Hayley's Preemie Story: Part 3 - A Preemie and Preeclampsia

On Wednesday October 9, 2013, at 27 weeks 4 days pregnant I was transferred to a bigger hospital with a NICU because I was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia and we were about to have a preemie. My husband beat us to the hospital and was there waiting when we arrived in the ambulance. I was wheeled into a big labor and delivery room where doctors and nurses immediately surrounded me, putting things in my IV, checking my vitals, and coming in and out. They had my daughter on the fetal monitor and listened closely to her because her heart rate had begun dropping regularly. They were concerned that she was in distress. They attempted to have me lay on my left side with an oxygen mask on to see if it would help her because they hoped to keep her in a couple more days so that I could get all of my steroid injections in to help her lungs develop better.

Meanwhile, they did an ultrasound of her to see how she was doing on there. The ultrasound revealed that she was measuring 4 weeks (23 weeks) behind where she should have been (IUGR, intrauterine growth restriction) and that the placenta was not supplying her with nutrients consistently -- there were consistent lapses in blood flow to the umbilical cord. They did say, though, that she was practicing breathing. Knowing she'd be a preemie, that was good news that her lungs were functioning.

Her first photo, taken moments after birth.
The plastic bag was to keep her body temperature up

After a couple of hours they decided to take her out because her heartrate drops were not improving. They wheeled me into the operating room and did a spinal. The whole time they were cutting me open I was praying for her, not only that she would survive, but THRIVE (because there is a big difference between surviving and thriving, as a brain dead vegetable survives. My mom later told me that our Pastor's wife was talking to her, encouraging her and used that SAME word over our daughter. God's confirmation is always amazing!). She was born at 9:02 PM weighing just 1lb 5.9 oz and 11.4 inches long and thus began the longest 10 minutes or so of my life. There was no cry, just silence. It was a scary silence, but I felt a peace deep in my heart that she would be OK and that God had this! Finally  we heard them say "Dad, do you want to see her?" A flood of relief flowed through me. My husband cut the umbilical cord and, after a few minutes, they brought her over to me all wrapped up with a little yellow hat on her head. They lifted her down to me so that I could see all the hair on her head and give her a little kiss. Then she was wheeled off to the NICU.

I was put on 24 hours of magnesium treatment which meant I had to stay put and couldn't go see our daughter. They had trouble controlling my blood pressure, so I stayed in the hospital until that Saturday (our daughter was born on Wednesday) when they finally released me. While I was there I visited our daughter as frequently as I could. She was doing very well for being born so early and being so tiny. She only had to be on the ventilator for a few hours before they took her off of it, and she was only on a nasal cannula to help her breathe, which is amazing for being so tiny and so early! She seemed to be sailing along in the NICU. 

When she was 2 days old I got to hold her for the very first time. She was around 1lb 4oz at this point (she lost weight like all babies do immediately after birth) and had all sorts of tubes and wires on her, including a central line so that she didn't have to be poked and prodded so much. I did skin to skin with her with several blankets on top of her to keep her body temperature up. It was an amazing moment getting to hold our daughter for the very first time. She was so tiny and looked like a little pixie (she didn't look as much like a baby because she didn't have any fat on her yet and was covered in lanugo--a fine hair babies have on them in the womb until they get enough body fat to keep their temperature up). Our skin to skin session only lasted about 20 minutes because her body temperature started dropping too low, but it was 20 minutes of heaven. 

I was released on Saturday afternoon and that night I got a really bad headache as I was laying in bed sleeping. I woke my husband and told him we needed to go to the hospital, I just knew my blood pressure was up. When we got to the ER they did a blood pressure check. The result: 210/130! My blood pressure was dangerously high and I was in danger of having a seizure or stroke! I was admitted immediately and they put me on another 24 hours of magnesium treatment (if you've never been through a magnesium treatment, it feels like you have a high fever. You are hot and can't focus on anything, even the TV. And you feel all swelled and can't get up out of bed). On Sunday afternoon I was released again, this time on blood pressure medicine and instruction to follow up with my OB on my blood pressure over the next couple of weeks. 

Hayley's Preemie Story: Part 2 - The Rainbow Brings More Storms

On April 27, 2013 I took a pregnancy test. I was amazed, excited, and elated to find that it came up positive! I was pregnant again! We were, of course, cautious this time, but we had achieved pregnancy and, for now, we were expecting a baby. Moments after telling my husband, we sat on the edge of the bed together and prayed over this baby, that we would be able to bring this one home. We knew that God was in control and could allow this one to make it. This time I was put on progesterone to help the baby to hopefully stick better.

At 5 weeks we had just told our family about our baby but hadn't told anyone else except one close friend. That Sunday, on Mother's Day, our Pastor's wife surprised us with a present! It was a tiny winter baby girl outfit! She told us she felt like God wanted her to buy it for someone, and she wasn't sure who. When she got home, the friend that we had told (our Pastor's Daughter-in-Law) said she knew who it was for -- us! It was perfect because it was a newborn outfit and our baby was due January 4, right in the middle of winter, which meant she'd need a warm winter outfit. We took that as confirmation from God that our baby would be OK. And, perhaps, that we'd be having a girl!

Everything went smoothly in the pregnancy with all the normal symptoms and morning sickness until 7 weeks when I had some spotting. We were terrified after our last experience, so we went to the ER for an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed a beautiful, healthy little bean in a HUGE sack (so much different than our last experience) with a heartbeat in the 140's! We sighed in relief and were told that it was probably the progesterone that irritated things.

At 18 weeks we had the anatomy ultrasound which confirmed that it was, indeed, a girl! Our daughter, Hayley Judith, was so beautiful on the ultrasound, sucking her little thumb and wiggling around. We were so in love with her already and couldn't wait to meet her!

At 27 weeks, however, our lives were turned upside down when I started swelling up really badly. My eyes were puffy, my hands were swelled, my feet had been really badly swollen for over 24 hours with no sign of going down, and I just didn't feel right. I went into my OB's office for a BP check, which showed that my blood pressure was high at 160/90. I was admitted to the hospital for a 24 hour urine test. The results of the 24 hour test came in the next day and revealed my proteins were at 450, which was not overly high considering normal is 300. I had preeclampsia but was not in immediate danger. The plan was to put me on bed rest once they got my blood pressure under control with medicine.

The next day the doctor walked into my room with a grim look on his face. He asked where my husband was (he had gone to work because things looked stable) and told us he might want to be here. That sentence told me something was seriously wrong. He then proceeded to tell us that the results didn't add up to him and he had the lab recheck the number. It turns out that they had misplaced a decimal point. My protein wasn't 450 like they thought but was 4,500! He told us 5,000 was a level that showed kidney failure, so I was nearing that number! This, of course, was a game changer! They gave me a steroid shot right away and transferred me to the nearest hospital with a NICU, because, at this point, we were definitely going to have a preemie.