It's been an interesting 2 weeks. Monday 2 weeks ago I was 31 weeks pregnant. Something did not feel right that day. I talked Derrick into staying home & we ran a few errands, re-signed our lease, & spent some time hanging out with Dylan. Derrick probably did some homework. I probably took a nap! That night Derrick had class, so I decided to go to a friend's house. We had dinner, watched The Voice, & just hung out. Part way through the evening I remember mentioning to one of my friends that I had a really bad headache. I assumed I needed some sleep & I would feel better.
That night I went to bed with something that can only be described as a WICKED headache. I tried to sleep, but had really bad sharp pains in my head all night. Needless to say, I did not sleep well & woke up with the same headache I had gone to bed with. Derrick headed off to work & I continued to deal with the headache. Because of my issues with pre-eclampsia with Dylan, I know that headaches that last that long are a bad thing. I eventually texted Derrick to ask his opinion about going in to the doctor. He admitted that the headache probably needed to get checked out, so I scheduled an appointment for that afternoon and off we all went, Dylan included, to the doctor. Of course, I picked the day my doctor was off to get sick - at least he has really great nurse practitioners in his practice. The nurse, then the np took my blood pressure. It was not good either time. I also had protein in my urine. Both of those things are good signs of pre-e. My doctor's office is connected to the hospital. I was wheeled directly from the OB to the labor & delivery triage department.
After sitting in triage for a while, it was apparent that I was not getting released that night. Derrick made arrangements for Dylan to spend the night at our friend Jenny's house (the poor lady didn't realize what she was getting into. She ended up having him for 5 days & nights when all was said & done). They ended up transferring me to the actual labor & delivery area, even though I was not in labor & had no plans of delivering any time soon. They did some tests, monitored the baby, checked my blood pressure, and generally made me crazy all night. The next day Derrick went to work. Jenny brought Dylan up to visit. I hung out really bored. Towards the end of the afternoon my test results came back. That's when things got interesting...
So my doc was working the day after I got admitted. He looked at my blood pressures (which were high, but were better on the meds) & he checked my 24 urine collection test results. He said the protein spillage was not too bad, so I could go home, but that I still needed to come to my appointment the next morning that I had already scheduled. I was so excited. Jenny left Dylan with me & we waited for Derrick to come & get us. The nurse came in & pulled my IV & was getting all my discharge stuff together. Derrick finally got there & we got everything packed up. We were getting ready to walk out to take Dylan to church when the nurse came back in & asked me if I could stay a little longer. Um, no. I have places to be. Apparently "Can you stay a little longer?" wasn't really a question. I was staying longer. I guess that the way the lab gives the results is really confusing. My doc looked at the numbers & thought they were good. The doc that came on after him saw my numbers & realized they were actually really bad. I don't really know all the details of that, but apparently different labs report things differently & it is all really confusing. Standards would probably be really good.
Anyway, I was told that I would be started on magnisum sulfate. I knew that would not be fun. I was on it with Dylan for several days & it is nasty. This time was a little better because I was only on it for 48 hours or so. The thing with the mag is that it is a blessing & a curse. When you are on it, you get lots of sleep. That's the good part. The bad is that you fall asleep a lot. Like in the middle of conversations. Or while the nurse is taking your blood pressure. In the middle of texting family & friends. Just don't plan on staying awake for much because you probably won't. So while it is beneficial for sleeping, it makes it really hard to carry on with normal life when you are asleep 85% of the time.
The next morning we were told it was time. I was wheeled to the OR right about 12:30. It took a lot longer to prep me this time than it did with Dylan. The anesthesiologist had a hard time finding the right spot for my spinal block & ended up sticking me a lot of times. I was kind of a basket case during all that. Once the spinal was in they let Derrick come in. After what felt like a really long time, at 12:56 pm, Andrew Clayton was born. He was 31 weeks, 4 days along. He didn't cry, but he was alert & just taking things in. Once they started messing with him we heard him crying. I don't remember what his APGAR scores were, but I think they were 7 & 8. Derrick was able to cut the cord & go along with him to the NICU while I went to recovery.
Today Andrew is 12 days old. He is doing really well. I am doing okay. I am having a lot more pain in my abdomen than I remember having with Dylan. Maybe I took more pain meds with him? I don't really remember.
As for his name - we really struggled with names. We had a hard time deciding on a name for Dylan & we struggled at least as much this time. I knew I wanted to honor my dad by including his name. My dad was Clayton Lee. Our final 2 names in the running ended up being Nathan Lee & Andrew Clayton. Even after the poor child was born we couldn't decide what to call him. He went at least a full day with no name. The NICU nurse practitioner who was at his delivery said we could name him after her...she's a great lady, but I'm not sure Janet Rae is a good name for a little boy! Eventually it came down to my decision. We ended up naming him Andrew Clayton. Sometimes I still can't decide if that was the right choice, although it's a little late to be changing my mind now!
And now it's late & time for bed. I will be heading to the hospital early in the morning to spend some time with our baby boy. Watch for more Andrew updates to come!
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