First thing, I want to announce the birth of our beautiful daughter,
ELLIANA HAZEL MCFARLAND.
She was born on May 13, at 10:47 p.m. and is an absolute Joy to have in our lives. She weighed 7 lbs, .7 oz which is a good size for a "preemie". Ellie is considered a preemie because she was born at 37 weeks, 2 days... full term is 37 weeks 5 days. So silly.
You can stop here if you don't want to hear all the details, but I am recording them for my own record so I will have them!
As most of you know, I was on bedrest for the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy due to high blood pressure. I also got the dreaded "morning sickness" back!! The day of the 13th I was feeling really sick again, and had thrown up quite a few times. Add that on top of everything else, I knew I was dehydrated, which was nothing new for me. I go to the hospital, be monitored for an hour, get an IV to rehydrate and head home. Simple, right? Not this time around!!
I was hooked up to the monitors, my blood pressure was higher then it had been, I got an IV going and they ran labs to make sure that my organs weren't showing signs of damage from the high blood pressure. While we were waiting for the labs to come back, the monitors were picking up contractions. They weren't too horrible, just enough to let you know they were there, but they were consistent. Luckily, my doctor had just come back from her vacation that night and came to the hospital to talk to me. She said that we would wait to see what the lab results said, and if the IV would help my body stop the contractions, but that it just might be time to say enough is enough! I sure wasn't expecting to hear that, but still didn't expect anything to come of it. Seriously, I don't go into labor on my own! I figured the contractions were from dehydration, and would stop as I got IV fluids in me.
By the time I had a full bag of IV fluid in me, and the lab results back, my contractions had moved from 8 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart!! The doctor walked in and said it was GO time. I was too far along to stop my contractions, and with my placenta previa, it was too risky to send me home and see if they contractions would stop. It was time to have a baby! Talk about a shock. I had to quickly put our game plan into action! I mean, John was still home with the kids! I called all the requisite people to action and it was game time! It was so quick. I was up to the OR before John was even at the hospital and we only live 3 blocks from it!
My doctor was SO awesome. I had mentioned to her how petrified I was of having a spinal, I don't do needles in my back, and she stood by my side holding my had the whole time the spinal was put in! That is some serious dedication to your patient! The spinal itself was awesome. There seriously was NO pain, just a small amount of pressure. The spinal doctor (I'm not even going to attempt to spell their specific name) was AMAZING! I did panic a few times because of the loss of the ability to move, I could still feel my legs and they were very painful with that intense tingling feeling but I couldn't move them. It was horrible! I apparently don't do well when I lose control over the situation.... and I had NO control over this one!
The c-section itself was textbook. I was able to have John in the OR on one side holding my hand and my best friend Karen on the other hand. It was SO nice to have them both there. Especially for what happened next. I don't think I would have done well being left by myself. John has always been my rock and Karen could talk me through anything.
After Ellie was born, she really struggled to breathe. The worked on her for quite a while and eventually got out the oxygen bag to assist her. Luckily she did breathe on her own,even though it wasn't as good as they would have liked. They wrapped her up and let me see her for a minute and snap a few pictures before they took her down to the nursery so they could work on her some more. John went with Ellie and Karen stayed with me while they finished up on me.
After I was done, they took me down to my room to recover. All I wanted was to see my baby! Unfortunately that wasn't to be. John came in to tell me that Ellie was still having a hard time breathing and the doctor working on her had taken him aside to tell him that Ellie was most likely going to be life flighted to Spokane to the NICU up there because she was struggling so much. Talk about put the fear of..... well you get the picture, into a new mommy. All I could imagine was my baby hooked up to all the tubes and wires like Karen's Hannah was. (I know it totally isn't the same situation, but tell that to a distraught new mom!) Luckily my doctor stepped in and put a halt to all the craziness! She told everyone to calm down and let Ellie prove to them that she could do it.Ellie wasn't as severe as the first doctor had thought. She was breathing very fast, she did need supplemental oxygen to keep her saturation up, but she was NOT having the flaring of the nostrils and the grunting and the retraction of the rib cage which are all signs that the baby is really struggling to breath and will tire out and need a breathing tube (which is why they would have sent her to the NICU. Our hospital doesn't do breathing tubes on infants.) Ellie was put into a special incubator that has oxygen in it and did quite well in there. She had her very own nurse that was dedicated to her alone, she couldn't be left alone. Unfortunately that also means that I wasn't able to see her. John and Karen would take pictures and bring back reports but that just isn't the same. I needed my baby but neither one of us were able to be moved. Me because of my c-section and Ellie because of her need of oxygen. It made for a VERY long night. I was right next to the nursery so I could here her cry when the would poke her heel to check her blood sugars (they didn't feed her the whole time, because they were afraid it would stress her out and cause her to drop her oxygen levels. Same reason they didn't give her an IV.) It was horrible.
