The Birth of Samuel Alan

So, many people are probably wondering how exactly it happened that we had Samuel already when the plan was to have him on Monday, April 26th. So here is our story!!

Jeff and I woke up yesterday, Friday, April 23, 2010 at around 4:45 in the morning to get up and get ready for the Amniocentesis. We left all the bags, partly because I had a feeling that it was going to end up being the day, and if we left the bags, we would definitely end up needing them!! We got Jay up pretty early, and I think he must have had the feeling, too, because Jay is normally such a sound sleeper, but he had gotten himself up at 3 that morning and Jeff had to put him back to bed!! Everyone was on edge!!

I obviously hadn't eaten since the night before and I was STARVING!! We dropped Jay off with Nanny at her church at around 5:45. She was there taking Jenny to seminary so it was right on the way, which was perfect!! Grandma would be picking him up that afernoon since I was planning on laying low after having the amnio done. It was just a regular day for Jay and that was how we would've wanted it. Jay doesn't do stress!!

We got to St. Luke's Labor and Delivery right at 7 like Dr. Ivey had suggested. Dr. Ivey was taking over my OB case because Dr. Vyas, my normal OB had been put on bedrest herself. She was two weeks behind me in her pregnancy and had developed some complications as well. Anyhow, both Dr. Ivey and Dr. Moise were in surgery or other procedures and so we waited for them in the triage. We were supposed to start the Amnio at 8, but had to start at 9 because of them running a little behind schedule, which was fine.

Well, we had to do the amnio right there in the triage because the whole Labor and Delivery floor was completely full with laboring mothers. Oh, those Spring babies!! It wasn't too bad to do it in triage, except it was a little tight. They had me and baby on the monitor, the ultrasound machine, the bed, Dr. Ivey, Dr. Moise, his wife/nurse Karen, my triage nurse Parran and Jeff. It was crazy!! They gave me a little sedative to take the edge off and some medicine to stop contractions and went on with it!! No numbing cream or anything, just a straight needle to the belly!! Honestly, I didn't feel the needle, just the huge cramp in my uterus from the fluid being pulled out. Dr. Moise did the procedure while Karen helped me focus on my breathing to take my mind off of everything. Once the fluid was out, Dr. Moise said he knew it was mature, even without sending it out because it was foamy and he could see the vernix floating. So he sent it off to the lab and Dr. Ivey had to go to a surgery.

I asked Dr. Moise if it were truly mature, would we be able to go ahead and deliver Samuel and he told me it was a possibility, because Andrea, the other NAIT mom, had had to deliver her little boy the day before because she had developed Pre-eclampsia even though she was four weeks earlier than me. They had to get him out. So the donor had already come and donated for her little one, but it turned out that he didn't need any transfusions because he was born with a decent count and was holding out pretty decently. They had dropped, but not low enough to consider a transfusion.

So he had Karen call the NICU at Texas Children's and they said yeah, they had the platelets and they would expire at midnight and the donor was coming to donate again on Saturday so it looked like Andrea's baby wouldn't be using them and they would just go to waste. So then the labs came back and said, yes, Samuel's lungs were fine and so Dr. Moise talked to Dr. Ivey and he came and told us at around 12:30 that we could go ahead and have Samuel if we liked the sound of April 23rd!!

Jeff rushed into high gear calling everyone and of course, it just so happened that my brother and sister-in-law were in California, my Dad was in San Antonio and Jeff's sister is currently at her in-law's beach house and still doesn't know we had the baby!! But family still managed to make it up in time to wish us well and at 2:48, they walked me into the OR to get prepped!!

I had a spinal block and it worked really well, I couldn't feel a thing!! They almost forgot to get Jeff back in the OR in time because when he walked in, I was already open!! At 3:42, Samuel Alan came screaming and crying into the world. He was just beautiful!! I couldn't control my tears!! It was one of the happiest moments of my entire life!! All the pain and agony of this pregnancy had come to fruition. He was amazing!! Dr. Moise said he looked good and we were hopeful that he would have good counts. They whisked him off to get him ready for the NICU but brought him back by in his isolette so I could touch him before they took him back. He was so beautiful. He looked just like Jay!! It was weird!! He was a little smaller though. He weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz and was 18.5 inches long. But he was also a week earlier than Jay, so probably more or less the same, all things considered.

