ahem.. this might be a long post, fair warning
at around 4am sunday april 14th i woke up , kinda soaked. Being nearly 30 weeks along, this baby was getting rather rambunctious and i thought to myself, great this baby just made me pee my pants! i changed and went back to bed without telling Blake, due to embarrassment. at 8am i woke up and was wet again and thought it was rather odd, in the back of my mind i was thinking it was my water breaking, but i had imagined a huge gush not a little trickle, and besides it was way way to early. as i stood up a little more gushed out and i yelled to Blake to take me to ER. we grabbed Ryker out of his crib and rushed there.
it took the drs a while to realize it was my water that had broken and the weather was just terrible that day and they wanted it to calm down so they could fly me to Calgary. They gave me steroids to help develop the babies lungs and because we had ryker Blake couldn't' fly with me. he went home and packed a few things and drove to calgary. i was in such a rush that i hadn't even eaten breakfast that morning.
By the time i got to Calgary i had started to have contractions and boy did my water break, it was everywhere, my water never broke with Ryker so i didn't know what to expect. they got my contractions under control and i sat on the monitors all day until they finally put me in a room and let me eat at 1030 that night.
i sat for a week and finished my antibiotics, i hate ivs! during that week i had to have my temperature/blood pressure and baby heart monitored every 4 hours. it was a rough week, especially because Ryker was learning to walk, had a bad ear infection and had 4 molars coming in all at the same time.
On monday morning i was released to home care as the baby had been sitting sideways in my tummy and if i had gone into labor it could have been bad. he had finally moved head down so i went to my aunts house and was going to wait out the 4 weeks until they induced me. the home nurse came the next morning and upon examining my tummy told me my baby was no longer head down and i had to return to the hospital. i called blake and i just cried, i had kept it together pretty well the whole week but that was the last straw. i couldn't handle going back there, being away from my other baby who needed me, living in that hospital with the terrible food and being woken up all night, not being able to sleep next to my husband
i went back to foothills where the ultrasound told me he was indeed head down and that nurse was crazy. PHEW! freaked out over nothing haha
headed back to my aunts and went to bed.
again around 4am i wake up with a gush ( note i had been gushing fluid for the past 10 days) but this was different. i got up to use the bathroom and was bleeding. i immediately called Blake and told him to get in the car and come to Calgary. i called my aunt who was upstairs to wake her up and let her know i needed to go back to the hospital. we called 911 , they picked us up and i headed to rockyview as it was the closer hospital. i wasn't having any contractions and the bleeding wasnt anything significant at that point i wasn't worried. i got to rockyview and they put me in the back room and left me for 20 minutes, no one came to see me. i was FREAKING out i just wanted to hear my babies heart beat and i felt fine, it was the baby i was worried about.
they came in and took all of my history again because i had been at foothills and these guys knew nothing of what my situation was ( after just explaining everything to the ambulance people) the OB came in and examined me. i hadn't dilated at all but my bleeding had picked up. babies heart beat was okay so they felt good with transfering me to foothills. as i stood up i looked back and noticed the bed completely covered in blood and dripping on the floor. it is very unatural to see that much of your own blood.
i went to foothills and sat in triage all day on the monitors, still not being able to eat anything. they put me in an emergency delivery room where Blake and i tried to sleep on the very awkwardly shaped birthing bed, my contractions came and went, blood pressure went up and down but babies heart beat stayed strong. So they said they would leave me until the baby showed signs of stress. i hated that idea. i didn't want to wait around until something was hurting my baby, but i didn't want to have him yet. i was only 30 weeks along.
Thursday morning rolled around and after 36 hours they finally let me eat. best toast ever. my bleeding had slowed down and i was no longer having contractions. Blake decided he would go back to my aunts house and see ryker, have a shower eat some lunch and maybe have a nap. nothing was going on and i was just going to try to sleep some more.little did i know that was the calm before the storm. after blake left i started to get some cramping, the contractions got worse when i had a full bladder so i got up to use the bathroom and the bleeding came back worse then ever. i suddenly had the worst pain in my stomach, it felt like someone was ripping it out through mybelly button and i could feel constant pain through the contractions. the Dr came in and said they were taking the baby. i screamed WHERE IS MY HUSBAND?! i called him amoungst all the kayos and told him to promptly return to the hospital as his son was about to be born. ( ill have to admit those were not the exact words used)
They gave me this terrible drink that was supposed to calm my stomach as i had just eaten and wheeled me into the OR where they had me lie on my side to get a spinal, its a cruel punishment, he kept asking me to lie still, as im in the most pain in my life. yeah right buddy.
they got everything all set up and the sheet up under my chin and finally Blake walked in.suddenly things got real and i could no longer feel the pain as the spinal had kicked in and i realized they were taking my baby. its too early i kept saying its too early! the dr reassured me that they could no longer wait any longer and he would be born in a few short minutes. i just held blakes hand and closed my eyes. praying the the Lord wouldn't take my sweet baby from me. every trial i have ever been through in my whole life felt tiny and insignificant. all i could think about was this tiny little body that was about to be prematurely cut from my body. after some pressure and tugging i hear this tiny little cry, my heart skipped a beat. if anything i got to hear him, and suddenly my fear disappeared, i knew Heavenly Father was looking over me and that things were going to be okay. i told Blake to go take a picture so i could see what he looked like. they rushed him to the nicu and Blake followed along with. As the drs closed me up they told me that i had a huge blood clot in my uterus that had caused the placenta to start pulling away. had we waited it could have been very bad for me and the baby. they sewed me up and wheeled me to recovery. i was anxious to go see my baby. Blake and mom met me in the recovery room and my mom fed me ice chunks. they then wheeled me to post partum and waited for my spinal to ware off. 3 very long hours passed and i finally got into a wheel chair and went to the nicu to meet my baby for the first time.
Jaron Blake Smith born april 25th at 1:01pm weighing a whopping 3 pounds 12 ounces and 16.5 inches long.
nothing can prepare you to have a baby in the NICU. the hardest thing for me is having to ask to hold my baby, and when i do to see all the cords and wires that come along with it are heart breaking.
Jaron is a fighter and is doing so good. he has been breathing room air all along and is eating breastmilk through his feeding tube. he is only down 40 g from his birth weight. he has tons of blonde hair. He loves to cuddle and passes out everytime he hits blakes or my chest. Ryker is amused and wants to touch his feet and head.
he gets an ultrasound on his brain tomorrow to see how things are going.
we are blessed to have so much help, and that blake could get some time off work.
Jaron is tiny but strong and so far no infections or problems.
life is hectic but recovery is going very good, im already off my pain medications and able to get in and out of bed myself.
i can't believe my little boy is already 4 days old. these last 2 weeks have been the hardest days of my life. but i have grown and matured and have learned patience and faith. I am blessed to have an awesome husband and 2 beautiful boys ( not to mention all the family and friends who have helped out in so many ways)
this is only the beginning of Jarons long journey, but i am glad he is here, safe, being taken care of by some of the best drs in the country.



2 comments:
Oh my gosh you guys!!! I have tears just reading this. What a beautiful bunch of sweet tender mercies from the Lord! Hang in there. You are all in my prayers. Amazing story. Hugs! And Congratulations. Can't wait to see pictures someday.
Your babies seem to love to make you worry. So happy that everything turned out great, what an ordeal!!!!!
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