Birth Story
Jemma and Zoe are here and are healthy and happy and we couldn’t be happier. We’ve been on the journey to parenthood for a long time and these two miracles are more than we could have ever imagined. Some of this post may be repetitive, but I wanted to give a little background on my pregnancy.
For the most part, I had a great pregnancy, I did start getting some carpal tunnel (which progressively has gotten worse from about 23 weeks on and I still have it quite bad postpartum) and then edema and swelling started around 28 weeks, my BP started to elevate around 33 weeks, my doctor had us scheduled for a C-section on July 25th but kept thinking I would go into labor sooner. As the hot weather settled in and I progressed in the pregnancy, I was getting more and more uncomfortable and my BP kept rising. At a routine NST/check on July 14th my BP was 160/94, the doctor made the call to admit me and planned to deliver the babies that afternoon. By the time I was close to being prepped for the C-section, I started having pretty intense contractions.
C-section went as planned and both girls came out crying their little lungs out. Once we were back in the room, I started to hemorrage and the other OB doctor who was assisting my regular OB on the C-section was taking over. I started to feel lightheaded and dizzy and was soon being wheeled to another OR for an emergency D&C (at this point I was under sedation). I lost about 2 liters of blood, so the doctor placed a balloon type apparatus in my uterus to control bleeding.
I was soon back in the room and seemed stable, but about an hour later I was shaking uncontrollably and could not stop. My BP dropped to 60/30 and my pulse was about 170. I was pretty out of it and Hubby was pretty freaked out. We had about 12 people back in the room and I soon received 2 1/2 bags of saline and 2 bags of blood. I finally stabilized, but we stayed in labor & delivery for the rest of the night. After we were in postpartum, I also started to develop HELLP syndrome and had to be infused with magnesium (terrible side effects, felt like I was hit with a truck!). Magnesium infusion is usually for 24 hours, but luckily I was able to come off of it by 20 hours.
Zoe has been doing great the whole time and was discharged Friday and was “boarding in” with us. I was finally discharged on Saturday. Jemma was admitted to the NICU early on Tues. AM because the pediatrician thought she was having a little trouble maintaining her glucose, she had been off her glucose IV since Wed afternoon, but they were wanting to see her maintain her temperature and not having any bradycardia episodes (she had 2 very slight ones). Hubby had been going up all the time to take care of her and feed her and it seems as though they weren’t helping to help her progression out of the NICU. On Saturday afternoon Jemma was finally moved to a lower level nursery and is going to be discharged today. She is being discharged earlier than they were telling us because Hubby was finally able to have the nurse practitioner in charge of Jemma’s care talk to the neonatologist in charge. Hubby and I stayed in a family room last night with Zoe in tow and are more than ready to head home, we’ve been in the hospital almost a full week!
With as much as we all went through, it is all worth it! These little girls are absolutely amazing and we love them so much! I’m sure I’ll be posting pictures soon!
xoxo
hopefulandhungry 
So glad you’re ok, how scary!
Welcome home, all three of you beautiful ladies!
Yes, I think it was more traumatizing for my husband than myself. We are very happy to be home! xoxo
I can’t wait to see more pictures! Sounds like you went through a ton, but yes, totally worth it. Congrats again!
Yes, totally worth it!!! Thank you!
I’m just so glad you all are healthy and home. can’t wait for more time with you ladies!
Yes, we can’t wait for more time with Auntie Alex and for them to meet P!
Wow! What a week! So glad that you are all home now, and that your life with your new family can begin! I am so happy for you guys! Can’t wait to see those sweet faces in person!
Yes, it was definitely not the week that we expected. We are very happy to be home and get into the swing of things. Let us know when you want to come fo a visit!
Congratulations – just saw the photos and your daughters are gorgeous. I am so thrilled for you! The aftermath sounds scary – glad it turned out for the best. It has been such a pleasure to follow your journey and I am so happy for all of you. (((hugs)))
Thank you, yes, it was definitely a scary time with everything that happened at the hospital. We were lucky to be in such good hands will all of the doctors and nurses. xoxo
Congratulations!! Well that was traumatic! Thank God you and your two precious babies are ok now. Enjoy the ride š Get as much sleep as you can, when the girls sleep you sleep! Xx
Yes, trying to sleep as much as we can, I should be napping more when they are napping.