Many Updates

This will be a long post, so brace yourselves!

Maddie and I made it to the 34 week goal that everyone had, and we made it by the skin of our teeth.  As a matter of fact, my c-section was a bit delayed because my blood pressure was so high we had to take some meds and wait for them to kick in.  Here I am the night before:

Madeleine Marie Ramsayer was born at 10:13 a.m. on November 23, 2011.  She came out a whopping 3 pounds 8 ounces and 16.5 inches long.  Here's her first picture:

The C-Section.
I don't think it's a secret that I didn't in any way want a c-section.  My birth plan included giving birth med-free, laboring in a jacuzzi tub, and only giving in to the call of an epidural if it was absolutely necessary.  I held on to the hope that something would go according to plan...even if Maddie insisted in making an early appearance, at least we could do an induction and life would be okay.  Wrong.  In the end, it was decided that a c-section was the safest route to take...so that's what we went with.

I was originally scheduled for a 9 a.m. section, but ended up going a bit later because of my blood pressure.  The mostly prepped me in my room, and then we were taken into the OR where I received my spinal and had the catheter inserted.  For what it's worth, the spinal didn't hurt at all.  My OB was even sweet enough to kick the nurse out and hold my hand for it.  The spinal started taking effect almost immediately and I was laid down on the table.  11 minutes after making the first incision, Maddie came screaming into this world.  It turns out that a c-section would have been necessary anyway as Maddie had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice.

I'm not sure how long I held my breath, but I did.  I held my breath until I heard her crying.  The minute I heard her, I started to cry.  A few seconds later, I was able to see her being cleaned up and looked over in the warmer:

I remember that it seemed like it took forever to get sewed up.  I could feel a lot of pulling and pressure while they were working.  Kind of like they were yanking down on a shower curtain, and that shower curtain was my ab muscles.  Eventually, I was all put back together and wheeled into my room.  Ryan went down with Maddie to the NICU and I hung out with the nurses while shaking uncontrollably.  Ryan was in and out of my room a number of times to check on me and to take people to see Maddie.

Maddie's Birthday.
I missed her first bath, but Ryan took some shots:

And then, eventually, the moment I had been waiting for since the day I found out I was pregnant...I got to hold my sweet baby.  After a number of hours, the nurses said that I was good to go down to the NICU to visit.  After an incredibly slow and painful transfer to a wheelchair, we all made our way down to see Maddie.  The nurses in the NICU had been adamant that momma always get the first "hold" so no one had been able to hold her all day.

 I love this picture of her and her daddy.  It's perfect.

We spent a lot of time in the NICU that night passing Maddie around and cuddling with her.  Grandpa has consistently refused to hold her, insisting that he'll hold her "once she gets bigger."  Grandma is already starting with the secrets:

 Yes, Maddie, that's your Aunt Ashley ;)

Eventually, we let Maddie go to bed for the night.

Maddie's First Week.
At the end of the day, Maddie has done fantastic in her first week.  She started at 4 ml per feeding and is up to 25 ml per feeding.  She started with an IV to get her nutrients, but is eating so well now that they've removed it.  She's doing a really great job regulating her body temp and is currently on the lowest temperature setting in her Giraffe.  Her breathing has markedly improved over the last few days which means that she's been successful in working the amniotic fluid out of her lungs.  She's still in the bili-blanket, but her bili levels have not been increasing which is very good news.  And finally, we had our first breast feeding session yesterday.  All in all, she's doing amazingly well.  We're all so very proud of her and hope that she'll be able to come home sooner rather than later.

Here are a couple shots from our visit last night:

 And yes, for all you Facebook nay-sayers...her hair is definitely blonde:

Yo MTV Cribz

I thought I'd post a couple pics of where I've been living for the last week.

Pardon my mess bed :)  but here's a shot of my bed, and one of the TV and bassinet.

There's a rocker/recliner that Ryan has claimed as well as a couch that turns to a bed.  At this hospital, your room is for everything and you aren't transferred anywhere after the birth.  So, there this area for the baby on the side. 

I also have my own bathroom with Jacuzzi tub.  I haven't used the Jacuzzi yet because my BP is too crazy to be up and about that long, especially in the heat.

Updates:  We met with Dr. Murphy and Dr. Campbell today.  We also had another ultrasound.  In the end, Dr. Murphy decided that my BP meds needed to be increased because my pressures were getting out of control.  They also took a bunch more blood.  Later, Dr. Campbell said that Dr. Murphy is adamant about a 34 week delivery,  but she wants to discuss waiting until 35 weeks with all her partners.  Basically, 35 weeks would mean no NICU stay for Maddie.  So, we'll see what everyone says.

In other news, some of my favorite people in the whole wide world sent me a giant Squishable platypus.  I named him Hank in honor of Mr. Henry Ford.  How cute is he???

