Being pregnant is rough. I don't see how Michelle Duggar has done it 17 times. Maybe it was just especially hard on me. I'm a Type 1 diabetic and that made things rough from the start. I had to take enough insulin to give me the blood sugar levels of someone who was not diabetic. This caused me to have extremely low blood sugars four or five times a day. I mean, they were so bad, I felt like I was drunk. (On a side note, I carry a card in my purse that says, "I am a diabetic. I am not intoxicated." Apparently low blood sugar and being drunk feel remarkably similar. I have a hard time understanding why anyone would voluntarily make themselves feel that way, but to each his own). I was working as a sub then, and I had to stop because I was scared to be left in charge of a group of kids. I was deathly afraid of falling out on the floor. But you know, they might just have thought I was drunk. Wouldn't that be a nice conversation..."Our sub was drunk today...It was awesome!"
If that wasn't bad enough, I started having blood pressure problems at 14 weeks. I had to start taking medicine and had to go on a horrible special diet. I could only eat fish, chicken, turkey, fruits, and veggies. I could only drink water or milk. The diet might not have been so bad except for my cravings and needing the carbs I wasn't supposed to have in order to raise my blood sugar.
Then came the swelling that wouldn't go away. In the two weeks before I had Connor, I gained thirty pounds from all of the swelling. It was ridiculous! The only shoes I could fit into were a pair of men's size 10 flip flops, and they barely even fit.
The Tuesday before I gave birth (I had Connor the next Monday), I was admitted to the hospital for a non-stress test. My blood pressure was through the roof. They kept me overnight to do a 24 hour urine test to see if there was protein in my pee, which is a sign of preeclampsia (the high blood pressure and excessive swelling were other signs). I'm still not sure exactly what preeclampsia is, but I do know that Connor was in danger because my high blood pressure could restrict blood flow to him, and I was in danger of kidney or liver damage. If the preeclampsia turned into eclampsia, I could have had a seizure, and we both would have been in trouble.
Two days later (Thursday) I was diagnosed with preeclampsia and started on an IV of magnesium sulfate. Ugh. I told Brian one day that the government should just stop waterboarding and start giving suspected terrorists a mag IV. That would make anyone talk. Before they started the IV, this old shriveled up nurse told me I would feel extremely hot for 15 minutes and like I had the flu for the duration of the medicine. That was the biggest understatement of the century. While I was on the mag, I was so hot, the thermostat in the room was set on 50, and I still burnt up. Mag is a muscle relaxer, too, which they conveniently forgot to mention. I had to google it to find out. So, that meant, I couldn't take a full breath, my eyes wouldn't focus, I got choked every time I ate, and I didn't have enough strength to even roll over in bed by myself. Worst of all, that nasty stuff seemed like it was seeping out of my pores. I felt gritty and slimy, and I had a funny smell. Brian said I just didn't smell like me, but I thought I smelled like my mom did right before she died. It was a "death" smell. That scared me. Plus, Connor stopped moving. Apparently the mag was doing the same thing to him that it was doing to me. They would only hook me up to the fetal monitor once a day, so for the rest of the time, I was never sure whether he was still alive.
After two horrible days on the mag, it started messing with my calcium levels. So, they gave me calcium. This caused fluid to build up on my lungs, so they put me on lasix to take the fluid off. Isn't funny how the stuff that was supposed to keep me alive was making me sick? This happened all over again on Sunday, which was the next day. So, they decided that Monday would be Connor's birth day. It was just getting to be too big of a risk keeping him in. We would both be better off with him being out.
Connor was born at 3:09 pm on June 13 via c-section. I was 29 weeks and 5 days pregnant. He was 10 weeks early. Right before he was born, the neonatologist in the room told me that I would only get to see him and kiss him for just a few seconds before they took him to the NICU so they could get him warm and help him with any breathing issues he might have. Once he was born and I heard him cry, I burst into tears, even before Brian did and he is the cry baby of the family! I was just so happy he was okay. I was so scared of what the mag and my preeclampsia had done to him. The neonatologist brought him over, and I got to kiss him and look at him. He was tiny and blue, and I could see every one of his ribs. But he was okay. He was perfect.
Since my blood pressure was still extremely high and I had to stay on the mag for another 24 hours, I wasn't able to see Connor until 8 the next night. I missed the first 29 hours of his life, and my whole family got to really see him before I did. The first day of a baby's life is supposed to be spent bonding, but we didn't get that. We were separated.
Connor was put on a ventilator right after he was born, but he was doing so well breathing that they switched him to a Cpap machine the next day. By Friday, he was off the Cpap and totally breathing on his own! He was a little jaundiced, so he had to go under bright lights to help get rid of it. The upside to that? He got to wear the cutest sunglasses!
Other than the jaundice, Connor had no problems! We were so lucky. Now he just had to start taking bottles and gain to at least 4 pounds in order to go home.
The Sunday after he was born was Father's Day. This was also the day we got to hold him for the first time!
Connor was able to come home from the hospital after 42 days in the NICU. We are so happy to have him home with us. We didn't feel like parents until he came home. He will be 3 months in five days, and he weighs about 9 pounds now. If he had been born on his original due date, he would be two weeks old. He is wonderful-he has excellent head control and coos, laughs, and smiles (especially when someone makes a joke about his daddy).
This is a dark picture, but you can see how far he has come. God made him strong and has big things in store for him!
As for the stupid mail part of the post...
Connor got his first piece of mail today! It was a letter from the insurance company wanting him to fill out a survey. I want to tell them, "Sure, my three month old is going to get right on that survey just as soon as he finishes War and Peace and writing his doctoral thesis for nuclear physics." Anybody else ever get any stupid mail like this?
