Hello, everyone. Time for another journal entry (now that I'm at a place where I can actually access dA and write my journal entry...I'll explain everything in regards to that, later). As always, I don't know who really reads these, but I do know that a few of you do. So keeping what friends I have online updated about my life seems like a good idea.
On June 13th, I began having serious pain in the entire area of my stomach (from my diaphragm to my pelvis) and in my lower back. It had started at about 5-5:30 that morning, and hadn't stopped. My boyfriend -- edelta88 here on dA, though he never uses his dA account -- and I had scheduled to go to child birthing classes for that day at 1pm and ended at 3pm. We went to the class for that day, which taught us about labor positions, and teaching the support person for the one pregnant how to
be that support person. The "teachers" for the class had noticed my discomfort throughout the entire class and had even asked me how I was doing. By that point the pain had moved to just my diaphram area and my upper back. Describing my condition, they told me that after the class, I should get ahold of my OB and possibly go in to see them.
I called my OB office after the class was over, like they had suggested, explained my symptoms that I was going through to the receptionist, and had the receptionist ask my OB what I should do. My OB told the receptionist to tell me to go straight to the hospital and tell them that I needed to go to "Labor and Delivery". There they would figure out what was going on and whether or not I had actually went into labor or not. (At this point in time, I was 33 weeks pregnant. So it is considered a "premature birth" if it is fewer than 40 weeks.) My boyfriend and I did as my OB had instructed -- my boyfriend rather shocked to hear that my OB wanted me to go to the hospital.
When I got to the hospital and into "Labor and Delivery", they proceeded to inform me that I had sever Preeclampsia and that I was having contractions. Preeclampsia is where your liver is producing too much Protein enzymes and attacks the placenta of the baby. Meaning had I of waited to try and carry full term, the end result would have been that I would lose the baby and I would probably die in the process because of high blood pressure induced from my liver doing what it was doing. So they had to induce labor early in order to save both myself and my baby. (Upon hearing this, my boyfriend proceeded to freak out, although he didn't show it physically all that much.) They put me on magnesium sulfate for the Preeclampsia. At first, the magnesium didn't affect me like they said it would. They told me that I would feel almost like I had the flu. But all I did was feel warm. Like, really warm. I had asked for a few heated blankets while they proceeded to do blood work.
Because the hospital I was going through was not set up to accommodate pregnant women going into premature labor, they had to transfer me to a different hospital that could. The closest hospital to my location denied my transfer request as their NICU was full, and apparently had been full for a while. So I had to be transferred to a hospital that was roughly about an hour and ten minutes away from where I was even living.
Before the ambulance got there to take me to the other hospital, I proceeded to call my mom. I let her know that I was in the hospital and that I was going through contractions. And that because I had Preeclampsia, they were going to have to induce labor to save both my baby and me. I then proceeded to tell her that she needed to bring grandma and she at least needed to make it to the hospital before the ambulance would so that way I could have grandma with me when I delivered like both Gamma and I had wanted. (I had gotten what is called a "Keepsake Necklace" where they put a pinch of a loved one's ashes inside a charm that you wear as either a necklace, a ring, or a bracelet. I had chosen a necklace keepsake to put my grandma's ashes in when she passed away, so that way I could have that piece of her with me for when I delivered.)
Mom came to the hospital I was at before the ambulance had arrived -- with the help of an awesome friend of ours because her car was currently not safe to drive down the road -- and helped put the necklace around my neck. About ten minutes later, the ambulance had arrived and my boyfriend and I rode in the ambulance to where I would have my baby delivered. My mom -- with the help of another awesome friend -- met me at the other hospital much later that evening. As she was one of my support people. Especially now that my grandma was gone.
On June 14th, the doctors gave me a few things that helped to open my cervix, and then in the evening they broke my water. At 1:25am on June 15th, I started feeling the contractions that I can only describe as it felt like I needed to take a crap. I had six of them in total. Three of which I did not push for, one I pushed when I felt it, and then I was told to wait until the NICU arrived, once the NICU arrived with the medical machine they'd put my baby in, I was told to push, and then to do a grunt push. On the grunt push, my baby popped out of me at 1:35am on June 15th.
Yes. You're reading that right. In ten minutes, my baby popped out. And I only needed one stitch. She barely tore me. I felt like I was in a Hollywood movie for a split moment because my baby was born in TEN FREAKING MINUTES!!! I was expecting it to be HOURS before she would come out of me. But with the knowledge that I had received before I dealt with the Preeclampsia, I ended up giving birth to a beautiful baby girl in a freakishly short amount of time.
I had to remain on the magnesium for another 24 hours before they could take me off of it. And let me tell you, after my baby was born, the magnesium kicked my ass. The symptoms that they had warned me would happen kicked in minutes after. They had to decrease the amount they were giving me because it effected me so bad. Then, once I was off the magnesium completely, my blood pressure was still misbehaving to the point where they had to change my discharge date from that Saturday to Monday. Giving me blood pressure medication to try and regulate it. At first it wasn't helping until finally they found the combination that seemed to work. Allowing me to get discharged on Monday, June 20th.
I'm still at the hospital, however. My baby won't be discharged for another few weeks. So until she is discharged, I will be staying at the hospital and what is called "Ronald McDonald Housing". A charity housing organization for people like me who can't go home right away, but can't really afford to stay anywhere. Honestly, if you live in the United States, you should have at least HEARD about them a little. You may not have known exactly that they were this cherity, but considering almost EVERY McDonalds has a donations box for Ronald McDonald housing, you should have heard of it via that donations box. I'm going to be mostly staying in my baby's room, however. First Time Mom and all that. I want to be close to where my baby is. The Ronald McDonald house is only for if guests come by to visit my baby and me, and then decide that they are going to spend the night, considering we are such a long distance away from where family and friends live. THEN I will sleep in the Ronald McDonald house. Otherwise, I'm allowed to sleep in my baby's room, and so that's where I'm sleeping.
She's already woken me up two days in a row at extreme early hours of the morning, and personally, I love every second of those moments. It makes me feel like the mom that I now am. And it's really nice to feel that way. It gives me a feeling that I can't describe.
I'm also learning a lot for my baby, as well. How to take care of her, what to do and what not to do in terms of cleaning, feeding, burping. I'm being very active in terms of taking care of my baby so that way when I go home, I have the confidence to do all of these things.
I'll try to keep you friends updated as often as I can. However, once I get home, posting about my returning home might be difficult. As where I am currently living has dA blocked on their internet. So please bare with me if I take forever, like I just now did. And I'll probably upload a few pictures of my baby for all of you to view and see.^^
Thanks for reading this journal entry. Have a good day/night/whatever.
~Jessica