I also had the CEO of the hospital stop by to see me this afternoon. I was totally taken aback.  He said he was told I've been here a while and wanted to know how my stay had been.  He asked about my nurses and doctors, as well as the food and housekeeping. He then wanted to know if there was anything he could do to make my stay better.  It was crazy!!!  Do hospital CEOs usually do that?!?

NICU

Ryan and I got to take a tour of the NICU in anticipation of Maddie's stay. I have to say, it's quite nice. All of the rooms have pull out couches to sleep over if you'd like. The nurses we met were really nice.

We went over some of the things to expect. Whether they need it or not, all babies are hooked up to a central monitoring system so the nurses can see what's going on with them at all times from anywhere. Maddie will be hooked up to an IV as all preemies receive antibiotics initially. She'll be evaluated for whether she needs oxygen or a vent, but apparently at 34 weeks with the betamethasone shots most babies do not. She'll have her blood sugar evaluated until she passes 5 tests in a row. And finally, they will evaluate her ability to maintain her body temp. We are anticipating her weighing around 3.5 lbs at birth and they like babies to be about 4 before they leave. The NICU nurse said that if all thing go well, Maddie would likely only stay about a week. Depending on all of the above will depend on feeding. She might have to go straight into The Giraffe (her bed) and if that's the case we'll start me pumping right away.

All in all, I am glad we are at this hospital. Everyone has been wonderful and I've been impressed with their standard of care.

In fun news, Ryan snuck me Panera for dinner...including an M&M cookie. I was totally prepared for my sugar to be out of control and to get lectured by the nurse. Nope!!! My sugar was perfect!!! Now I want a cookie after every meal :)

Sorry it's been so long...

I was hospitalized on Monday for the duration of the pregnancy and blogging from my phone was just too difficult.

Monday we had our growth scan. Maddie fell from the 7th percentile to less than the 3rd percentile. However she grew enough to warrant remaining in there. In 2 weeks she put on 200 grams (about 7 oz.) and gained 2 cm around her abdomen. As of Monday she weighed 3 pound even, which is the normal weight of a 28w3d baby and Maddie was 31w5d so almost a month behind.

Dr. Murphy, my high risk OB, was worried about my BP and decided I needed to be placed on meds, so I was send down to L&D to get a dose and be monitored. During my stay it came back that there was protein in my urine. So, my team of doctors decided that I needed to be admitted for 24 hour observation and a 24 hour urine collection. At some point during Monday evening my doctors all decided that I needed to remain in the hospital until delivery because I could decline so quickly with pre-eclampsia.

I have met with all 5 of my OBs as well as my high risk OB in the last few days. They are all of the opinion that we need to deliver at 34 weeks at the latest because of Maddie's growth issues and my health. I do not have severe pre-eclampsia yet, but if I develop that we will deliver immediately because the risk to me and Maddie is to great to continue the pregnancy.

I spoke with one of my OBs in depth today about what we are realistically looking at with Maddie being born 6 weeks early. I have been a bit panicky about the prospect of a preemie and how she will be affected in the long run. Talking with my OB today made me feel a lot better. If we make it to 34 weeks we are looking at basically no long term problem other than some delays. And not delays like you think. It will be delays like if a book says she should walk at 10 months, we need to add 6 weeks to that. And she should be all caught up by 2. She will likely spend a couple weeks in the NICU, but it is possible she could come home with us.

As for me, my BP is still running a bit high even with being on the meds. They don't want to up the dose at this point because they don't want to decrease the already restricted flow to Maddie. I am having trouble with spikes when I get up, so I am pretty much in bed most of the day and now have compression boots on to stop blood clots. I get my BP checked every 4 hours and Maddie gets an NST 4 times a day.

So, right now we're just hanging out hoping my body doesn't give out and we can keep her baking until 34 weeks.

Well that's weird...

I received a letter today from Progressive.  It's apparently from a Claims Branch in Sterling Heights, MI.  It lists a claim number, date of loss, and pictures of a totally mangled Dodge Magnum.  The letter says:

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Ramsayer,

We are completing an investigation into the above captioned incident and need to contact you.  It is possible you may have information of value to this claim.

Please contact me at the number below at your earliest convenience.  Thank you for your assistance.

And it is signed by a Special Investigator.  I have absolutely no idea what this is about, so I call Ryan to see if he maybe witnessed an accident and gave a witness statement or something.  He also has no idea what this is about.  I was hesitant to call thinking it's some stunt or something.  But, all the info (address, phone number, etc.) on the letter checks out as legit.  So, I called and left a message. 

Guess I'll find out?

Say What?!?

Bed rest = too much TV = ignorance destroyed.  I think I probably would have been okay never knowing this.  Somehow I made it in and out of Wesleyan without knowing we had a B'town cop who doubled as a serial rapist.

Here's one of the articles.  It's seriously disturbing knowing that this was all going on while we were there.