I have wanted to write our delivery story down somewhere so we wouldn't forget all the little details. I figured this was a good place because I can't misplace it here...
The week before delivery was a really tough one for me. I was in a lot of pain and could barely sleep. Every night I was taking Tylenol and using a rice pack to even atempt sleep but usually I ended up on the couch so I wouldn't wake Gus with all my tossing and turning. Like I said it was rough, especially Sunday night. Sunday night I was in so much pain that early Monday morning before heading into work I stopped by my chiropractor's office and begged them to help me. They did but I had begun to realize that I might be having back labor. I had been having contractions before this. I knew I was effaced 80%. I figured I would see if my pain got better after getting my back adjusted and than call my doctor. I went into work for an hour and then finally called my doctor. They said it wasn't normal to be in that much pain and scheduled me for an NST later that morning but then called me back and told me that they had decided I should go to Labor and Delivery. I called Gus crying and told him how much pain I was in and that they wanted me to go to Labor and Delivery. I really didn't want to because I was afraid that they would simply send me home and we would have a needless hospital bill. As we discussed our options we realized we had no other choices really. I didn't believe I was really in labor until I began walking from Dr Mueller's to Labor and Delivery and felt about four contractions on my way. Thats when it hit me that this might be real; I started to freak out. I was in so much pain I couldn't feel my contractions starting or stopping and so I hadn't been able to time them unless I put a hand on my stomach and felt for the tightness. After being hooked up on the monitors we realized I was in labor and my contractions were only about 3 minutes apart. I delpt asking the nurse if I was really in labor I couldn't feel anything outside constant pain. They called my doctor, hooked up an IV and gave me some narcotics for the pain. I kept texting Gus to keep him updated, and luckily told him to grab the hospital bag I had packed the day before, on his way to work. My contractions began to slow down after they administered whatever drug stops contractions; I was dilated to a 1 and 1/2. My contractions did stop but I was in so much pain still that the nurse decided to keep me a little bit longer to monitor me. I had thrown up the first narcotic and so they gave me Vicoden. It wasn't long before Gus came to support me and because he couldn't focus at work. We were monitored till about 6 pm that night when Dr Leavitt came to check up on me. Dr Leavitt and the nurse asked if I could go home and I told them if they gave me narcotics than I guess; not knowing another answer to that question. Gus and I began to get ready to leave when Dr Leavitt came back in and said that my blood pressures had been at least 160/110 all day and that he was going to discuss my case with Dr Belfort, one of the Maternal Fetal Medicine doctors from SLC, UT. He quickly came back in and told me that my blood pressures indicated preeclampsia; they would be keeping me over night to run some labs, and they grabbed me dinner. It was about 7 pm now and we called our family to let them know we were at the hospital. Both families said that they would be there sometime soon. Shortly after they drew my blood a couple of nurses came back in and started asking me questions like how much I ate; they also told me that Dr Leavitt was on his way back to the hospital and not to worry if an anesthesiologist came in to talk to me. I tried to get them to tell me my blood results but all they would say is that my nurse would be in. I knew it wasn't good; my parents had just gotten to the hospital and I was scared. My nurse told me my bood work showed that my RBCs were about a 1/3 of the normal amount and my liver and kidney enzymes were very elivated. When I asked what that meant she told me Dr Leavitt would be there in a moment to talk to me. Than the anesthiologist came in and started discussing a cesearn section with me noting that I could not have a spinal block or epidural because of my RBC count. Shortly Dr Leavitt came back and told me that my lab results showed that I had a syndrome called HELLPS. They would be doing surgery and all I can remember thinking was "whats today?" and "am I having them today?". I also knew it was bad because they were doing surgery after I had just eaten so they would put two fingers on my trachea and other measures to keep me from vomitting. They weren't even going to wait for another couple of hours; Bevan was working the ER and he had come but he wouldn't leave my side. Dr Leavitt came back at about 8 pm and I had the girls at 8:41 and 8:42 thats how rushed it was. I remember going into the surgical room by myself and thinking how big and bare the room was. I had everyone swarming around me and telling me what they were going to do. I was afraid because when the anesthiologist told me to count to five I was at 4 and not alseep and I remember thinking "oh no this isn't going to work" than I could feel myself falling. The next thing I remember is trying to wake up and being in so much pain I could barely breathe. I remember someone telling me to 'breathe through the pain' and 'go ahead and hit the button' for my morphine pump. When you have emergency c-section under general you don't have any pain meds in your system until you wake up and hit the morphine pump button. I was in so much pain but Bevan and my mom were at my side calming me down. I asked where Gus was and Bevan told me he was out running 'victory laps'. I guess he came in before my mom and Bevan but I don't remember. Gus had to sit outside the NICU for 45 minutes before he got to see the girls because they both required resusitation. When the door opened for another family to enter the NICU he heard someone shout 'not now we have twins...' and than the door closed. I can't imagine how scared he was. They wheeled me into see the girls before they took me to my room and I was trying to grasp the concept that they were my girls and this was my big delivery moment suppose to be full of love but all I couldn't even stay awake. Later that week I got 3 IV's and 2 units of blood transfused. I think they drew my blood about every 12 hours and checked my relflexes every 4 hours I was at really high risk for seizures.
This is my disease:
HELLP syndrome is a life-threatening obstetric complication usually considered to be a variant of pre-eclampsia. Both conditions occur during the later stages of pregnancy, or sometimes after childbirth.
HELLP is an abbreviation of the main findings:[1]
- Hemolytic anemia
- Elevated Liver enzymes and
- Low Platelet count
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