath.  I was laying there with my socks off, roasting.  

I took brethine and a few others.  I didn't have to do the magnesium, though they actually started to try that.  I was so glad I didn't have to.  The side effects from that, I have heard, are horrible. None of the meds worked to stop my labor.  They slowed down my progress somewhat but did not fully stop it.  The next morning, doctor Howard came in and talked with me.  He told me that they were going to stop trying to stop my labor.  After that I continued to have contractions.  They hurt but I have a pretty high pain tolerance so I just pushed through it.  At about 3 or 4pm, I was about 6.5cm dilated.  I signed off on the paperwork for my epidural and they came to administer it.

Now let me tell you... this was a mind game.  I knew that it would be best to do and I wasn't scared of the pain.  I was scared that I was going to move and paralyze myself.  The pain wasn't even that big of a deal because I was in a lot of pain from the labor.  It wasn't pleasant but definitely bearable.  They told my husband and mom that they had to leave the room and that was enough to freak me out.   I was already nervous and here my loved ones were leaving!  The nurse, who was pregnant herself, told me that she would hold my hand and she did until she had to move to do something.  I had to sit on the edge of the bed and lean forward.  It was so nerve wracking because I was afraid I would jerk during a contraction.  I kept saying, "Wait... let this one pass."  Obviously they had to do it during contractions because they were so close together.  The nurse had moved her hands and I told her that I desperately needed them back.  HAHA

After the epidural was in, they gave me a pain button.  Anytime I felt something, I could hit the button for more meds but it wouldn't give me more unless enough time had passed since the last dose.  My family cracked up at me because I loved that button and I would hit it and just be out cold for a few.  They laughed at me the whole time.

My dad and brother arrived shortly after.  They came in and sat with us.  I enjoyed having them there.  Next, my aunt and uncle showed up.  They had came all the way from Lexington!  We didn't even know they were coming.  It was so sweet of them and it just thrilled my aunt to get to be a part of the whole thing.  My mother-in-law and sister-in-law showed up next and were waiting in the waiting area because there could only be so many folks in my room at one time. 

 

  

 

I kept wondering how I would know when it was time to have this lil girl because I couldn't feel anything.  My mom kept saying that I needed to tell them to come check me and I kept saying that they would soon enough.  My mom, dad, bro, aunt, and uncle decided to go out for a few and let my inlaws come in.  They hadn't been there 2 minutes when I finally felt some odd pressure and called for the nurse.  They checked me (which I had dreaded because that part didn't feel so great especially while in labor) and said that I was 10cm + 1.  Ready to go! 

The nurses asked if my husband would be going with me.  He looked squeemish and said no.  We had already talked about it.  He didn't really want to watch and they said if he passed out that there wouldn't be time to get someone else.  I knew he didn't want to go and it didn't bother me.  It was one of those moments that I really wanted to share with my mom because I knew how long she had waited for this grandbaby.  I knew it would work out better for my husband and my mom this way.  I needed the support and didn't want to have to try to support him lol  So I called my mom's cell and told her to hurry.  She came in with everyone else and got dressed in the lovely surgical clothing : )  She still laughs that she wore her jacket in under those scrubs.  She was rushing too much and too cold from me freezing her, to stop to take it off!

They came and took me and my family all wished me well.  We got to the delivery room and they began to get things ready.  The nurses worked with me to get me to push.  It was so strange.  I always wondered what it would be like.  To be honest, it was like pushing out a major bowel movement.  LOL  I'm so not joking!  I went pretty fast.  The nurses were so nice. 

Within 30 minutes, Zoey arrived.  It was so odd to feel her slip right out.  So amazing!  My mom got to cut the cord and we were both crying!  My doctor didn't get there in time but the other doctors did just great.  She was born at 7:27pm on November 28 weighing in at 5lbs and 8oz and measuring 17.75 inches long!