I was laying there waiting to hear what his counts were from his cord blood and Dr. Moise came to sit with me to keep me company while Dr. Ivey worked on putting Humpty Dumpty back together again. He told me that Samuel's counts were only at 37K. I was floored!! I couldn't believe they were that low. I had such an aggressive treatment plan, avoided all invasive procedures and even delivered RIGHT at term instead of at 38 weeks, which was when Dr. Moise had wanted to deliver and STILL my antibodies were THAT strong!! Dr. Moise was pretty shocked, too.

He assured me that Samuel was going to be fine and that they would probably go ahead and start the transfusion of the donor platelets!! At least they didn't have to go to waste!! They also were going to check his brain with the ultrasound just to be safe and make sure he was okay.

At 11:00 last night, they took his counts. The one donation had already raised his counts to a healthy 184K!! His head ultrasound came back clear and all was well!! This morning, he was down to 179K and then tonight, they had come back up on their own to 192K. That is the life cycle of platelets: they die and rejuvinate rather quickly. He's doing so well, they are talking about moving him up to me tomorrow and out of NICU.

He is eating and pooping like a champ!! No more merconium, just straight poop!! That's a really good thing, by the way, because the more they poop, the less likely they are to develop Jaundice. I'm doing okay, too. In a lot of pain, because I had a c-section and my platelets are still low. They went from 102K to 85K post-op, but i know they will start rising on their own.

The overall experience has been really good, and even though Samuel had low counts, it was kind of a blessing because part of me crazily considered the idea of another baby in a few years. But I knew in my heart I needed to stop with two and when I heard that despite all my efforts, Samuel's counts were still very low, it made that decision all that much easier for me. It's nice when the Lord can give you a hint without hurting you too deeply.

The Lord has had me in His palm my whole life and it was obvious to me that He has got some pretty big plans for my two boys as well. Through this whole thing, I have hoped to inspire and motivate people, to give people hope that are dealing with this same terrible disease or who are scared to take a risk. I have hoped that through my blog and through the NAIT advocacy video that I created at One True Media, that I may change the way that this disorder is detected and help to initiate prenatal screening for all pregnant mothers the FIRST time they are pregnant. I don't know if I will actually achieve that goal, but I will continue to be an active voice on my support group, offering condolences, motivation and advice. I will promote the video I've created to honor our littlest survivors and remember our tiniest victims. And i will keep fighting the good fight.

If you'd like to check out the video, I've not made it public yet as we are always adding new babies (my Samuel to be included shortly), and we are working on the Angel Wall and that takes time, but you may see it by logging onto www.onetruemedia.com and entering the following:
username: snekane@hotmail.com
password: nekane02
Click on my home tab and then click on the video NAIT. It is a bit long, about 8 minutes, and I highly suggest you have your sound turned on so you can hear the great music.

Hopefully I will still find time to blog about my adventures of raising two boys in the country!! But don't get too mad if I focus on babies and finding time to sleep. Thanks for reading my sweet, dear friends!! And thank you for your prayers. God was listening. Samuel translates to several things in Hebrew: "God has listened, God has heard, and Asked For."

Samuel was definitely asked for, and God definitely listened.

Nine Days Left!!

Can you believe it? Everything is coming down to single digits!! I only have two IVIG treatments left, six days until the amniocentesis and nine days until we meet Samuel, if the amnio shows that his lungs are ready!! So now it's honestly like I'm really holding my breath and just trying to keep it all together.

I got a phone call Wednesday afternoon from Karen, Dr. Moise's wife, telling me I may not be a candidate to donate for Samuel because of my anemia. I knew this might be an issue, so I wasn't too shocked. But then she called me Thursday afternoon and said definitely no, because I had developed Thrombocytopenia myself and my counts were down to 80K. Now THAT was a blow.

How could my counts be so low? I take Ivig and Prednisone!! Dr. Moise doesn't know why and I go back on Monday for another CBC, but I'm not too optimistic about my counts. I blew my nose this morning and got a tissue-full of blood. Not to mention that I've been bleeding a little longer after treatments. So I'm definitely not clotting as fast. But Dr. Moise isn't concerned. He said it could be lots of things.

