Day 4 in the Hospital

Hello! It is finally Julia again. I am well enough to be able to get on the computer for the first time since Friday. It has been a roller coaster or a few days. I am going to give everyone the run down on what happened and then update you on precious baby Perron and me. I hope to get some pictures up soon too!

Okay, where to start. So after I posted on Friday night they re-drew my labs on Saturday at 5am. Unfortunately I was deteriorating rapidly and they had to get the baby out ASAP, no longer for his health, but for mine. I had been running blood pressures in the high 140s to 150s over 100+s all day and night. Also, Perron had had some decelerations throughout the night but for the most part had done really well. (as a side note, when they delivered him his cord was wrapped around his neck twice, so that might have been causing the decelerations). It was really scary and it all happened so fast. From the time that they said the labs were unfavorable to the time I was delivering him was maybe only 30 minutes. My parents barely got there in time to kiss me as they were whisking us off to the operating room.

Perron was born at 7:42 on Saturday morning and he came into this world screaming and crying, which was such a relieving sound to hear. I was able to see him for just a second and then they whisked (along with Stephen off to the NICU). They finished sewing me up and then sent me in for recovery and what would possibly be the worst 24 hours of my life. Becaue of my pre-eclampsia they had to put me on a magnesium drip in order to keep me from having seizures. I was naive enough to think that pre-eclampsia goes away as soon as you have the baby...but I was WRONG! Because your system is still in shock and still has all of that blood volume in it, it takes a while to regulate. I was so sick on Saturday and Sunday that I thought I was dying. Literally I asked my nurse in the middle of the night on Saturday night if I was in danger of dying because my blood pressure was so high and I was so sick. I was seeing double, having trouble with my breathing impulse, nauseuous, etc. The worst part of all of this is that I was not allowed out of my bed for 24 hours so I didn't get to see Perron for the whole first day. They finally got me up around noon yesterday and I was still feeling really bad. I did get to go down to the NICU and hold him for a minute but the I felt so sick I as afraid that I was going to throw up on him. Luckily by 4pm I was feeling a ton better and was able to go see him twice after that.

He is absolutely perfect and he is already such a fighter. Stephen calls him the star of the NICU. He contiunes to only need room oxygen, which is remarkable for his gestational age, weight, sex, and race. They say white male preemies do the worst with breathing. He also was able to start feeds on an NG tube yesterday, which is also awesome. When I called the NICU this morning and talked to his nurse they said that they were probably going to up his feeds today because he was acting hungry!!! He must be just like his daddy! He is under the photo light therapy to keep his billirubin down but his bloodwork came in today and showed it trending down, so hopefully he will be off of that soon. I hate it because he has to have his little eyes covered with a patch and you can't see him. He is still on a radiant warmer, but we are hoping he will get to move to an incubator within the next week. The neonatologist talked to us yesterday and said that they think he will probably be in there about two weeks. I am going to post some pictures so enjoy...and please ignore how horrible I look!

update #2

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to send out an update on everything. Julia had a very rough night last night with a bout with high blood pressure. She has been on magnesium since 10:00 yesterday and will get off of it at 10:00 am today. Magnesium's ultimate purpose is to keep seizures from happening. The side affects for Julia have been feeling nausea, double vision, and she has been extrememly hot. Last night we slep with the AC set on 65 and she was burning up all night long. She said it was the worst she has ever felt in her life.

Now on to the good news. Once she gets off the magnesium at 10:00, the doctor is going to get her up and moving. He is going to allow her to go see Perron for the first time at the NICU. This will hopefully be the start of her feeling better and on the road to recovery.

Now onto the person we thought would have the most trouble, but has pleasently surprised us all. Perron made it through his first day and night not needing oxygen. He has been breathing room air since birth. Both of my visits yesterday, he was very active and do well all on his own. His only issue is that he is still breathing a little hard. The NICU wants his breathing to be under 60 and his has been between 62 - 68, so he is close.

I will try to post some pictures on Julia's blog this afternoon. thecriglercrew.blogspot.com

Please continue to pray for Julia and Perron.

