Jared

With the upcoming birthday of a special someone I thought this would be the perfect time to share his special, unique story of his delivery.

Jared I love you. You tested me on every level! You were well worth it though!

This may sound bad, but after reading this IF you decide to read it all, hopefully you will understand what I am about to say. Having a baby is suppose to be an exciting thrilling time, with nothing but happiness and a new adventure around the corner. I look back and realize that we were robbed of the majority of that. YES, we had adventure and we were lucky enough to have a perfectly healthy baby. I am here to tell the story but we weren't able to savor the special thrilling time that it really should've been. It was special in its own way.

Ever since Jared was born I've been wanting to write/type out his story so that one day he can sit down and read it or I can look back at it, (if by some chance I happen to forget those days). It is rather weird for me to type this out, and if you decide to read it, I warn you that there might be a few personal moments mentioned, but I really use this site more as a journal for our family then anything else. So it begins...

We found out that we were pregnant with Jared April 12th of 2006. We were excited, nervous and everything else imaginable. We had only been married 2 months, so our lives together were still so new. We now had a another life to get ready for. 

Things started out rather smoothly, I had some Blood Pressure issues at the beginning, but those dwindled out and we sailed through the first trimester, and part of the second. During the second trimester protein was starting to show up during my visits, though not too much, so that was put on the back burner. What was mentioned every time was my weight gain. Dr. Brubaker (who I really liked, and still do) kept telling me to watch what I ate, and to do my walks. I kept telling him I was. I wasn't eating anymore then I was before I got pregnant, and now I was having a hard time keeping the food in, and I was still working, so that meant I was always walking around, and on my feet. I think he believed me. 

At 25 weeks my Blood Pressure slowly started rising again. Looking back at the records that I have now, and knowing what I know now, it is obvious what was going on, but that wasn't the case living it. I had swelling that slowly got worse, but the weekend of Halloween the swelling got really bad, but I didn't know it wasn't normal to swell that much.

My whole pregnancy I was dizzy, had headaches, and upper stomach pains which are ALL classic symptoms and then added Blood Pressure problems and the "mysterious" weight gain. Then the Protein. That little symptom came back with a vengeance November 6th.

I wasn't feeling real well that morning, for a few reasons I find out. I had a cold and I figured everything was due to that fact, but was I wrong. I didn't really want to go in for my "normal" check-up but I rolled (literally) out of bed and made it to the Doctors appointment at 9:30. I thought things were fine, our nurse Michelle took my pulse, BP and ran my Urine and she didn't act any differently, so I figured everything was fine. It wasn't until Dr. B came in looking rather serious, he said "So, how are you feeling?" I said "fine." He then said "um, well, no you're not!" Then and there our lives changed forever. At that point my Blood Pressure was 185/115, my pulse was well over 170 and my protein levels were at +4 (a very high reading). It was then that Dr. B called the hospital and told them that I was on my way over for a NST (Non Stress Test). Aaron and I drove over and that was the last time I walked, stood up or anything of the sort for days.

I entered the hospital thinking, "okay, we will do this test and then we can go grab something to eat before we get home cuz I am starving!" I had another thing coming. I didn't realize it at the time but my headache wasn't just one of my normal headaches, it was another way my body was telling me to STOP! 

The NST didn't go as planned. I was having contractions, though I couldn't feel them, which I guess is another classic sign of pre-e. The nurse came back after talking to Dr. B and Dr. Sand (who is the best at high risk and Pre-e in Ellensburg) and said "well, you just got yourself admitted." I'm start thinking, "this can't be real, I'm not due for over a month, we aren't ready, my Mom is in England, what am I suppose to do now?"

They didn't want me walking at all, due to the fact that just that raised everything even more, though laying down wasn't helping, it wasn't getting worse like it was while roaming. They rolled me from that little testing room in a wheelchair to a larger room used for long term patients who aren't ready to deliver. That is where they hooked me up with the IV's. Oh, Magnesium Sulfate! Such a wonderful nasty, nasty drug you are. That stuff made me feel horrible, but all in all it saved me from having convulsions and strokes, so I'm grateful for it. Also HELLO to the catheter! The Doc's didn't want me UP AT ALL! Which was good I realized after I found out how horrible I felt due to the drugs.

A few hours went by and Dr. S and Dr. B weren't seeing any improvement from the MAG-S, they decided that I needed to deliver that was the only thing left to "fix" this problem, so another room change, though this time I stayed in bed. The first drug tried so Cytotec. There is debate about Cytotec safety and use, but with my situation and being early it was used to induce labor but also to also help soften the cervix, which I needed. They also put me on a water pill to try to help the swelling and help lower my BP. All day BP checks happened about every 15 - 20 minutes. Hours went by and nothing was changing. At that point I was feeling even worse from the side effects of the Mag. I was hot, cold, nauseous, seeing triple of everything and my body felt like it weighed about 4000 pounds.

So, that bring us to Tuesday. Very restless night. I was checked on every 15 minutes still, watching and watching my BP to see what it was doing. Blood draws as well were taken. Still hungry, haven't eaten anything, just broth and more broth. Cytotec wasn't doing anything to help with bringing the contractions more regular, so Pitocin was tried, but with no results either. The majority of the day was spent laying in bed waiting for the world to swallow me up. I felt so horrendous. That afternoon yet another drug was tried called cervidil, yet again with no results after doses and doses off all.

