So to back up for a minute, I was admitted into the hospital on Tuesday, Feburary 23rd...and moved to Antepartum on Wednesday, Feburary 24th and Baby Girl was not due until May 17th. I planned on being in the hospital for a loooonnnngggg time.
So after I was moved to Antepartum that Wednesday night I was told it was just a waiting game. They wanted to keep me pregnant as long as possible and to them that meant until I was at least 34 or 35 weeks. At first the thought of being in the hospital for 6 weeks disturbed me greatly. What in the world was I going to do for all that time? I knew eventually Jim would have to go back to work but what about me? I couldn't work out anymore, go to work, run errands, I just had to sit there. Thank goodness I'm a tv girl and love to read because I figured that was what my life was going to consist of for quite awhile. I finally came to terms with the situation and came to accept that being in the hospital for that long was a good thing and it was good for my baby so if I needed to be there that long then so be it. I also have AMAZING parents and friends because for that week they were there as much as possible to keep me company. Every day my dad would come keep me company and give Jim a break to go home and do stuff. If I remember correctly my dad decided to not return to work that week, he would get up in the morning, get himself ready and head over to the hospital. At the beginning of Feburary my mom had gone back to work full time taking over a class for a lady that was in the hospital sick. So everyday after she got off work she would come see me. My second mom Sue, her husband Barry would also come over in the afternoon to keep me company and bring me books and snacks. His daughter Breni came at one point bringing me a load of gossip magazines to keep me company. My sister and my two nieces came that weekend bringing me books, magazines, coloring books (from mallory) and Amanda spent pretty much all of Saturday and Sunday morning with me in my room. My childhood friend Erin, who also had had a preemie, came up to visit that Saturday and brought me ALL of Reilly's preemie clothes, newborn clothes, 0-3 months clothes, 3-6 months clothes, her carseat and extra base, her basinette, I could go on forever. She pretty much brought me everything that Reilly did not use anymore. I was so bleseed by this because up until that point I had not even gotten to have a baby shower. So Jim and I had nothing for Kenley. We had her baby furniture and of course some clothes and blankets that had already been given to us but nothing else. As soon as I realized I wouldn't be leaving the hosptial until after Kenley came I kind of had a panic moment when I realized we didn't even have a carseat to bring her home yet. But I then reminded myself that she would be in the hospital for a bit after being born so I would have time to get what I needed.
Like I just mentioned, I have the world's best family and friends and support system. Shortly after moving to Antepartem, Sue and B bought Kenley her mattress and her bedding! After Kenley was born Jim and I came home one day to a huge package outside our door and his Aunt Laura had bought and sent us our travel system which was her carseat and stroller we had picked out. We are and so truly blessed and thankful and grateful for everything everyone did for us during that time. We are so lucky to say the least. The week I was sent to the hospital a co-worker of Jim's had been planning a little surprise baby shower for him at work and I was in talks with her about getting up there to surprise him at it. Well of course that shower had to be canceled but her and another one of Jim's co-workers collected money at work and with that money went to Babies R Us and bought us stuff off our registery. They came up to my room that Friday evening and gave us our gifts and visited with us. Blessed...And the flowers I received were amazing! I got flowers from friends, my first set of flowers being from my best friend Jenny and her husband, daughter and mom in SC. I got flowers from my boss, my friend Kim in Wilmington, my family in Ohio, Jims family in Californa...we had so many people that were thinking of us and loved us. I also can't even count how many messages over facebook I got from people letting us know that they were praying for us and thinking about us. I was nervous about Kenley coming early but I had such a feeling of peace about the whole situation, one that could only have come from our Lord. I knew He was in control and I had all my trust in Him and I knew what was meant to be would be.
