This has been the looooongest 6 weeks (or even longer). I haven't written much because I keep thinking that I would update when THIS is over.... and then something ELSE happens.
So, it all started with a little head cold. Which usually I am pretty good about fighting colds but this one wiped me out. I finally called Lance and said "I think I need to see a doctor."
Well, sure enough...I had pneumonia and was stuck in bed for about 2 weeks.
Now before this, if you remember, I was having a hard time keeping my blood sugars down. They were lower but not where they should be. Well, after THIS they were just totally out of control. There was just nothing I could do to keep them under control. I even tried using insulin but laying in bed and being sick just was too much of a battle.
So, anyway, I emailed my sister to ask about a chinese broth recipe I could eat since that was all that I could tolerate at the time..she sent me a gift that I can never repay her for....oils.
Well, I could actually repay her financially for the oils but that is not what I mean. I mean that these crazy oils that have been used from the beginning of time (including on baby Jesus when he was born). Actually stabilized my diabetes!! After about 2 days of rubbing them on my feet, neck, and inside of my arms... my glucose numbers began to be in perfect range of where I need them. Ahhh!!!
So, two things down now... The pneumonia is all better and the diabetes is healed.
Those two things were gradually replaced with 2 new issues...
1. I noticed my tummy suddenly got quite big. I was so nervous that it was because baby decided to grow into a huge baby because the blood sugars were out of control while I was sick. Because of this, I didn't think much more about it.
2.The week of Thanksgiving my legs started swelling. Not like a little swelling on my ankles but like SWELLING like I couldn't fit my pants on kind of swelling from the top of my legs to my toes. Doing anything became a struggle by the end of the day I could barely walk! My suspicion was that the swelling was due to the extra weight from that huge tummy.
My 28 week appt was during Thanksgiving week and it just didn't work out to get together. She had a birth and we were going out of town. So, we got together at 29 weeks instead. The swelling was alarming but even more alarming was my tummy was measuring at 36 weeks and she could easily feel that there was so much fluid in my stomach that she could barely feel baby. So, we talked about it over the next week. Tried a few different things, kept measuring my tummy, but nothing was changing really. So, we decided to make a trip to the doctor to see what he thought.
Basically, he told me that excess amniotic fluid does happen from time to time and healthy babies can still come from it. There isn't much you can do about it unless you know the true cause. The swelling, he believed, was due to the extra weight in my stomach. But, he ordered an ultrasound to see if we can find out HOW MUCH extra amniotic fluid and make sure baby is healthy.
So, the next day... off I went to an ultrasound. The sonographer was pretty quiet the whole time so we didn't really notice that maybe something was wrong. Out she went...in comes the radiologist, who read the sonogram.
He said that there is 35cc's of fluid. The HIGH end of average is 15cc - so that is ALOT of fluid. Then she said "we spoke with your midwife so just go home and put your feet up until you hear from her."
ok... strange.. "let's go eat!"
I call the midwife and she comments about the fluid and then she said but did she tell you about the heartrate?
Ugh ... no
"Well, baby's heart is just racing, Merrie, I've called the doctor and they want you to be admitted in the hospital. I'm not sure what they are going to do but they are going to prepare you for a c-section just in case."
wwwha wha what?!?!
Talk about your world just getting flipped upside down. What is it with me and pregnancy these days? I just can't seem to have a normal old boring pregnancy like everyone else.
So, we go in to the hospital. The staff was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Honestly, if I was a hospital birth type of gal, I would choose there. what a great group of people.
The doctor really wasn't experienced in this type of situation and consulted with the specialists that he works with. In the meantime, they gave me steriods to help baby's lungs mature faster in case we need to do a c-section. Her heart rate was so high that it wouldn't even read it on the monitor. Approximately, 240's...
I tried to sleep that night... my thoughts of what that ultrasound was going to show, what were the specialists going to do and is my baby going to make kept flooding my mind. I tried my best to give it to God. I'm so thankful to have THE Great Comforter there to lean on.
We didn't get into the ultrasound until 10:45. Talk about a nerve wracking morning! The specialists did an extensive ultrasound that looked at every part of baby. The good news is that baby is healthy in every way..
The bad news is there isn't really an explanation as to why this was happening. They did find a bit of extra fluid in her heart and stomach and concluded that this rapid heartrate must have been happening for awhile and caused this.
That doesn't make much sense because never at any of my prenatal exams or even the doctors appt the day before did they find a heartrate that high.
I think it was all just God's perfect timing... and this was the first time it happened and God timed it so we caught it right away. Truthfully, it doesn't matter when as much as - are we going to be able to fix it.
Speaking of God's perfect timing... mom was talking about coming out and then changed her mind and decided not to and kept on going back and forth. I was pretty sure she had decided NOT to come but I guess she just couldn't miss Cosette's first birthday party.
Little did SHE know that God had a greater purpose for her to come out to KS - since we ended up canceling the birthday party. I guess God knew I was going to need her help here.
Anyway, back to my story. So, the specialists decided to send us to the hospital they work out of more frequently so they can monitor me and baby and treat us.
They talked about several different treatments to try before c-section.
The first was a medicine that they actually give me. Its a double dose for my body - which is slightly dangerous. They monitored me closely with a daily ekg, etc...but they need to give me that high of a dose in order to get enough to baby.
So, the shots started on Friday morning. I felt fine... and we watched the monitor all day Friday and only saw the heartrate line scrape the very top of the highest reading all day - no change.
More shots on Saturday and another entire day of complete boredom - stuck in a room attached to a monitor that showed no good news ... just baby's heartrate scraping the top of the highest line possible on the monitor.
By Sat night I was ready to totally lose it so we asked if there was anyway we can go for a walk. they strapped on this wireless monitor that doesn't go much further than 4 small hallways but I took what I could get. Lance and I traced and retraced our steps for about 20 or so min. it felt good to just get some energy out and burn a little.. even if it was an incredibly boring view. I had great company ;-)
When we got back I got settled in and Lance packed up and went home.
Not too long after that (about 10:30) the nurse came in and said "did you see what your baby is doing?!?!?!?!"
I look at the monitor and her heartrate was 180!!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes. The medicine finally started kicking in or maybe the walk helped or maybe God just healed or maybe... eh who cares HOW it happened!!! I was sooo excited but tried not to get too excited in case it goes back up and then I have to face the worst kind of disappointment.
I slept that night. I actually slept. (putting aside the many times I had to be woken up to get meds or blood drawn or blood pressure check,etc, etc, etc...)
They woke me at 5am for meds and 6am for blood draw and by 6:30 my grumbling stomach decided to keep me up so I started to get out of bed.....looked at the monitor and COULDN'T BELIEVE MY EYES!! 160's!!!!!
The doc came in and told me that they will keep me for 1 more day to monitor her. I will have to be on this med until full term. They had to go mess up my blood sugars with the steriods (eh hem or it could have been those pancakes I ate on the first day because I was so starving. Its THIER fault.. they made me go 24 hours without eating in case I was having a csection) so I have to prove to them that I have it under control before they will let me go.
....and then I am outta here!!! with a healthy baby in my tummy!!
Praise God Praise God Praise God!!!!