Stephen

Update

We just got some good news! We were afraid that we were going to have to deliver Perron tonight, but they are letting us wait until tomorrow at lunch time to make a decision. My labs came back stable. All of the things that were wrong before are still wrong, but they are at least holding steady and not deteriorating. They are going to re-take all of my labs first thing in the morning and see what is happening. They also will send my 24 hour urine collection to the lab to check for protein in the urine. Right now they are waviering between it just being pregnancy induced hyper-tension or if it is truly preeclampsia. They said that the 24 hour urine collection is definitely the best way to determine preeclampsia, when looked in combo with my labs.

Perron has been doing well on the monitors. We had a full ultrasound again and he is still measuring very very small. The big problem right now is that his amniotic fluid index dropped pretty significantly between Tuesday and today....it went from 12to 7.5. That is a sign of distress so I believe they will check that again tomorrow morning as well.

If I do get to be released tomorrow afternoon, I will be on STRICT bedrest for the remainder of the pregnancy. I also think he said I would have to have the Contraction Stress Test every three days, but I might have been confused. Whatever is the situation we definitely think that when we deliver him we will be delivering him via a c-section.

None of this is great news, but things do not look nearly as bad as they did at around 11am this morning when my blood pressure was 150 over 100. YIKES! Please continue to pray for us, we still need all the help we can get and we are definitely not out of the woods yet. It has been hard because this whole process (really this whole pregnancy) has been such an emotional roller coaster. Just when i feel like things are okay we are thrown another curve ball. Please pray that he continues to do well on the monitors and starts to grow. Pray that my blood pressure continues to stablize and my labs and urine come back good.

Thank you all again for your love and support!

Admitted

As a disclaimer...I am having to type this while lying on my left side so there will be lots of typos...

I went in this morning for my non-stress test amd unfortunately Perron failed the test. In addition I had lost weight and even worse was that my blood pressure was through the roof. Dr.Edwards admitted me to the hospital for several different tests and a possible induction. They did something called a Contraction Stress Test where they give me pitocin and then measure his response to the contractions. Luckily he passed that test easily which is great. He looked much better than he did on the office non stress test. The problem now is the my blood pressure is way to high, my uric acid is way too high, my platettes are getting low and something is wrong with one of my liver enzyemes. They are retaking my blood work at five and they have me on 24 hour urine collection. THey are trying to determine whether I have preeclampsia or not. Unfortunately everything but together does not look good for us being to hold off delivery much longer. They are going to look at my 5 pm labs and determine whether my bloodwork is still showing preeclampsia. They are sending in the neonatologist in a little bit to talk to me about everything.

Luckily my dad's plane landed right when we were being admitted so he came straight to the hospital. Stephen went home to get the last few things i did not bring in my bag this morning and he's getting McKenzie squareed away.

Please pray for us. Perron is still VERY small and we need you to pray for his health and safe delivery. At this point there is no way he will avoid the NICU but we just hope he is as healthy as he can be. Please now pray for my health as well. Preeclampsia is not something to mess around with. Prayer that PErron and I are safe and Stephen and our families find strenght and comfort during this time of uncertainty and fear. We love you all!

The Crigler Medical Minute

That is what I think the new name of this blog should be, because I feel like all I do is chronicle Perron and my medical saga's. So in keeping with that tradition, here is the latest on us. I went in yesterday for my 34 week appointment. I was excited because I had been feeling good and I thought that I would get the all clear to go back to my regular activity schedule. I had a gut feeling that I had started to efface some because of some of the changes that I had noticed, but I wasn't sure. After waiting an hour and a half...no lie...for my appointment, I was taken back. When I was weighed the nurse mentioned that I had lost a pound, which I thought was a little weird, but I have lost and gained weight off and on throughout the pregnancy.