I had to promise Jeff last night over Mexican food that I would try really hard not to die in the OR. Can you imagine? That would suck!! But unfortunately, these things still happen! That's why I can't imagine why in the Hell anyone would have a baby at hone these days. There's still so much that can go wrong, but that's an entirely different subject.

So now I'm just really nesting. Samuel's room is totally ready. All the clothes are washed and hung, blankets are folded, diapers are washed and prepped for use, and I'm ready to try my hand at breastfeeding again!! My house is so clean, it's stupid, but I wanted to get it all done before this week because now it's going to be easy to maintain between Jeff and me.

The schedule is as follows: dr. appt on Monday, treatment #31 on Tuesday, free day Wednesday, treatment #32 on Thursday, but considering waiting until Saturday or Sunday, amnio on Friday at 8 am, freedom over the weekend (putting up the bassinet and installing carseats) and delivery on Monday, April 26th at 2 pm!! The fact that I have a fully booked itinerary makesme happy! It can't come soon enough!!!!

Our Fun Trip to L&D

So Monday afternoon, I wasn't feeling well at all. I had a lot of nausea and cramps, plus I was having a pretty regular pattern of contractions; some were pretty strong!! I'm only 34.5 weeks along, so it's still a little early to be having a baby!! I had a treatment scheduled for Monday afternoon and Becca lives so far away, so I figured it would be fine. We got going around 4:30, but by around 6:00, I had gotten in bed. (I normally just lay on the couch and watch TV.). I had chills so bad and I felt like I needed to vomit. My temperature was up and Becca and Jeff were both getting worried.

I emailed Dr. Moise and Jeff paged his wife, Karen. Dr. Moise called back within 15 minutes. By this time, I was paying hommage to the Porcelain God. Let's just say if I never taste chicken salad again in my life, it won't be too soon!!

Dr. Moise told Jeff to have Becca stop the Ivig, since that was only making it worse and get me down to St. Luke's. The good thing was I already had my IV in, so Becca just put some Heparin in it. I wouldn't have to worry about getting poked again!!

Pop and Sugar came to watch the house and stay with Jay, who was blissfully unaware that something was amiss. Jeff and I headed out. I had to tell Jeff to pull over because I was going to be sick again. I didn't even care if it was the side of the road. I just wanted a place to puke!! Jeff pulled into Chick-Fil-A and I can only imagine what I looked like to people: big, pregnant, dark circles under my eyes, a sheen of perspiration on my brow, green and an IV hanging out of my arm. They probably thought Jeff was my heroin pusher!! Whatever, I could have cared less. So much thanks to Chick-Fil-A for use of their handicap bathroom!! Big, spacious and clean!! And Jeff got an iced tea while he waited on me!!

So we finally get to St. Luke's around 10ish and they got me up to L&D fast. I just wanted to die!! The chills were killing me and my stomach hurt so bad. The on-call doctor was very nice. I felt sorry for him. I certainly wasn't tons if fun to be around and I'm pretty sure I smelled bad. They got me hooked up to a bag of fluids and Zofran after they took some blood to run a CBC. Thank God I had that IV in!! I started feeling a lot better. They had me hooked up to the monitors. Samuel was perfectly happy! Very active and his heartbeat was very strong!! But the contractions were very regular, coming every 2-4 minutes, however on the strength scale, they were at a maximum of 60/100, so definitely there, but not horrible.

They came to check me and I was still closed and high with no effacement, but they told me the contractions will probably keep coming and over the next few weeks, they'll just get harder and stronger. The whole time I was thinking, "Please don't let me go into labor! I'm not ready yet! I still need to prep diapers and wash clothes!".

The thing is, for as much as I want Samuel here safe in my arms, I want everything to go according to the plan!! It was so chaotic with Jay, I would like something calm in comparison.

Anyways, we got to go home at about 1. Then after I got home, the Gastrointeritis started working it's way out the other end!! So basically, for the past 48 hours, I've been trying to replace all the fluids I've been losing. I think it's finally starting to subside and hopefully I can go back to work tomorrow and Becca and I are planning to do IVIG #28 on Friday!!

So yeah, fun times! You almost HAVE to have one good trip to L&D while pregnant! It's like a right of passage or something!! Hopefully the next time we go to L&D, we WILL be having our baby and not just taking care of a stomach virus!!