Heaven Sent: The Arrival of Alexis Jane...

Alexis Jane was born Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 5:40pm weighing 5lb 5oz and was 18 3/4 inches long. She came into this world 6 weeks earlier than expected (34 weeks gestation), but is doing quite well for a preemie.

How it began...

As most of you know, I was diagnosed with placenta previa at my 20 week ultrasound. In most cases, as the uterus grows, the placenta moves down. However, my placenta decided to be stubborn and remain the same, so a July 30th c-section was scheduled. Well, this past Monday afternoon I started bleeding and was rushed to the hospital. Once I got there, the bleeding stopped but I started having contractions. The plan at that point was to give me meds (magnesium) to stop the contractions and keep me hospitalized until they felt the baby's lungs were developed enough to perform an early c-section. Since she was 34 weeks, they knew taking her within a week or two would be fine. I was a little disheartened at the thought of staying in the hospital that long away from the boys, but knew it was for the best to make sure my little girl arrived healthy. The first night I couldn't sleep at all because every time I would try to get comfortable in the delivery bed, they would lose Alexis' heartbeat on the monitor. At that point I knew 2 weeks of that was going to be tough. Little did I know that my body had a different idea and I started bleeding again by the next afternoon. At that point the doctor on-call decided they needed to take the baby to minimize any more risks, so that evening they prepared me for an emergency c-section.

All ready to be taken down to the O.R...

As with my last two c-sections, I opted to be put under general anesthesia during the procedure. Jason was able to be in the operating room as they were pulling her out of my body. The nurse even snapped a good shot of her coming out and the umbilical cord being cut!

As for Alexis...

She was delivered without complications and taken up to the nursery right away to be cleaned. Since she was 6 weeks early, they put her on oxygen, hooked her up to a heart and blood pressure monitor, gave her an IV and kept her in an incubator to keep her warm. They eventually had to put a feeding tube in her nose because her sucking and swallowing reflex still wasn't developed enough for her to be fed via bottle. The hardest part was not being able to see or hold her that first night, but I knew she was in good hands. My family was also able to take lots of pics that first night and I was able to scroll through those. That next morning I was anxious to get to the nursery and melted when they put her in my arms. It has been a little difficult because she has had to remain in the nursery instead of staying in the room with me, but hopefully staying in there away from the chaos will help her get stronger faster so she can come home sooner. Even though I am being discharged soon, I plan on staying in the hospital as a boarder until she is able to join us at home. Right now I am able to go down to the nursery and hold her whenever and however long I want to, as long as she isn't having tests done. It's still not as nice as having her right next to me 24-7, but it's better than nothing.

Sleeping in her incubator and peacefully on me...

As for me...
Once they got the baby out, they started removing my placenta. However, they soon realized that my placenta had actually started to grow into my uterus instead of just attaching to the side of it (placenta accreta). At that point, the on-call doctor that had performed my c-section had someone contact my regular doctor at home. The on-call doctor felt I was losing too much blood far too fast and knew she needed to take further measures to control it. They agreed that the only option at that point was to perform an emergency hysterectomy on me. My doctor rushed to the hospital from home to while the on-call doctor proceeded with the surgery. Jason was informed of what was going on and then just had to wait to hear the outcome. He, my sister Megan and her husband, Wes, were in the nursery with the baby when my doctor came in to update them on my status a while later. He told them that they had to remove my uterus and cervix and start giving me blood, but that I was stable. At that time, Megan called my family so they could come to the hospital to be with me because of what had happened. I woke up in recovery roughly around 9:30pm but was still in and out of it. I remember being told about my hysterectomy and finding out for sure it was a girl, but that's about it. Jason came down around 10pm and stayed by my side until it was time to take me back to my room. Around 11pm they decided I didn't need to go to the ICU like they had originally thought and instead took me back up to my room on the baby floor where my family was waiting.

Me in my room right after I was brought up from recovery...

That first night is still pretty much a blur to me. I remember nurses coming in periodically to check my blood pressure and temp, and hang blood, platelets and antibiotics. However, it was wasn't until the next morning that I truly found out the seriousness of what all had happened. My doctor strolled in my room around 7am and his first words to me were "Laura, you already had our undivided attention, you didn't need to try harder. You gave us all a scare last night. We almost lost you". Let me tell you, those are not the words you want to hear coming from your doctor the morning after surgery, and I broke down! He then held my hand and explained to me all the events. A few of the facts that he stated that stayed with me the most were that in a normal c-section delivery, the woman loses roughly 700-800 cc's of blood. In my case, I lost roughly around 3000 cc's of blood (that's a little bit more than half my total blood count!). They ended up having to pump 8 units of blood into me just to get my hemoglobin stable at 8.1 (it's normally supposed to be around 11 or 12). He also said that in his 25 years of practice, he has only had this happen with 4 patients, including myself. Lastly he stated that it was good that I had to have the baby a month early because my placenta could've grown deeper into my uterus and caused there to be more complications. The whole time he was talking to me he had tears in his eyes and I could tell how much if affected him. I've had him as my "girly" doctor since I was 14 years old and wouldn't trade him for anyone else!

The second night they were able to stop the blood transfusions, take out my IV and give me my antibiotics and pain meds orally instead of intravenously. Throughout the next few days I had so many nurses and doctors that were there during my ordeal comment on how good I looked and how surprised they were I pulled through given all that had happened. It's comments like those that make me realize how close I came to not being here and it's definitely a scary thought. I'm very thankful for all the thoughts and prayers from everyone because God heard and answered. I'm also thankful for wonderful doctors and nurses who saw the obstacles and performed their jobs accurately and efficiently to save me. I could never imagine my kids having to go through losing their mom at such young ages or having Alexis never get the chance to be held by me at least once or even know me. A lot of it still seems surreal to me, but I sure am thankful to be here.

I wanted a little girl for as long as I can remember, and I finally got one in the most dramatic way. From her conception to her birth, it has seemed to be one 'thrill' ride after another. I've heard how much more dramatic girls can be, but I am sure hoping this isn't a glimpse of how much more. Right now I just want to think pleasant thoughts and settle down with my 4 beautiful children that I am very thankful for.