I was still stressing over all kinds of things. The baby's room hadn't been painted, the boys' room was a work in progress. Arik was being a meanie and every time I wanted to buy something for the kids' rooms, he kept saying, "where are we going to put it." or "chill out. We have plenty of time."
I always responded with, "I don't think we have as much time as you think. This baby is going to come before July 25th. I can just feel it in my bones."
It was June 9th...a Sunday. The boys had just left to pick up dinner. I was laying on the couch with my feet practically at a 90 degree angle, chugging water. My feet had been propped up for over 12 hours and the swelling wasn't going down any.
I sat up to head to the restroom and in my peripheral vision (right eye only) I saw little spots.
My heart started beating fast and my mouth got really dry. My eyes started tearing up and I thought to myself I had better call the doctor's office just to be safe. My vision wasn't blurry, but the little spots were something out of the ordinary.
I called and left a message. It took all of 2 minutes. In that time the vision issues had stopped, but by then my vision was blurry; because I was crying. I just knew something was wrong.
My feet and legs were ridiculously huge. I was so freakin tired all the time. My midwife just kept telling me to watch what I was eating, drink lots of water and put my feet up. I asked about preeclampsia and she just told me the symptoms to look for: pitting in the legs when poked, blurred vision, headaches, high blood pressure and extreme swelling.
I kind of felt like I had the extreme swelling down. I'd been "swoll" for a few weeks. My blood pressure was within the normal range. She never said it was a problem.
The midwife called me back and our conversation included my symptoms and me needing to take my blood pressure and to call her back and let her know what was going on. She was trying to save me a trip to the ER and suggested that I go somewhere that had one of those blood pressure machines. I went to Walgreens.
Did you know that the pharmacist at Walgreens will take you blood pressure for you after you sign a release? I thought that was super helpful of them. Made me love Walgreens for all my prescription needs even more.
Anyway, the boys came home with dinner. I ate and then shared with Arik what was going on. I could tell he was kind of nervous. He was trying to keep me calm and cracking little jokes here and there. I was trying to remain calm, but fear was creeping into my heart.
At Walgreens, the pharmacist took my BP and said to me, "this machine isn't 100% accurate, but with a BP reading as high as yours, I'd go to the ER just to be safe." It was 120 over like 100 or something like that.
We get back to the house and are trying to keep calm for the boys' sake. Arik tells them that we were going to go to the hospital so I can be checked. I hear him tell the boys that everything was fine, but wanting to be safe. I was in the bedroom trying to pack a bag just in case I had to stay overnight.
The thoughts were rushing through my mind so fast! And every thought was followed up with something that wasn't ready. The nursery wasn't ready, the boys' room wasn't ready, I hadn't packed a hospital bag we didn't have a plan for the boys in place, the house wasn't like I'd wanted it, the furniture was coming at the end of the week, we hadn't had the baby shower yet, I hadn't showered that day! The thoughts were never ending. A continuous loop of failure!
It was a quiet drive to the hospital. Each of us were in our own thoughts. I was hoping my sister didn't take very long to get to the house and hang out with the boys and hoping and praying that our little girl was okay.
We got to the ER about 8pm and checked in. The triage nurse took my BP again. It wasn't any better. The triage nurse was trying to keep me calm, but the way she was moving so fast, I could tell that my BP was a huge problem. She admitted me.
I was whisked off to a room and told to change into a gown, give them a urine sample and get ready to head up to the mother/baby floor.
When I got up to my room, everything and everyone was moving so fast. The doctor came in and told us what the plan was. They were going to try to get my blood pressure down first and foremost. They were just going to monitor me overnight just to be safe.
I told Arik to go home and be with the boys. Since they were just going to monitor me, he could come back in the morning and pick me up. He hesitated, but I told him to go. The boys needed to know things were going to be okay.
I just tried to lay there, in my hospital bed and relax. It was very hard to do with nurses coming in and out. I had an IV and a catheter. They came in and checked me every hour. 8 turned into midnight and my mind wouldn't shut off. There was no relaxing... I was so afraid. I wasn't prepared for anything that was happening. I just kept thinking about everything...
Why was I laying in the hospital? What was going on? I called Arik and updated him on things that were going on. I was so afraid. I didn't want to be alone at the hospital, but we didn't have a plan for the boys. I wanted Arik there by my side, holding my hand. I was so afraid I was going to lose my little girl or stroke out or die and never get to see my boys again. I was freaking!
Midnight turned into go time! The doctor came in and said that my body wasn't responding to the magnesium they were pumping into my body. My BP wasn't going down. I had developed severe preeclampsia and the only way to get my BP down was to deliver the baby. I needed a steroid shot and this and that and everything everyone was saying was just running together. The doctor told me a series of people would be coming in to explain their role in the whole procedure. He said I needed to call my husband back and as soon as he got here, they were going to deliver the baby via cesarean.
I called Arik and told him to get to the hospital as fast as he could because the baby was coming that night. Here are our text messages to get you through the story. I'm shaking and tearing up just writing about what happened. This probably won't get told all in one blog. I think I'm going to need to space this story out.
Here are the texts...
I did end up calling Noel. She was in Florida enjoying Disney World. She ended up staying on the phone with me through all the doctors coming in and introducing themselves and explaining their role in the operation. I wasn't really in the right mindset to comprehend what they were telling me and Arik was 30 minutes away and still had to get the boys situated. She was my ears and my nerve stabilizer until Arik got there.
They were all ready and pushing me down the hall to an operating room. Arik was on his way and they were ready to go! I was trying to make light of the situation with some jokes about not studying well because I skipped this chapter in all my pregnancy and baby books. I was trying everything to stay calm, but my brain just kept praying over and over, "Please let my baby be okay. Please let my baby be okay. Please let my baby be okay."
I have to stop...
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