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It all started Sunday, Jan 31st. I woke up early in the |
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It all started Sunday, Jan 31st. I woke up early in the morning, around 6 a.m. feeling really sick. I thought it was the usual routine of morning sickness because I had morning sickness throughout the entire pregnancy. My boyfriend started to get concerned because he thought I was dehydrated from all the the vomiting and nausea. I decided to call my OB and he told me to go to the hospital. My mother met me at the hospital because my boyfriend was on his way to church. When I got to the hospital the OB said I was dehydrated and needed fluids. They started me on fluids and gave me nausea medicine.The doctors were monitoring me because I wasn't getting any better. That night, I started to get a severe pain in my side. They decided to keep me for observation. In the afternoon on February 2, during a routine course of checking vital signs, my blood pressure spiked to 180/120. My hands and feet were swollen. My vision was blurry. I had a severe headache and my liver platelet count had dropped severely. Within moments I was diagnosed with severe Preeclampsia When I arrived at the new hospital, I was placed on bed rest and put into an intensive care labor and delivery room. I was put on fluid restriction because of the swelling in my feet and hands. I was only allowed to have about an ounce every hour. I wasn't allowed to eat for the first two days because the doctors weren't sure if they would have to deliver the baby right away. My family was there and we were all confused as to what was going on. Different doctors came in and started explaining things about preeclampsia and about the risk of birth defects and death in premature babies. I was so upset with all this horrible news that I actually asked the neonatologist to leave my room. He stepped out and my aunt left my room to talk to him. I couldn't bear hearing that my son would be born with cerebral palsy, heart defects, brain injury, or even dead. My entire family just started praying that everything would turn out okay and that my son and I would be safe and healthy. After all, I was only 25 weeks pregnant and far away from my due date of May 10, 2010. The doctors started giving me steroids to help with the development of my son's lungs and I had blood work drawn every 4 hours. The doctors tried to keep my son inside of me as long as they could, but with this pregnancy disease the only cure is delivery. On the morning of February 5th my labs showed that my organs were starting to fail, my platelet count was really low and the disease was starting to affect my brain and my kidneys. The doctors had to deliver my son. The decision to deliver my son was made at the same time that a blizzard was sweeping through our part of the country. My family drove up in that blizzard. It took them 2 and a half hours to make what should have been a 50 minute trip. Thank God my boyfriend decided not to go to work that day because he would not have made it for the birth. Even though my platelet count was really low, the doctors decided that I could have an epidural instead of having to put me completely asleep. This allowed my boyfriend to be in the delivery room and for me to witness my son's birth. My son, Jaylen, was born 14 weeks and 1 day early weighing only 1lb and 8 ounces. His birth surprised all of the doctors because he came out crying and breathing mostly on his own. Shortly after my son was born, the rest of my family arrived. They were able to see him and pray for him before he was transferred by ambulance to a childrens' hospital nearby. He was placed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (N.I.C.U.) and he stayed there for a total of 72 days. I had to stay in a hospital almost a week after Jaylen was born. The doctors monitored my blood pressure every week and it took a total of 6 weeks for all the swelling to go down and for my blood pressure to return to normal. My son came home April 18th weighing 4lbs and 10 ounces. He is currently almost 4 months old and weighs 7lbs and 8 ounces. He has no known health problems. He is our little miracle baby and I thank God that we are both alive to tell this story. |
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