I was finally able to see her at about 11 am the next morning. They had me pump and bring it in to her to "see" if she was able to handle sucking as well as breathing. She was a champ! After that, they let me hold her using "blow by", an oxygen tube that blows oxygen into her face. It was such an AMAZING moment! They even let me attempt to nurse her because she did so well and was rooting while I held her. She was a champ nurser which shocked everyone because they figured she would be to tired to nurse well... but hey you be starved for 12 hours and be taken away from the only thing you knew and see how you would do when you were finally reunited! Ellie was soon put onto a nasal cannula, and I spent a lot of time that first day in the nursery with her as well as the rest of the family coming in to meet the newest McFarland in the nursery. By that evening, they felt Ellie was stable enough to join me in my room with her sat monitor and her oxygen. We got lots of visits from nurses to make sure she was ok but I had my little girl with me at last and that is what was the MOST important!
She continued to thrive and do spectacularly until we had yet another curve ball thrown in our direction. Ellie's blood pressures were showing some abnormalities that usually indicate a heart defect. About 2 hours after we received this news, they took her away from me once again to have an echo cardiogram done in Pullman, WA. They refused to release me to take her. They wanted John to take her to the appointment but he was busy trying to finish up a final. In fact, he didn't even know what was going on until after it was all done because I didn't want him to worry and screw up his final. My sweet friend, Karen, saved the day again. She took my 2 day old baby for her appointment. You can only imagine how distraught I was. Once again, it seemed like someone was trying to take my baby away from me again. After a LONG hour, Karen called to say the Echo was done, and everything looked EXACTLY like it was supposed to! What a relief. They still had to meet with the doctor, but then she was headed back to reunite me with my sweet baby. The doctor confirmed that her heart looked "textbook" and we needn't worry about it again. I think the doctor told Karen there was no need for him to "ever see this baby in here again". I hope we don't have to!
Through all this, my recovery was spectacular! I was walking around with very minimal pain. I was off the heavy duty pain medication by the time I was sent home and only on minimal Advil. I felt great. My stamina was still low, but it wasn't anything like I anticipated. I was feeling specular! I was sent home Saturday evening and by Sunday Night/Monday morning we had a whole new situation to deal with! While rolling over in bed, I heard a "POP" and felt a HUGE gush of water. My first half asleep thought was that my water had just broken... only to remember I had already had my baby! My c-section incision had broke open!!! Needless to say I was off to the ER. While at the ER the incision opened up even more until it was 4 inches by 1 inch. NOT a good situation. They packed the wound with gauze and sent me to my doctor the next morning. I was told that this was a complication that happens with c-sections and my doctor see "1 every year... or 2.... or 3." I was just the lucky one! The wound was quite large as these types of wounds go and so my doctor referred me to a wound specialist in Clarkston, WA. After visiting with them, they decided that the best course of action for this wound would be to place me on a "wound VAC"-Vacuum Assisted Closure. After jumping through all the insurance hoops, I have been approved for my wound vac and currently have it on. It really does help the wound heal a LOT faster then if we weren't able to have it on. The only down fall is that I have to visit the doctor 3 times a week in Clarkston to have the dressing changed as it isn't something that someone who isn't trained in it can accomplish. (Although I am starting to get to be a "pro") The appointments are long and time consuming and I get a "free" bikini wax every time as they pull off the tape from the dressing... OUCH! I hate that I have to be away from my kids 3 times a week for 4-6 hours. I hate that I have to use my friends to take care of my kids all the time. I am ready to be their mommy again!! But... I do have a beautiful baby girl to love and stare at in awe. As far as wounds go, at least I get to have a great reason for the wound!
So now that you have heard my story and all the fun complications that I have gotten to experience, I hope you will forgive me for posting this SOOOOOO late! I really was thinking about all you out there in Blog world, but if I wasn't at a doctor's appointment, I was trying to recover from one.
One day soon this will all be a memory. And even with all the trials I have gone through, I have to admit that I am grateful for the experience. I have witnessed so MANY miracles through all this. From the fact that I was able to stay pregnant, to the fact that I was able to bring my baby home with me from the hospital, to the fact that even with my wound and the antibiotic resistant bacteria that was found in it I have stayed relatively healthy and out of the hospital, to the love of friends who care for me, and a mom who stayed 3 weeks to take care of me and my babies while I tried to heal, the blessings, miracles, and outpouring of love have been too numerous to count and I am blessed to be able to experience it.
