No. I’m not referring to an engagement ring or something else in a tiny jewelry box – though that is probably the most significant and likely the tiniest material gift anyone has given me, but only significant because it was linked with the offer to share a life together. (What could be more significant?) What I am referring to is the mixed blessing of being the mom of not one but two preemies – though not at once – as many multiple-birth moms face everyday. Both of our two daughters have arrived earlier than expected. Our first, Brianna, seemed so tiny at four pounds back in October of 2005 … however, little sister, Kalyssa, is now by far the tinier of the two arriving February 21st at all of 2 pounds and 11.1 ounces.
Why did they arrive so early? A pregnancy condition called Pre-eclampsia.
Supposedly pre-eclampsia can happen in 1 in 20 pregnancies, often happening so late in the pregnancy that the baby can be delivered at full-term. From what I read and discuss with doctors, they largely just know the symptoms leading up to pre-eclampsia and there is no one known cause for it. I’ve had it in 2 for 2 pregnancies and it has been similar in some ways and different in others – but I definitely knew something was wrong the second time around and was on the watch for it. Unfortunately, it occurred for me the first time at almost 35 weeks of a 40 week pregnancy and at almost 30 weeks for my second pregnancy with baby Kalyssa.
In my first pregnancy it was caught during my regular doctor visit. They check your blood pressure and a urine sample at every prenatal visit and on the Friday, a week before my first was born, they noticed my blood pressure was up and that there was a slight amount of protein count in my urine sample. They weren’t worried yet, but they did order me to perform a 24-hour urine sample collection on Sunday to bring in that Monday morning to the lab. Needless to say, I took it easy that weekend and didn’t go anywhere but took the sample in on my way to work. I was caught off-guard by a call from the doctor’s nurse mid-day telling me that my protein count was way too high and that I was being directed to contact my husband to come and pick me up and take me to the hospital for monitoring of my protein count and blood pressure. I thought I had another three weeks to put my desk together etc. for my coworkers prior to my leave and now I was leaving them everything ‘as is’ – not knowing a lot of things. They nurse had intimated on the phone that I might be a new mommy as soon as the next day – depending on the monitoring results!
I was petrified. If my blood pressure was high already, then I’m sure it was higher still.
Tad and I were at the hospital for several hours with a baby monitor strapped to my belly, a catheter to collect all my urine for monitoring, and a blood pressure monitor that inflated to life every so many minutes. Much of that is a blur now, but I do know that they determined I was able to be released at that time onto strict bed rest. I was already on a low-sodium diet because of some swelling I was experiencing since around month six of my first pregnancy. I had another appointment scheduled with my OB for Thursday to check on things. By Thursday, the urine count was up, the blood pressure was up … and although an ultrasound of the fluid around the baby was OK it was a reflex check that had my OB sending Tad and I straight across the street to the hospital to be put on a medication called magnesium sulfate for a few hours prior to being induced!
The drug was awful. I was not allowed food or water during the 48 hours I was on it. You don’t realize how much you drink in a day until you are told you can’t have it! Chapstick and some nasal spray became my new best friends. A vision problem developed making it difficult for me to focus on anyone – which was so frustrating when Brianna was born because I had been anxiously awaiting my first look at her and now I couldn’t see straight. At 1:29 PM on Friday she was born. A full head of dark hair and eyes that reminded me of my husbands were the two things I noticed at first sight. Well, actually there was a mantra going through my head of the very first thought “She’s only four pounds? Don’t you need to take her somewhere?” My husband and I both looked at her briefly – he took a quick first photo – and they whisked her off to the NICU. I didn’t see her again for another 24 hours, but Tad checked in and took family members in one at a time for a quick peak once she was settled in.