So back to being in Antepartum. I was no longer on an IV and they even took the needle out of my arm that Thursday. For a couple days they gave me penicillin pills but that stopped as well. Oh...and because I had such a hard time sleeping they would give me Ambien everynight. Best stuff in the world!!! Talk about sleeping well!!! They informed me it was a drug that didn't cross the placenta so that is why I could take it everynight. Jim started going home on Thursday night to sleep in our bed because I knew he was uncomfortable and he needed to be there to take care of the dogs. Each night I would have a nurse...I would have a nurse during the day and then one at night...and that nurse had a nurses assistant and I lucked out and had the same assistant from Thursday night all the way to Sunday night. The assistant was Jeri and she was GREAT!!! By the time Sunday came around she was telling Jim and I she liked being in our room hanging out because we were the fun room! We would have talks about her kids and the dog they just adopted and that night she informed me she wouldn't be back to work until that Thursday night and she fully expected to still see me in my room when she got back! I remember when I went into labor saying that Jeri was going to be pissed at me because I would be gone when she got back!
It was an uneventful stay but at the same time it wasn't. I noticed that the day nurses were way more relaxed and chill then the night nurses. A couple days I would see my day nurse maybe twice whereas I would always see my night nurses at least 4 or 5 times a night. For some reason my blood pressure would sky rocket in the morning and and at night. Also for whatever reason my temp would go up to 99.4 everynight! I have no clue why. Well one day, the day nurse that had been taking my blood pressure...it was running high...had not informed my doctor on duty of it being high. So when my doctor found out she flipped out on the nurse. We didn't see her do it but I was informed by my night nurse that my doctor was not happy. That doctor that evening, Dr. Jones who I had seen once since I was pregnant, came in my room that night and wanted to do an ultraound right there to check the baby. Now that I think back I should have been more worried because that was not a normal thing to have happen, but I wasn't. She did the ultrasound and it wasn't a fun, lets look at the baby ultrasound. She was looking at the baby to make sure everything was ok with her so I didn't really get to see the screen. She did the ultrasound for about 20 minutes. She then told us that in a matter of 30 minutes they expect to see the baby do at least 3 things. Whether that was raising their hand, opening or closing their mouths, or just plain moving, and my baby had done her three things in 9 minutes time so she was satisfied with that. I guess because of my high blood pressure there was a chance that Kenley could have been in distress and she was extremly ticked that she hadn't been made aware of the situation. Needless to say I didn't have that nurse again while I was there. Then that Firday night, because of my temperature (I think) they wanted to make sure I wasn't getting pregancy induced hypertension (again, I think...some of the medical terms run together and are hazy from 6 months ago) So I had to write down my liquid intake, catch my urine in a little hat that sat in the toliet, write down how much there was and then pour it in a bucket on ice in my bathroom. I had to do that for 24 hrs so they could take my urine and test it. Well it came back negative but then they still wanted me to track my intake and outake of liquids and they informed me I would be doing that unti the baby came. Oh fabulous!! I remember Jeri explaning everything to me that Friday night and Jim had gone up front to meet our friend Andy and bring him back to the room and by the time Jim got back I was in tears. I was so stressed from being monitored and having to do things and having to be in the hospital. I felt bad for Andy because he walked into the room and here I was breaking down and he didn't know what to do or say. Also that Thursday they took me down the hall and did a super hytech ultrasound to check the fluids in me and the blood flow. Everything with that was fine. My numbers were low but they were still in the normal range. And they told me they would do one of those ultrasounds a week to check everything.
So that Saturday night, its almost time for Jim to head home, and I start to bleed. Not bright red blood. More like a light pink but they had always told me to let them know if I started to bleed. So I got freaked out, Jim got freaked out and we told my nurse. She looked at the blood and didn't seem concerned because it was so light but she put me on the monitor anyways. Everything was fine with the baby. And by that Sunday morning it had stopped.
Sunday night is here and Jim is getting ready to go back to work that next day. My friend Stephanie from Raleigh had told me she wanted to drive down to be with me that day because that was the first day I wouldn't have anyone keeping me company. She would be down around 11am, we would hang out, watch a movie, order pizza and she would have to leave by 1:45 to get back home. She was driving 2 hours to be with me!!!! I was so excited to see her because I hadn't seen her or really talked to her since January. So Jim leaves that night to go home and I of course cry because I know I won't get to see him until late Monday. Jeri told me, after he left, that he had stopped at the nurse's desk on the way out and reminded them that his number was on the board in my room. Please call him if anything new happened. Jeri was like "Bless his heart. He is so concerned for you." She did her best to reassure him that if anything happened she would call him and also, with him going back to work, if anything did happen and he needed to get to the hospital, he would have time. His worst fear was returning to work, an hours drive away, and getting a call in the middle of the day that the baby was coming. She told him not to worry, if they baby did decide to come, it would take awhile to get the baby here. He would have time to get to the hospital from work. I was pretty convinced Kenley would be taking her time getting here and so I was not worried at all about her arriving anytime soon. Boy was I wrong!!!
Monday morning I wake up...Steph is almost to the hospital and I jump in the shower real quick. Its about 11 am at this point and she comes in gets settled and we gossip and talk for 2 hours! Finally we decide we need to order food because she is going to have to leave soon. She calls the pizza place and pizza is delieved a little before 1. While she goes to the desk to get the pizza I get up to use the bathroom and my heart drops when I (sorry to get gross) wipe. There is bright RED blood on the toliet paper. I kind of panic and I hear Steph come back in the room and I tell her, from in the bathroom, I need her to call my nurse. She says ok, what number do I call. I gather myself and realize that I can call, she doesn't need to. I go into the room and tell Steph about the blood. I call my nurse and she comes right in. I show her the toliet paper and she she doesn't seem worried but she tells me to lay down she'll put the monitor on me to check the baby. So I am laying there, and I almost eat some pizza because I'm hungry but at the same time a thought enters my mind, what if Kenley's on her way out, I don't think I'm supposed to have food on my stomach. At this point we knew she was head up so no matter what she was going to be a C-Section baby. The nurse leaves and I sit there with Steph a bit longer and I tell her I'm worried. She aks me if I've seen my doctor for the day yet and I tell her no. She goes "Do you want to see your doctor?" I tell her yes, it would make me feel better. Now Stephanie is a get it done gal. She doesn't play around. She has no problem informing people if she needs something or asking questions so she goes out into the hall and tells my nurse to get my doctore I would like to see her. At the time I didn't realize Steph being there that day would be significant but now I know it was. God put her with me that day for a reason. To get my doctor for me, to hold my hand while they did my IV, to hold my hand and reassure me while the doctor checked me, to be with me when my doctor tells me I'm 10 cm dilated, to call Jim for me because I am beside myself and to call my daddy for me to tell him to get to the hospital because I still can't talk. Just writing this I get tears in my eyes going back to that day. She was my angel that day and I will be forever grateful to her for being there for me.
So Dr. Pierson comes in, I had not seen her while I was pregnant but I had seen her in Aug. for my yearly, and it was lunch time and I remember feeling bad for pulling her away from her lunch because she was still chewing some of it when she entered my room. (We joke about that now and she tells me she can't believe she came in my room chewing food, she didn't realize she had done that, but I tell her I think its funny. I felt bad for taking her away from her lunch) So she asks me whats going on, I tell her about the bleeding and she said, "Well I'll take a look but I'm sure everythings fine, unless of course I see two little feet dangling in the birth canal." I laugh at that satement and she looks at me and says "I've seen it before." Oh, I thought she was kidding. So she gets me ready and actually looks in me, doesn't say anything but then tells me she's going to see if I'm dilated at all. She feels around and stands up and says to me "Well it looks like you're 10 cm dialted, how fast can your husband get here?" (and to find out later on, she did see one of Kenley's heels in the birth canal) I reply that he is an hour away and she gets a look on her face like, oh goodness, but I already have my phone in my hands ready to call. I ask Steph to call him because by now I have tears streaming down my face and I knew I would never be able to talk once he answered the phone. The rest I remember but at the