Our little miracle

Posted On Tuesday, November 22, 2011  by Melita

My fiancé and I were very surprised the day we found out we were pregnant, and scared of the prospect of becoming parents... but once the initial shock wore off, we were also very excited about how our lives together would change. I had the dream pregnancy.  I had mild morning sickness to 12 weeks which caused me to drop a few kilos before I began to gain and then my weight gain was very minimal and I was constantly being told how small I was looking which at the time I was very proud of but now I know it probably wasn’t a good thing.  I lived in the country and worked for a city company so I was constantly on the road travellng to and from the city tying it in with doctor’s appointments.  After about 30 weeks I started to get some swelling in my ankles and hands, a few headaches and shortness of breath but so did everyone else I’d ever known who was pregnant so thought nothing of it.

At 31 weeks at my brother’s wedding I remember hardly being able to hold a conversation I was so short of breath and seeing stars when I stood up for too long but again it had been a massive day and I just thought it was all part of the parcel of pregnancy.  Because of his wedding I decided to miss my next appointment a week later because I didn’t want to drive to the city again so soon and didn’t get back to the doctor until I was 33 weeks.  My doctor had one feel of my stomach and immediately looked concerned, the baby was measuring quite small and my blood pressure was up a bit.  I still wasn’t worried, my mother had had small babies and I’d had a busy week at work so thought that was mucking with my bp.  He sent me off for a growth scan and asked me to come back for the results after the weekend.  When I came back for the results I went and had my blood pressure and urine done by the nurses first as usual.  I had arrived a bit early and my fiancé was meeting me there in time for the appointment but when my doctor saw me there he rushed me into his office and told me the baby was too small and my amniotic fluid was at very low levels.  Then when he saw that my blood pressure was around 140/90 and that I had protein in my urine he told me I would have to head straight to the hospital to be admitted and that he was referring me to a different doctor who specialised in preeclampsia.  My doctor had explained the dangers of preeclampsia to me all along but I’d had such a healthy pregnancy I’d never thought much about it and I felt so healthy still.  I was waiting outside the surgery when my fiancé arrived and I burst into tears and all I could say was that I wasn’t ready to have this baby yet!

At hospital I wasn’t told too much other than that they suspected I was developing preeclampsia and they wanted to keep a close eye on me.  Given that I was from the country they thought it was best I was admitted from then on and that their goal was to get me to 36 weeks. I was given regular blood pressure and urine tests and daily Doppler tests and at 35 weeks I was given another scan that showed the baby had only grown another 100gms and my amnio fluid was very low.  The baby was still happy and moving lots but by then my blood pressure was very high and I had +3 of protein in my urine constantly so they decided there was no advantage to keeping it in any longer.  Because of the baby’s estimated size of 1700gms and its breach position I was scheduled for a caesarean the next day at another hospital that had neonatal care facilities where I could also stay while I recovered otherwise we would have been at different hospitals.  The next day I was scheduled to have my caesarean at 9am but because of so many emergencies I was pushed back until 7.30 that night by which stage my blood pressure was reaching levels of 210/110 and I was feeling pretty exhausted.  My beautiful baby girl was born and weighed a whopping 2.1kgs and the doctors all joked about how huge she was.  After a quick cuddle and a photo they whisked her off to special care where they put all the monitors on her but she didn’t require any oxygen and was doing great.  During the operation and in recovery my blood pressure was dangerously high and they considered putting me in intensive care the next day when it still wasn’t coming down.  Because of this I was put on lots of serious pain relief so that the pain didn’t affect my bp and all I remember of the first few days was being really out of it.  I couldn’t get out of bed and my baby was 3 floors down at special care so I was unable to see her until the next day when they bought her up for a brief visit but I was so out of it I could hardly hold her.  After a few days my blood pressure started to behave and we transferred back to the other hospital together because the baby hospital was at full capacity and Kesta didn’t require any breathing help.  We had to stay in hospital for 2 weeks when her feeding tube came out and she started to feed better.  I had lots of trouble with my milk and had to go on medication to get it to come in and remained on it for a few months so she was given a combination of breast milk and formula right from the start.  Otherwise once we went home everything was fine.  Kesta has always taken a little bit longer to reach milestones than other kids her age but now she is 2 and a half you wouldn’t know any difference.

I’m now 28 weeks with my second baby and my pregnancy has been good so far.  I am seeing the same high risk obstetrician who has been keeping a really close eye on me.  I’ve had extra blood tests to test for blood, kidney and liver function, extra ultrasounds to test for all of the preeclampsia indicators and my blood pressure is being checked regularly.  I had a scan this week that was all normal aside from the baby being a little on the small side of things (but still fine) so they have scheduled another scan for a month just to be sure.  He seems to think if it does happen again it should hopefully be later so won’t be such a big issue, but given I’m 4 hours from the city they are keeping a very close eye on things anyway.  I was quite stressed about it for a while because every time I went to the GP my blood pressure would go up but since buying my own blood pressure unit and seeing how healthy I am each day I have been really positive about everything and am taking each day as it comes.  I’m very organised too – no way I’m getting caught out unorganised a second time!  I’m not too worried though, after seeing how amazing the people in the special care unit are and how good my doctors were I know that if anything does happen we’ll both be in great hands so for now I am staying positive and carrying on as normal.