Our newest Adventure--Welcome to the world, Olivia!

As many of our close friends and family know, we have had a whirlwind in the last two weeks, but let's start a few months back.  On June 4th, we found out that we were expecting with a due date of February 6, 2018.  After 20 loooong weeks, we found out our new little bundle of joy would be a girl and thus the pink clothes started rolling in.  I had a very normal pregnancy from the beginning to week 24.  All of our appointments went well, I had morning sickness that would not go away, and could feel our sweet little girl moving about inside me.

So that makes my 28 week appointment all the more scary.  I went in on Tuesday, November 14th for my normal 28 week appointment expecting to stay just about 15 minutes for the urine test, blood pressure check and heart tones.  Well two out of three checked out fine, but my blood pressure was elevated and would not go down.  My doctor thought it would be best to admit me and keep checks on it, not a big deal but slightly scary.  I drove myself to the hospital in my everyday clothes and now I was looking at spending the night.  I called Marc and he left work to meet up with me, the emotional wreck that I was.  For the next two days I was put on various medicines to regulate the BP and things looked good, my numbers were getting under control, I had come in with normal ranges for the urine test (which means it was not preeclampsia at the time).  So we were possible looking at gestational hypertension and maybe 6 weeks in the hospital but manageable, right?  My spirits were up, things were looking good, I was going to keep baby girl inside to cook a little more.  Well over the next few days, things went from bad to good to bad once again and by Thursday I was getting two steroid shots for baby girl's lung development, just in case they had to deliver early (precautionary but still looking like she could stay in for awhile).  Then on Friday, things went downhill and fast. My BP numbers were no longer stable and my doctor was chasing the numbers with meds.  Saturday morning started with more BP anxiety and finally after ordering my breakfast, a nurse came in and said "Don't eat that!"  Though I did not want to jump to conclusions, I knew what that likely meant--I could not eat because I would be having our baby that day. The doctor came in about 30 minutes later and informed me that my overnight urine test came back with hugely elevated numbers and I was now considered as having preeclampsia and all signs pointed to delivery that day.  We had had a bedside ultrasound on Friday that showed that my fluid levels were borderline low and the placenta did not seem to be functioning correctly.  So it was decided that I would have a scheduled C-section at 2pm on Saturday, 11/18.  With our hearts full of every emotion in the world, we realized our baby girl would be arrive that day!

Needless to say Saturday was quite a blur to me.  Because of the early delivery, I was put on a magnesium sulfate drip to help with baby girl's brain development.  This is a 24 hour treatment and makes you very very sleepy.  Around 2pm that day I was rolled into the OR to start the epidural so I could be awake for the C-section, which also meant Marc could be in there too!  Interestingly enough, the process is much longer than on TV.  They started the epidural and I got very light headed and almost passed out, so the process took longer for me cause I was laying down versus sitting up.  But everything was finally in place, Marc was in the delivery room and we were ready to become parents (as ready as anyone can be at 28 weeks, 4 days into the pregnancy).  And at exactly 2:53pm on November 18th, our daughter made her way into the world with the sweetest little cry (they had warned us, she likely would not make any noise cause her lungs were not fully developed). She came out fighting at a robust 2 pounds 4 ounces and we were even able to grab a family photo and a sweet kiss on the forehead before they took her to NICU.

Welcome to the world Olivia Violet! We could not be happier to be your parents 😍

Unfortunately the drama for me, did not stop there.  I was kept on the magnesium sulfate drip for the rest of that day and into Sunday, so I was in and out of sleepiness with blood pressure checks on the hour all night and day.  Nothing like hourly blood pressure checks and lack of quality sleep to get your blood pressure under control!!!  On Sunday, my blood pressure was still going all over the place and the nurses and my doctor had me concerned saying things like "Delivery should have solved this."  And then I get the news that my kidneys are not functioning as they should be, so once again, anxiety creeps back in.  Meanwhile, I just wanted to go see our daughter, but I was not allowed until I was off the drip and sans catheter, which did not occur until after 5pm on Sunday, November 19th, this was definitely the hardest 24+ hours of my life, knowing I am a mom but not getting to see or hold my baby girl (this was not how I imagined birth would be--but that quickly became a theme--we did not plan for things to go this way, but this is how they were going).  Sunday, Monday, Tuesday were all quite emotional days for me, still fighting the BP numbers (I felt fine physically, but my numbers were crazy high!).  I quickly got used to the nurses asking every shift change if I had bad headaches, blurred vision or pain where my liver was, all signs of high blood pressure/stroke levels.  And each time, my answer was no.  I felt fine physically, I was just ready to be out of the hospital and the frequent blood pressure checks were doing nothing to help the numbers go down.  On Monday into Tuesday, we got the news that my kidney function was returning to normal and then Tuesday into Wednesday, I finally had my last blood test to verify again that my liver was functioning as it should be.  On Wednesday, I had an appointment with the cardiologist and then a follow up Echo and EKG to verify that my heart was functioning as it should (and thank goodness, it was too).  And finally after 8 days in the hospital, I was released Wednesday night (November 22) about 6:30pm, I cried when they told me the news!  One night of wonderful sleep in my home was just what I needed.  My blood pressure numbers have stabilized since I have been home and more rested (still currently on the meds from the doctors), but I am hopefully that over the next few weeks/months, my body will return to normal and I can eventually ween off the medicines.

Our little Olivia continues to amaze both Marc and myself with her fight and tenacity.  She was back up to her birth weight on day 6 of her life.  This was amazing cause we had heard it would take anywhere from 7-10 days.  She is currently breathing oxygen at the same rate we would and uses CPAP on and off for help when needed.  Thankfully she has never had to be on a ventilator!  Her feedings have increased from 2.5ml the first day to 15 ml now and she gets fed every 3 hours from my breast milk which we are able to bring to her in the NICU!  She is the happiest right after her feedings. She still has a feeding tube and we hear that might be the case for weeks even, as babies do not often develop the ability to swallow until sometime after 32 weeks, at which point we will be able to try a bottle. 

Mommy & Olivia Skin to Skin time

Mommy gets to take my temperature for the first time!

Little Miss Hands--she is always moving her hands around!

She will have a routine MRI on Wednesday of this week to check for brain bleeds, so we ask for prayers that everything will look good with that.  The doctors and nurses have no cause for concern; this is a standard procedure for all NICU babies. We have no doubt the next few months will be full of every emotion under the sun as we figure out life as first time parents to a baby we cannot yet bring home, but have so appreciated all the love, support, thoughts, and prayers from friends, family and the community at large.  We certainly feel all the support from everyone.  My hope is to update this blog regularly with progress reports, so please subscribe via email for the latest updates!

Much Love,
Laura, Marc & Olivia