 

  

  

  

 

 

 

My mom took pictures and was so excited.  She then went over to Zoey to take a few pictures until she  overhead them talking about my placenta abrupting.  Apparently it had but later when I asked my OBGYN ARNP, she said that the pathology report on the placenta hadn't made a big deal of it.  She said it was probably not a serious abruption if it had been.  Still that word just scared us because my mom had lost my sister due to an abruption and that's why I was so scared to have Zoey naturally.  They did send off the placenta.  They were all so amazed because it had grown really weird in my uterus and looked like two placentas joined together.  The pathology report (mentioned earlier) showed signs of possible meconium (baby's first poop) and signs of an infection that I had had.  Not sure if it could have been the BV infection from a few weeks before or an infection I had developed since my water had broken or an infection from day one.  Zoey didn't have issues with the meconium leakage in the womb so we weren't sure why that showed up.  Interesting to say the least!

I will never forget what it felt like to see my lil girl for the first time.  I was just amazed.  She looked so much like my baby pictures and for me to say that is something else.  I never am able to tell who a baby looks like that much.  I will never forget holding her for the first time and thinking, "Wow.  She's here and she's really my baby!"

 

  

  

 

I didn't get to hold her very long before they took her out the NICU.  She seemed very healthy but they had to take her to NICU because she was still a preemie.  A lot of people thought that just because she was a good sized baby for that gestational age that she wouldn't really be considered a preemie but a preemie just means that the baby is premature in development no matter their size.

I was taken back to my room with the nurse from the delivery room and she began to push on my belly to help my uterus push out everything.  Man... she pushed hard and it hurt.  I was bruised afterward.  Good thing my pain tolerance is high haha  She then ripped off the tape to my epidural and then took the epidural out.  The tape felt pretty bad, too.  Didn't realize how long that piece of tape was.  After doing a few other things, I was finally wheeled back with my aunt (who wasn't suppose to be there) to see my girl.

I got to see her and talk to the best neonatologist in the world... Dr. Wright.  I just loved him.  He actually had come to see me before I had Zoey and he was just so informative and nice.  He explained everything to me and I signed paperwork for her to be in the NICU then my aunt held her finger while they drew blood from her the first time... the first of many, many times.

Next, I got to feed her.  She had a bottle of formula... looooong story in the next post about this connection.  It was so amazing to hold this little girl and think that she was all mine and that I was feeding her.  At the same time, it was a little overwhelming as well.  But so wonderful!  My husband and I were just so happy with her!

 

  

  

 

I'll continue on in the next post with our NICU story which was long and very scary but rewarding in the end!

Much love!

Thank God For The Creation Of The Placenta

I was searching the net tonight for placenta information and I came across this article on the Answers in Genesis website. It is absolutely wonderful and it brought up a lot of things that I had never thought about.

My favorite line is "It is still a mystery how the placenta prevents the mother from rejecting it and the baby as a foreign graft without shutting down her immune system." Just as God has grafted us into His royal family, so does the placenta with our babies. We are yet foreigners, but God has adopted us and blessed us as His own! Praise His high and holy name! The parallels between the life giving placenta and our life giving Savior are astonishing to me.

I am enclosing the article below. Take the time to read and ponder it. Also, I encourage you to head over to AIG and visit. It is an awesome website and ministry... and if you are ever in Northern Ky, stop by the Creation Museum. It is a part of this ministry and so amazing!

Ps. Praise unto God that my mother's annual stress test came back well today! Thank You Heavenly Father!

The Placenta: A Selfless Servant

written by David Menton, Ph.D. January 1, 2007

In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, he compares the Church to the human body (Romans 12:4–8). The Church is one body made of many members, each having his own God-given gift. Likewise, we humans have one body made up of many organs, with each serving its own God-given function.

The Placenta—an Unappreciated Organ

Of all the body’s organs, perhaps the one that best exemplifies selfless service is the placenta. Most people give little thought to the placenta, and few appreciate the marvelous complexity and profound importance of this organ that is discarded and forgotten after birth. While parents and loved ones lift joyful prayers of thanks for the safe arrival of their newborn, few think of thanking God for the essential services rendered by His marvelously designed creation—the placenta.

After the egg is fertilized, the placenta is the very first organ to develop. Recent studies show that when the fertilized egg divides to form the first two cells, one is already destined to form the placenta, while the other becomes the baby.

An Important Hormone-Producing Gland

As soon as three days after fertilization—weeks before the mother normally suspects she is pregnant—cells of the developing placenta, called trophoblasts, begin to produce hormones. These hormones ensure that the lining of the uterus—the endometrium—will be ready to receive the embryo’s implantation. Over the next few weeks, the developing placenta begins to make hormones that control the mother’s physiology in a way that ensures the proper supply of nutrients and oxygen, which are essential to the baby’s growth.