That evening November 7th, is when the real stuff began to happen. My water was popped late afternoon with the thought that real labor would begin. Oh my gosh did that feel good! So much water pressure relieved. During this whole time I was still being pumped full of the previous mentioned drugs, water pills, Mag S, the antibiotic, and then the oral meds. Then you have to figure my only source of food was liquid! We had hoped for a quiet late afternoon and evening with the hopes of a baby in the next few hours, but things changed pretty fast yet not fast enough too. 

About 9:30 that evening I started having a really hard time breathing and my heart started really racing and pounding It was one of the scariest moments that I can remember, and honestly wish I couldn't. I felt like I was drowning, I couldn't get a big full breath. Dr's B and S were both called at home and came in and discovered that I WAS pretty much drowning. I wasn't getting rid of all this fluid that was being pumped into my body and my lungs were filling up with that excess fluid. They stopped the Magnesium, and put me on Oxygen. My water pill was upped a dose and I guess you could say I was stable, well as stable as I had been before that episode. I was praying for everything to just end. I wanted everything done. C-section was not an option though, they were afraid I wouldn't make it through, so we just had to wait. Dr. B was examining me before he left and realized that I had a bunch more fluid inside that didn't get ruptured with the previous attempted so that was performed and then we waited some more.

Real contractions started about 1:30 in the morning. I waited as long as I could before getting an epidural. When the real contractions came they came with a vengeance. It was like my body said "FINE, is this what you want?" I think the meds all finally soaked in because the nurse I had that evening said that she had never seen such strong, long and close together contractions in her 25 years of working. I waited until I couldn't any longer and about 5 o'clock I got my epidural. It was wonderful, but didn't last hardly long enough. Another shot was given, which again helped for a while, but we didn't realize how much longer this was going to take.

I started pushing at 5:30 and to keep this clean I will just say I tried EVERY position known to man and nothing was bringing Jared down. Between contractions they tell you to rest, but due to the fact that Jared was laying out on my Sciatic nerve, there was no comfortable resting involved. Finally at 9:30 Dr. S was called back in.

Dr. B decided enough was enough and he wasn't qualified to "help" me out the way I needed. That is what I really loved about Dr. Brubaker. He knew when it was time to ask for help during this whole process. There was no beating around the bush. Dr. Sand came in and remember clearly he asked "Are you ready for some help?", and I said "please!", trying not to cry, I don't think I could anyway I was so exhausted. Finally with the help of some big cold salad tongs that they call Forceps Jared came into this world at 9:47 Wednesday morning November 8th, 2006. 3 days before our 9 month anniversary.



I wish that was the end of the story but we really were just getting started on a new level.

Since Jared was so early we didn't know what to expect and neither did anyone else. Aaron got to cut the cord and then we waited for what seemed like forever but finally we heard a little whimper and I knew that he was going to be fine. I saw him from across the room and he was so cute. Once Jared was checked out and cleaned up I told Aaron that he should go out and talk with his family who I knew had been waiting to hear how things were and waiting to meet Jared. I now wish that I had had a chance to hold Jared before letting him leave the room, but I was so out of it that I wasn't thinking straight.

I didn't know it at the time but I lost over half my blood volume during the delivery, and so I was given Cytotec again which helps with blood flow and helped my body contract back to a normal size. Dr. Sand then finished putting me back together and sewed me up, which I felt.

This is when the cleaning lady came in. I have to give her kudos, she didn't say a word or act surprised at all by the mess all over the floor. Over half my blood volume was just laying there and she just went on her business. I guess she is used to seeing all sorts of stuff.

It was then that I went into shock. I was so cold, shaky and nauseous. I had at least 6 heated blankets on me which felt great but even with all that I still felt cold. It was a nasty feeling. That is also when I had my vision/out of body experience that I have mentioned before. If you are still reading this I apologize, but I want this to be a complete telling.

Like I mentioned Aaron had left with Jared. But, I remember looking down at myself thinking how pale I was yet how peaceful it was too. Aaron had come back and was holding Jared, sitting in the recliner in the corner of the room. The room was quite clean and rather bright. I remember thinking, I need to go back/wake up so I can hold my baby. They are waiting for me.

 I came to and held my baby for the first time. He was so cute and tiny. Everybody thought he looked a lot like his Uncle Steven.

Not the first time I held him, but I look a bit better here, but still really puffy, especially in the face.

This was Friday 3 days later.

The rest of Wednesday was filled with visitors on and off. I tried my hardest to put on a strong happy face even though I felt horrible. I was started of Mag. S. again during the afternoon. I know there were a lot of visitors, but I was seeing triple of everything, so it seemed like even more. Jared on the other hand was doing great. He gave us 1 scare during the afternoon when he suddenly turned blue and had black goo suddenly coming out of his mouth and nose, but the nurse quickly took care of that and he was fine. We were having a hard time keeping him warm as well, so if he wasn't cuddling with someone he was under the baby warmer.

