Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Update on H!

Well, as any mom of a preemie knows, every day in the NICU is different. Some days they take steps back, some days they take steps forward.  In the past few days, H has been doing great!  Lots of steps forward!  In a few days, he will be moving to a crib and drinking from a bottle! The bottle part makes me happy because that means he'll get held every 3 hours. That makes me so happy, because I can only be there to hold him for a very short time every few days.
I didnt realize how hard this would be, but I just long for him. My heart longs to have him home and watch him grow. But at the same time, I would never want to bring him home before he's ready.  To be anxious all the time, wondering if he was going to stop breathing for a moment, or if his little head was leaning too far forward...that would be too much.  I am so incredibly thankful for the amazing nurses at the NICU.  They take such care and love what they do. For real.
The NICU has several different rooms, labeled A-H, A being the most intensive care and H being the least. Haven is in room F! 
I love my life. I love my kids. I love my friends. I can't wait for this weekend, to spend time with friends who are visiting from very far away (TOO far if you ask me!) and family and eat yummy foods together.
Enjoy your life!
Jenn

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The whole story....that I can remember

As most of you know, I am in the hospital right now after delivering my 4th baby via emergency c-section.  I'm just online right now to post a quick update on what happened! I dont remember as much as Joel does, but here's what I can recall:

Haven Joel was born on June 6th at 11:00 Pm at Crouse hospital in Syracause! He was born at 3 lbs 5 oz. and is healthy and happy.  On Saturday night at 2:30 AM, I woke with a splitting headache that no pain pill would touch.  After trying to cope for the morning, my mother in law whisked me off to the ER, which thankfully is only about 1 mile from our home.   When I got there, the headache was so severe that I couldn't see straight and was almost totally blind.  Being 7 months pregnant, i just assumed it was a bad migraine and they'd give me some really good pain meds and I'd be on my way. Not so!  Turns out, it was severe pre-eclempsia, which I'm still not exactly clear on what it is, but I know that my brain had swelling and fluid in it, hence the pressure on my eyes and the blindness.  They decided of course to do an emergency c-section, and had to transfer me to this hospital.  I don't remember anything past this point except for a few blurry moments for the next few days. I never even felt them put the spinal block in.  I did go into a shock a bit after the surgery, shaking for about 4-5 hours I think. 

All in the midst of this, my husband was a tower of strength. I can't even imagine watching while your wife and child could possibly be dying. He drew upon the Lord's strength the whole time and kept me from completely freaking out. I love him.

After the surgery, they put me on magnesium citrate, which is a pretty crazy medicine that prevents seizures and keeps blood pressure down. It also made me sleep for 2 days, which I'm sure I needed but was no fun! Visitors came, and since i was still mostly blind and mostly asleep, I just laid there and listened to them chat.  It was wonderful to hear all the love.   I had every single person on earth that knew me praying for me, i think, which i didnt know until i was able to get on facebook a few days later after regaining my sight. I cant' even tell you how overwhelming it was to see how many people care.  I love you all so much.

After they took me off the mag cit, my blood pressure started to normalize, but then started to creep up again over the next 24 hours. So as of now, I'm still on the high risk floor but they've normalized the bp and are hoping to move me downstairs. Haven Joel is going extremely well up in the NICU. I get to go hold him for the first time this afternoon!! Can't even wait.

Alright, if anyone wants any more details, feel free to ask! Joel remembers alot more than i do. Love to you all!
jenn