By about five days after fertilization the trophoblast cells, surrounding the developing embryo, begin to fuse together to form one giant cell with many nuclei (see Figure 1). This cell is called the syncytial trophoblast. One of the first functions of this placental giant cell is to invade the uterine wall of the mother in an amazing process called implantation (see Figure 2).

The placenta, sometimes called the “super organ” is evidence of the care and design of our Creator even at the earliest stages of life.

Prevents the Rejection of the Baby as a Foreign Graft

Although the developing placenta and baby implant within the thick nutrient-filled wall of the mother’s uterus, they are not actually part of the mother’s body. One of the placenta’s important roles is to protect the developing baby from an attack by the mother’s immune system, since the baby and the placenta are genetically unique and distinctly different from the mother.

It is still a mystery how the placenta prevents the mother from rejecting it and the baby as a foreign graft without shutting down her immune system.

After implantation, the placental giant cell “invades” the walls of several uterine arteries and veins, causing the mother’s blood to flow through channels within the cell (see Figure 3). When the baby develops its own blood and blood vessels, the mother’s blood and the blood of the developing baby come into close association, but they never mix or come into direct contact. The syncytial trophoblast forms a thin, seamless, and selective barrier between maternal blood and fetal blood. All the critically important nutrients, gases, hormones, electrolytes, and antibodies that pass from mother’s blood to the baby’s blood must travel across this seamless and selective filter. Waste products in the baby’s blood must, in turn, pass across this filter to the mother’s blood.

The Placenta Does It All!

In order to appreciate the marvelous work of the placenta, consider this: while the unborn baby’s vital organs are developing and maturing, they (with the exception of the heart) are essentially useless. The placenta serves the functions of these organs by working in association with the mother. With the help of the mother’s blood, the placenta must function as the baby’s lungs, kidneys, digestive system, liver, and immune system. The placenta does this so well that a baby can actually survive until birth even when one or more of these vital organs sadly fail to develop in its own body.

During the later part of pregnancy, the flow of maternal blood through the placenta reaches a rate of about one pint (.5 liter) per minute. To allow an adequate surface area for exchange between mother’s blood and baby’s blood, the interface between the two is folded and amplified in a complex way that resembles the trunks, branches, and twigs of trees (see Figure 4). There are typically about 20 of these tree-like structures (called cotyledons) in the mature placenta. The baby’s blood flows in vessels inside these cotyledons, whereas the mother’s blood flows all around the outside, like air blowing through a small grove of trees. The entire surface of all the tree-like cotyledons is covered by syncytial trophoblast, forming a seamless covering, which comprises a single cell with millions of nuclei (see Figure 5). This means that the entire surface of the placenta is covered by one giant cell, which has a surface area of over 100 square feet (9.3 square meters).

The Risky Expulsion of the Placenta after Birth

During the baby’s development, the placenta is securely attached to the endometrium of the uterus by some of the larger branches of each cotyledon. When the uterus contracts to expel the placenta after the birth of the baby, some of the endometrial surface is torn off with it. This results in severing about 20 large uterine arteries which, if unchecked, would involve the loss of blood at a rate of about one pint per minute. Since fewer than five quarts (4 liters) of blood are in the adult female body, all the blood would be lost in less than 10 minutes. It is also important to note that the blood-clotting mechanism is suppressed in the placenta and uterine blood vessels during pregnancy, creating a situation comparable to a hemophiliac with 20 severed arteries. These factors result in a wound that no one would expect to survive!

Saved by a Miracle!

How does a woman survive childbirth with such a wound? Here is another example of the awe-inspiring work of God, the Creator and Sustainer of life. You see, each of the severed uterine arteries has a precisely placed muscular sphincter that acts like a purse string, or a surgeon’s hemostat, to immediately close off the loss of blood. As a result, a normal birth involves the loss of only about a pint of blood. Simply amazing!

The next time you experience the joy of a baby’s birth, thank the Lord for providing this selfless placenta. And above all, reflect on the fact that our Creator, who at the time of childbirth so mercifully spares the mother from a fatal loss of blood, did not hesitate to shed His own blood in death to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil.