So here's a funny story. About a week after I wrote my last blog I gave birth to a tiny little boy 11 weeks early via emergency classical C-section. Ok, so not really that funny a story.
I was writing about how I hated being pregnant and it turns out, that my experience may have been skewed a little. I developed severe, early onset pre-eclampsia and then HELLPs where basically my liver almost carked it (for once, not because of too many Bundy Rums!) and my platelets dropped a bit. Was good fun, you should try it sometime. *searches for sarcasm font*
Here's how it came about. I had upper abdominal pain for about a week that gradually got worse. Being a nurse, I don't go to the hospital unless I'm dying - in this case I was, as was my baby but because I took Panadol & the pain went away I figured it couldn't have been that bad. After all, Panadol cures nothing right? Anyway, the first time I went to the hospital everything was relatively ok with my bloods so I went home & was told to come back a week later for more bloods. 2 days later I was back at the birth suite & my blood pressure had skyrocketed. A scan of the baby showed he was growth restricted, and although I was 29 weeks pregnant, he was only measuring around 26 weeks. The blood flow was impeded but he was compensating, just. I had to be monitored extremely closely, was given a couple of steroid injections in case of early birth and told I wasn't leaving the hospital without having had a baby. Yes I did ask the Dr if I could go back to work, as it was only a level up & I was on light duties anyway. No she didn't smack me in the head but I'm sure she was face palming inside.
Long story (somewhat) short, 2 days later he wasn't compensating as well as they'd hoped, my blood tests were getting worse as was my blood pressure, so the amazing team decided it was better he come out then instead of waiting until full blown emergency holy shit he's dead time. We had 2 days to prepare for being parents as opposed to the 3 months we thought we had.
Born at 900 grams, he wasn't breathing & scored himself a trip to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit then to the Special Care Nursery. Today is our first full day at home after a very long 62 days in the hospital. So for those of my lovely Twitter pals who were wondering where I've been, I've been in room 42 of the Special Care Unit waiting (sometimes not so patiently) for my little boy to be strong enough to come home.
This little guy is pretty much the strongest dude I know. The will to live is incredible. Not only were nurses amazed that he was never intubated despite his young age & tiny weight, not only did he have no real complications that made his stay any longer than it had to be, but this little dude is showing no signs of developmental delay and has come home with only really relatively small health issues, considering his cooking time was cut short by 11 weeks. Most importantly, he also farts & burps at the same time, which I didn't manage until I was about 5 years old. He is the most incredible, tiny, scariest, cutest thing in my world and if anyone hurts him I will pull their fingernails out.
I went through a massive period of feeling immensely guilty that I didn't know something was wrong with my baby. Truth be told I'm still not over it. My little dude was making me sick because I was killing him and all I could complain about was throwing up and carpal tunnel. Having said that, I have been reassured by many, that the symptoms I was experiencing also happen to be symptoms of pregnancy. Carpal tunnel can affect up to 50% of pregnant woman, it also happens to be due to swelling which a sign of pre-eclampsia. I was sick well past the first trimester which some women are just unlucky enough to have to deal with, but it's also a sign of pre-eclampsia.
Hindsight is 20/20 and I did think that something might not be right quite early on. But, being a first time Mum, I put that down to being worried due to previous miscarriage and, well, being a first time Mum. My only advice to other future Mums, is to not feel stupid questioning your health care practitioner when you think something isn't right. I wouldn't have even gone to the hospital if it weren't for my husband strongly suggesting (with definitely no swear words) that I go right away. I didn't want to look like the over cautious, stupid, annoying first time Mum that got a check up for every niggle & pain. I should have.
Anyway, that's my story for the last 9 weeks. I hope you've all been well! I will spare you the million and one photo spamming of my gorgeous son because I'm sure you'll all see him when he rules the world in a couple of years. Ok, you twisted my arm, here you go.
Cheers,
Qld Nurse (on maternity leave).