Thursday and Friday were the same as the other prior to having Jared. Trying to control my BP. Many times after a lady with PreE has the baby then her BP will go back down to normal, but it's not always the case and it for sure wasn't my case. It was still creeping up, so like I said I was put back on the Mag. S and re-cathed. I was also swelling again, so my HCTZ was bumped up so I could get rid of all the water. I was so miserable. I just wanted to be like the other moms in the hospital and take care of my baby. I was so sick I was hardly holding him, I hadn't changed a diaper. I was feeling rather robbed. Jared was tested and was really jaundice and so he had to be laying on the billi-lights and under the warmer. He had quite the set up going for him.

Friday afternoon is a day I don't think I will forget. Carole had stopped by late morning to see how everyone was doing and while she was there Aaron went home to grab a shower and take care of a few things. During that time Papa Pinky also stopped by to visit. That morning I was feeling worse than usually. It was then that Pinky asked me if I wanted a blessing. I agreed and without going into too much detail he blessed me that my body would be able to heel, and that my body would be able to prove itself. He then gave Jared and I a kiss and went back to work. A few minutes later the nurse came in to hang a new IV bag of Mag S and realized that my IV port had blown. She said she had to call the Dr's and find out what they wanted to do. She came back a little later and said that Dr. S said that he wanted to see what my body would do. NO MORE MAG! I was so stinkin' happy. I was feeling better within an hour. I was still sick and my BP was still high, but I didn't have the side effects of the Mag and I was happy!

Friday night was hard. Like I mentioned I was finally feeling a bit better (since the mag was off), but Jared had to be under the lights and warmer still. I was finally physically capable of holding him and taking care of him but now they wouldn't let me. They wanted him on those lights and staying warm at all times except feeding. I got upset and so we cheated and took him out just for a few minutes and I held him and cried. Aaron knew how to turn off the alarms, since one of the nurses had shown him. It was only for a few minutes, and I felt like I missed so much already.

Jared with 1 of the types of billi-shades and under the warmer.

I was given shots in my rear every few hours to try to lower my BP to no avail. I was given antibiotics to lower my mysterious fever that again wouldn't go down. Still to this day, we don't know why I had a fever.

Saturday morning I was happy to see my Dad and Brother. They drove over through the snow to see us for a few hours. They didn't dare stay too long because of the weather on Snoqualmie Pass. Plans were arranged for the following Monday when Mom would be back in the States to come be with us, if we were home.

Tiny little Jared and part of Uncle Steve

There was talk that maybe we would be sent home that day, but Jared still needed the lights and I was still not at levels that either Dr. liked. It was a quiet day with resting and bonding with our billi-light baby and trying to get to know his wants and needs.

Family picture

Saturday looking a bit more human. You can still see my hands are swollen.

Daddy and Jared

SUNDAY! The day we got to go home! It was a very restless night. Jared's alarms kept going off, BP checks, then Blood draws starting at 6:00 AM! Seriously that mornings blood draw was ridiculous. I had 3 people come try to draw me. Each person is only allowed to poke 2 times, if they don't get it the second time then someone else has to try. I was so low on blood no one could find a good vain. Finally a lady pricked my fingers and filled up what she needed that way. My arms were black and blue from wrists to armpit. I wish we had taken a picture.
  One thing we discovered is my weight dropped 50+ pounds in the 7 days we were in the hospital. Jared was 5 pounds. The Placenta was probably a pound or so. That was a lot of water weight. A LOT of water weight.

A few of the nurses told me that morning that I was the sickest they had ever seen in all the years working there. They said I was the closest they had seen to someone come to dying. I also found out I had a crash cart outside my room for quite a while. They didn't know when or if they were going to need it and wanted it close. That really was info I didn't need to know.
 

Dr. B came in about 9:30 am and had a talk with us telling us that they were going to go a head and let us go home, but with the restrictions of basically bed rest for me and to be in his office first thing in the morning and to call the hospital if we needed to before that. 

He said that if I had been any older I probably would not have made it through this whole week. He said he was surprised to see me sitting up in the bed, with the blood levels as low as they were. I was told that I needed a transfusion, but it was up to me. We opted to not go through with one for safety concerns and I knew I could handle it. I handled all that previous stuff, just show me some iron filled food and my pills and I was good to go.

 I had another horrible headache that morning which I figured was most likely due to lack of sleep, but knowing what I know now, since reading up on toxemia (pre-eclampsia) it is a sign and symptom and I should have stayed in the hospital, but I didn't say anything.  I wanted to go home, but knowing what I know now that wasn't smart. Just glad it worked out for us. Getting up and moving around was slow going, but I did it. I got my prescriptions and got our gear ready and loaded up the car and home we went. Jared came home weighing 5 pounds 2 ounces.

Going home day!

We made it through the night and the next morning we headed to Dr. B office for our appointment. Being new parents and being through what we had gone through we didn't really have our heads on. More blood draws for me, and meds to try. Discovered that I had a bladder infection on top of everything else.
 

Jared on the other hard checked out great.

We were and are so blessed to have a perfectly healthy little man.

Love you Jared!
Mommy