When I got back to Dr. Edwards and we started talking about some of what I thought were minor issues, I mentioned that I had lost weight and was that unusual. He said that it wasn't and we kept on with the exam. He checked me and I am currently 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I was a little surprised by this, but barring everything that I have been through in the past five weeks, I was not completely shocked. He didn't seem to terribly concerned about this, and I have definitely heard stories of women walking around dilated for several weeks before they delivered. He then went to measure me and that is where the curve ball came in. He measured me and I only measured 31 weeks, which is what I had measured two weeks ago....so no growth. He immediately sent me for a growth scan and told me to come back as soon as it was over. Of course, I had decided that things were going to be just fine at this appointment and hadn't brought anyone with me. Stephen was playing golf and my parents were on the way to Chattanooga because my dad had a talk. I got brought back and had the growth scan. He was measuring 3 lbs 15 ozs and per the ultrasound measurements he was measuring at 32 weeks 5 days...so one week behind. We had our last growth scan on 6/22 and at that time he was 3 lbs 5 ozs. so he did grow some, but at this point he should have gained at least a pound or a pound and a half and he only gained 10 ozs. They also checked my amniotic fluid levels and those continue to look good.

After the scan, I went back to meet with Dr. Edwards again and develop a game plan. He stressed to me that Perron was still in the range of normal, just the small side of normal and that he was very pleased with the amniotic fluid levels. The plan for now is that I have to start coming in two times per week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. On Friday's I will have just a Fetal Non-Stress Test and on Tuesdays I will have a NST and an Amniotic Fluid Index taken. If things look good with those test every week, and my fundal measurements improve, we will wait two weeks to have another growth scan. If at that time he is still not growing correctly, then we will have to develop another game plan. I don't think he is considered to have Intrauterine Growth Restriction yet because he would have to be under the 10th percentile for weight. If he doesn't grow then he will be in danger of IUGR. If he has IUGR then they will probably determine it is safer for him to be out then it is for him to stay in because my placenta is not able to provide him the nutrients that he needs to be healthy and thrive.

As a side effect of yesterday's appointment, I have also been having a lot of problems with contractions. I did not sleep a wink last night and had a hard time with contractions and anxiety. Stephen is working from home today so that he can be here to help me and watch me. He has been really great and is doing his best to keep me calm...easier said then done.

I have several specific prayers to ask everyone for. The most important one is the please please please pray for Perron's growth. I am so worried that he is going to be too small and that something bigger will be wrong with him that they haven't detected yet. Please pray that I can hold off for a couple more weeks and not continue to dilate and efface the way that I have been already. I want to make sure that he has as much time to grow inside of me...if that turns out to be the best thing for him. Pray for me that I am able to control my anxiety and trust in God that this is just a part of his plan and even though I may not understand it now, it will all work out positively in the end. Also pray that Stephen and I find comfort during this difficult time. We love all of you and are so grateful to have you all thinking and praying for us!

Baby Shower

My best friends in Birmingham threw me the most fabulous shower this past weekend. It was absolutely amazing...I swear they all channeled Martha Stewart when putting the party together. My sweet girlfriend Katie does unbelievable monogramming and applique work and she did tons of outfits, bibs, and burb clothes that hung around the house. Tracy, who allowed us to use her BEAUTIFUL house, hand carved a baby carriage out of a watermelon...UNBELIEVABLE. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends who wanted to make this day so special for Perron, Stephen and I.

I got tons of wonderful things, and let's just say that he is basically clothed until he is 15. Both of my sisters were able to come for the shower and it was so wonderful to have them here to celebrate with me. Stephen's mom and one of my sister-in-laws, Sarah, also made the trip up from Mobile/MS which was so fun. It was such a wonderful time and to have wanted this for so long, and then to have had some of the ups and downs we have experienced, this was an extra special day for us. Enjoy the pictures!


Me with my fabulous hostesses!


The adorable monogrammed outfits and accessories that Katie made for me. They matched my baby shower invitation. So creative!


The adorable cake and diaper cake. Love the polka dot diapers!

Check out the spread...and the hand carved carriage. So cute!



THe loot before and after...






Stephen even showed up at the end to thank everyone and load up our goodies.

Oh Yeah...We Did Take a Vacation

With all these posts about doctor's appointments, medical blah blah, and not fun stuff, I realized I hadn't posted any of our vacation pictures. Although we did spend more time at the hospital then we wanted to, we did get to have some fun. Hope you enjoy!