Pre-eclampsia – the second time
Prior to a 4-day headache that wouldn’t relieve for long, even after the extra-strength Tylenol I was allowed to take … I gained about 5 pounds in a 2 day period – and it was all swelling. The headache started on the Friday evening prior to President’s day. I had a busy weekend which helped to distract me from the headache, but by Monday morning I was calling the doctor’s office to tell them all of my recent symptoms. I already had an appointment for Tuesday for both a glucose test and a regular office visit, but I was seeing a different doctor while mine was on vacation. The nurse advised that I take two Tylenol every six hours and to drink LOTS of water – which sounded crazy because I was swelling so much, but I was told drinking the water actually helps to reduce the swelling. The headache continued through the night, though taking two Tylenol did mask the pain for short spans before it wore off again. I could only have water after midnight due to the glucose test, but otherwise I was just tired out.
The next day I was called up to my appointment during the middle of the glucose test. When they took my blood pressure and tested the urine … well, it felt like a repeat of two years before at first. I told the doctor later that I had sensed something was up and almost requested my husband take me to the doctor visit because of it. The blood pressure and protein were both too high. I was sent down to complete the glucose test and come back up to visit with the doctor. The doctor took one look at my record from my regular doctor and called the hospital to admit me for monitoring and probable admittance. I called Tad from the doctor’s office. He called my mother and so on. We had to make fast arrangements for who was going to pick up Brianna from daycare that day.
I was monitored, eventually put on the same drug as before (magnesium sulfate) and also given 2 shots of a steroid that was actually meant for the baby to help her lungs develop as much as possible in those last two days prior to delivery. The day of her birth is a bit hazy to me. My vision was worse than before. One eye was open and dialated and the other was not – which made for extremely blurred vision if I left both open. I began to shut my left eye to see people that were trying to talk with me. To try to stay sane I joked with visitors that my husband was investigating getting me a pink eyepatch with skull and cross-bones … maybe with rhinestones? My left eye-lid grew very puffy too and I looked rather a mess.
They have a lot of trouble with my veins anyway and my good vein had already been used the day I was admitted for my glucose test. They wheeled in two different ultrasound machines to look at the veins in my arms for bloodwork and an IV line. Eventually, they determined my veins run to close to my arteries and are rather small – so they put in a central line for use during my stay. Overall, the central line saved me a lot of stress due to the many times they had to draw my blood etc., but the mixed blessing was that I couldn’t take a shower for almost the whole week I was in the hospital. I have never felt so greasy and gross in my life – and that includes adventures such as the one hot fall I helped to roof my parents house as a teen.
I was scheduled for a c-section and the original plan was an epidural. My first delivery was not a c-section so I was nervous. They didn’t think the baby would do well through a vaginal delivery at this early in my pregnancy. Unfortunately, the epidural worked fine on the left half of my body, but I still had feeling in the right half of my body? I could still feel the doctor pinch my flesh on the right side and my right toes could still feel the hospital blanket … They tried for a little while and then I had to be fully out under a general anesthesia. I felt bad that I missed her first breaths in her new world, but I know I did everything to make sure she was taken care of. Poor Tad was waiting in my delivery room wearing blue scrubs waiting for someone to come and get him for her delivery. He didn’t know what was going on for a little while.
They had told us via a last ultrasound that the baby looked to be 2 lbs 8 oz. So we were thrilled when she was actually 2 lbs 11 oz. instead. Of course, it was awkward when people were asking me how she looked and I had not seen her. I was also asked later if she had the same dark hair her sister had and the only photos I had seen from Tad and mom had a tiny cap on her head – I simply didn’t know. I finally requested that night if the hospital could give me a photo of her. When my first was born they gave me one within an hour of her being whisked away to NICU. They brought back two polaroids a few minutes later and she did indeed have a beautiful crop of dark brown, fuzzy hair – just like her big sister.
It was not until the next afternoon that I was off the magnesium sulfate and able to go and visit her as they prepped me for my move to the postpartum rooms. My vision was still horrible, but I was thrilled to get to see her finally on more than an ultrasound or photograph. She looked way too small, but pink and healthy.
What a blessing that was to see.
