Sunday, April 24, 2011

[baby update] week 22 + Surgery

After receiving news about having to be on bed rest, I was bummed. Talked to Tony, and Sadie and I headed to Chilliwack for the week.

I think we were there all of 2 days when another Dr called. She got my case from my dr and wanted me to come in before the weekend to do an ultrasound. We talked a bit too about the chances of doing the stitches. Why it's controversial, risks and all that. Yay, more stress. I didn't sleep well that night. In the morning we took off to St.Pauls for the ultrasound.

Did some crochet work to keep my mind off everything, but after the car ride, I was too nervous and fidgety. I peeled the ugly logo off my moms new water bottle. It was really nice to have Tony bring beth, they kept me distracted with conversations of "weird things hobos do" or "the time a guy walked into Tim hortons naked..." yea, good times.

After holding in pee for what seemed like a million years, I got ultrasounded. I waited in the room on the bed for her results, and was a little shocked to hear "you are going to be admitted". I was to not move from the bed except to get my pants.

My mind raced a mile a minute. How open was my cervix? Was the baby going to be born now? Can't have a baby now, it's too early! They wheeled my ancient stretcher to the hallway where I would wait to be transferred to maternity. Tony came to stay with me while we waited and I cried.

Once in maternity, we waited and waited for news about what my cervix was doing. Apparently all of Vancouver was shooting out babies that day cause I saw my nurse only a couple times, and a doctor once. The doctor came back, but at 11 pm to do an internal exam and ask me the same questions the other doc did in the afternoon. The doc explained that 3 babies were all born in the spam of 20 minutes and age was sorry for not seeing me sooner. She said we'd talk options tomorrow, but not before talking about how babies don't survive if they come before 24 weeks. Ok thanks lady, I'm not stupid, I've been thinking that this whole freaking time!

That day was the most frustrating day we had there. We were not told much and had to wait all day to hear we would talk in the morning.

After a horrendous nights sleep, filled with stressful dreams, ladies screaming, and more babies being popped out, we got to talk to a REAL doctor. I mean, I was talking to real ones, but this guy was awesome! He came in and had explained that he put me on the list for emergency circlage surgery. I was 4th on the list, and could be taken off if I wanted. He said the reason some doctors don't recommend a circlage is because it can be risky depending on the situation, and some doctors are not comfortable doing it. He was not one of those. He was the self professed circlage master. Thank the Lord! He explained that our situation wasn't the best, but not the worst, and he's seen and fixed the worst (in my head, I was ecstatic). I knew that last nights doctor probably looked at all my charts and was like...yea let's pass this off to him tomorrow. So glad she did.

So Tony and I decided its way less risky to just do the surgery. If being on bed rest still didn't help, things could get ugly if I didn't do it.

So I signed consent forms, and had a wonderful iv tech do my iv. (I have terribly hard to find veins, and it also didn't help that I was dehydrated). With Sadie's birth, they stabbed me I swear like 4 times before they called the iv tech. Dong dongs. I got fluids in me and felt less thirsty.

Now it was time to wait. Wait for my turn. They didn't let me eat the day before either, so I was starving.

It was totally a different day. Not full of doom and gloom, but hope (and nervousness).

My turn came at 7:30pm. The nurse had been checking all day for me, she was wonderful! Oh the fear and nerves hit. I knew I'd be put under for this procedure, and I wasn't sure why I was so afraid, I had done it before with my wisdom teeth.

I shook from nerves all the way to the OR down the hall. I prayed the entire time. I spoke with the anesthesiologist about what would happen, he was great. I had 2 of them cause one was a resident. The nurses were great, told me I could keep my eyes closed cause I was scared. OR s are so not like what's on tv. They are bare cement like rooms that are cold and filled with lights and tools, although I didn't look for the tools, I squinted my eyes and then kept them shut.

Being put under is a strange thing. I got oxygen, and had them give me something to calm me down (from my incessant shaking), then I remember them telling my the sleepy med would sting going in my arm (boy did it ever) and then that's it. I woke up hearing them talk about The Kings Speech, and then I coughed on someones arm cause my throat hurt so bad (had a breathing tube). I croaked out a sorry, but it was ok. They said it went really well. Go super doctor!

Tony met me in recovery. When he touched my hand, it felt fuzzy, kinda blurry. Anesthetic is weird trippy stuff. My eyes were so tired at first so I could barely open them. Asked about the baby, and got a kick as a response. Baby was fine, and obviously not as affected from the drugs as i was. I was so relieved.

It was late, and they kept me over night again, but I didn't mind. Tony bought me soup, and once I could eat, I scarfed down the semi cold subway soup like it was the best stuff ever.

I was discharged yesterday morning, and it's been good to be home.

I'm still on bed rest, probably until we hit 24-28 weeks. The surgeon said I could resume normal activity after then probably. I'm going to be monitored throughout the rest of this with many ultrasounds because this is still a high risk pregnancy. They are hopeful that I can keep baby in until 36 weeks and once I hit that mark, they take out the stitch, and bam! Usually baby is born like the next day or within a week.

The stitch won't affect us having more kids, and that's a good thing, cause you know, we would like more. NOT right away though, I'm waiting a few years between this one and the next.

Bed rest will happen at my parents, where the fam can help with Sadie while Tony starts work. He's hoping he can start later by a few weeks, but that's an email we will write to his boss after the holiday.

4 comments:

Cin said...

~hugs` I'm so glad it went well! Deb and I were thinking of you all weekend. Big hugs!

Cherrypopz said...

Don't worry, my friend had a cerclage too and the baby was born when she was full term :) It's going to be fine, thanks to Dr. Awesome.

heidi said...

praise the Lord for a succesful surgery and that you may not have to be on bed rest for the rest of your pregnancy! been thinking about you lots the past few days and praying for you whenever i do.

Miranda said...

Thank you guys :) I hope baby sits tight until hes supposed to, and I so hope to be off bedrest in a few weeks. I cant wait.

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