same time is a blur. Dr. Pierson proceeds to tell me that because the baby is in a breech position they well need to de a c-section. She will try to keep my incision a horizontal line but if need be she might have to make a vertical cut up my middle. They will try to stop the bleeding to the best of their control but if she can't stop the bleeding she will have to give me a hysterectomy. I'm taking this all in and just nodding my head in agreement that I understand what she is saying. Steph tells me Jim is on the way and I then ask if she'll call my dad for me. I would have called mom but I knew she was in the middle of teaching and I didn't want to disturb her. Yeah right, I'm 10 cm dilated and I didn't want to disturb her. So Steph calls my dad and hes on the way. By this time its 1:45 and I know she has to get back home so I tell her to leave. She tells me she is not going anywhere until my dad gets there. I tell her I'll be fine, you need to get home just go ahead. She tells me no and right at that moment one of her daughters call her. I know both of her daughters from dance so she tells her she can't talk right now that she is with me and I'm getting ready to have the baby. I believe it was Alex, her daughter at ECU. She tells her she'll call her back and then tells me that Alex said she'll be praying for me. Again, so many prayers. By this time my room is like grand central station. I think every nurse working in Antepartum that day is now in my room. Even the head nurse is in there doing paper work and I'm laying in bed like a bump on a long. So the IV process starts again. Same as before. They look at one arm, switch to the other arm, poke me in that arm and miss. Go back to the original arm, miss again and then go back to my right arm and finally get a vein halfway up my arm. This my folks is only the beginning!! They have me change into a gown and put a little plastic container of something on my chest and tell me I'll need to drink it before I go into surgery. Then my mom and dad come walking in the room and I think they made it there in record time! My mom thanks Stephanie for being there for me, as do I and I cry some more and she tells me everything is going to be fine please have my mom call her afterwards so she knows whats going on. By now its a little after 2. The time flies by for me. People are in and out, I sign things, not sure what I sign but paper after paper are put in front of me. Finally the anesthesiologist comes in to talk to me. He was a cutie...Dr. holy cow I can't remember his name. I'll have to ask my mom. Anyways...he tells me that the most pain I'll feel is like a bee sting, and they will test me before they slice into me to make sure I'm numb. He was totally cool, calm and collected. I told him I had scoliosis and I was worried with my spine being curved. He told me it probably wouldn't be a problem but if they couldn't get me numb then he would have to put me+ out completly. He then had me open my mouth to see how big my airway was. He also asked if I had any family memebers with issues about waking up during surgery. Thank goodness no I told him. Just then one of the NICU doctors, Dr. Logan popped his head into my room and told me he would be the doctor in the delivery room when Kenley was born and he would be taking care of her, so I got to meet him. Dr. Pierson had also been back in to tell me that the room I was delivering in was being occupied by another c-section so we still had some time to wait. By now it was about 2:30 and I called Jim to ask where he was. He was close to the hosptial. About another 5 minutes or so away. By now I had to pee really really bad and I asked if I could get up real quick to go to the bathroom. They told me that I would have a catheter in soon enough and I needed to wait. I felt like I was going to pee on myself I had to go so bad.
So Jim comes in about 2:45...it took him 40 minutes to get to the hospital from work...normally it would take an hour so he flew to the hospital. I don't remember the exact time we headed back but I know it wasn't much longer. They brought scrubs in for Jim to put on and he ripped the crotch wide open as he was putting them on. He has huge feet so he went to ask if the little booties were supposed to go all the way over his shoes because with his big feet they weren't. We had some comedic moments as were getting ready. The Lord was with us, He was helping us to stay calm. Then they tell me to drink the stuff they gave me. I pinch my nose with my fingers and pretend I'm doing a shot of jager and drink it. It almost came right back up thats how nasty the stuff tasted. Then the other anesthesiologist comes in and tells me her name is Cami and she would be assisting in my c-section as well. So her and another nurse wheel me down the hall and around the corner to the operating room. At this point I have already said bye to mom and dad and now Jim gives me a quick kiss as they tell him to stay out in the hall and they would call him in...in about 10 minutes or so. So here begins another journey. Kenley arriving. The story gets more interesting if you can believe it.
Chapter 3 is next!
I want more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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