Pages

Friday, July 13, 2018

A Very Eventful 5 on Friday!

Happy Friday! This week has been a doozy!!


1. If you follow me on Instagram (@fergmindy), you probably already saw all of the drama that unfolded around here Tuesday and Wednesday. In case you missed it, here is as brief of a synopsis as I can give: 
(warning: it is not that brief!)

I went in for my bi-weekly scan on Tuesday. It was not good. Baby's MoM score was 1.59. (If it's higher than 1.5, that means baby is anemic.) Also, the doctor found my fluid levels to be high, which goes right along with that anemia. So I needed to get baby a blood transfusion ASAP. Lucas, Ella and I (oh, yes, I had both children with me!) were sent on a wild goose chase: first to get admitted to the hospital (a day early? I don't understand this at all, I just did as I was told!), then to the blood bank to do some blood work, and finally to my regular OB's office to get a steroid shot (they give steroids in case baby goes into distress and they have to deliver!). 

Wednesday morning, I had to be at the hospital at 10:30 AM. They got an IV in and started doing a bunch of paperwork and monitored baby. At 11:58, they gave me a shot of terbutaline, which is supposed to relax your uterus so you don't go into labor. It also makes your heart race and makes you feel like you've had about 10 cups of coffee! Because of this, by the time the nurses came to get me at 12:00 right on the dot, I was shaking uncontrollably! They wheeled me from triage down to the procedure room, where I continued to get even shakier (is that a word?!). Once in the procedure room, there were so many people and needles and sterile dressings in there, I just started freaking out and crying. Thankfully Travis was with me! I had told him not to come; that I'd be fine, but I'm thankful he's stubborn and came anyway! I definitely needed him there to calm me down! Anyway, the first thing they did was shoot a paralytic into my stomach, right into baby's thigh to paralyze the baby. This makes it easier for the transfusion, so baby doesn't kick or grab a needle! Travis watched it on the ultrasound monitor (I was still too freaked out to look at anything!) and said it was really cool to see the needle go right into its thigh! Then, they gave me a shot of some local anesthesia on my stomach, while we waited for the paralytic to take action and for baby to stop moving. Apparently, this baby is very feisty because the paralytic did not really work, and baby moved the entire time! Anyway, after the anesthesia, they stuck a needle in to the umbilical cord to get a sample of baby's blood. They had a guy from the lab right in the room and he was able to get a reading for baby's hemoglobin right away...it was 7.3! Yikes. That is really low. So the doctor prepped 3 large tubes of blood to transfuse. Because my placenta is in back, it made it really tricky to do this transfusion (of course), so they had to snake around with the needle to get it in just the right spot. Luckily, they got the needle in the right spot on the first try and were able to do the transfusion successfully! We could watch the whole procedure on the ultrasound monitor, which was really kind of amazing. Every 30-60 seconds, they would check baby's heartbeat. Everything was very well-monitored and controlled. After transfusing 60cc of blood, the doctor said if baby's hemoglobin was 13 or 14, he would stop. We took another sample, gave it to the blood guy, and it came back at 13.1. So we stopped there! The whole process only took about 15 minutes, but it really was more emotionally draining than anything else!


I was wheeled back to triage where they monitored me and baby for another 2.5 hours and then I was free to go home to Ella and Lucas! I have a follow-up visit on Monday, when they will decide the date of the next transfusion. I will probably have to have 2-4 more transfusions before baby is born, but it all depends on a whole bunch of factors that I won't even get into because this has already gotten too long! ;) Whew!

2. Ok, if you're still reading, I promise the next 4 things are quick! 
Before my crazy appointment Tuesday, I had promised Ella and Lucas we could go to Chick Fil-A for Cow Appreciation Day (you get free Chick Fil-A if you dress like a cow)! Since we had 128592 "errands" to run after the appointment to get ready for my transfusion the next day, we totally missed lunch at Chick Fil-A...but thankfully made it up there for dinner! 


I am still shocked (but actually, not really) that Lucas was not terrified of the cow! He ran right up to it screaming "Moo! Cow! Moo! Cow!" and gave it a big high five!

3. My transfusion just happened to be on Slurpee Day (7/11), so all I could think while I was sitting in the hospital being monitored was FREE SLURPEE. As soon as I got home, I grabbed the kids and we high-tailed it up to our nearest 7-11 for free slurpees! I may or may not have had my own and half of Lucas's ;) 


4. Prior to all the craziness this week, we made a trip out to the sunflower field on Monday! When we arrived, I was so sad to see that we were a little too late this year and most of the sunflowers were dead!!! We've gone as late as July 20 in past years, so I'm not sure why they were already done on July 9 this year...but we tried to make the best of it and I think I still got a few good pics. 








Note to self: next year go at the end of June!!!

5. Apparently there's a sale at Nordstrom?!?! Haha. I honestly haven't even had time to look through everything...but what should I buy?!?! I did see a Dock-a-Tot on there that was reasonably priced, so I'm wondering if Baby #3 needs one of those?! If you have one, please let me know if this is something I really need to get! 

Last, I just want to say THANK YOU so much to everyone who reached out and texted/called/messaged me this week!!! It means so much to have so many wonderful friends and family praying for our baby!!! 

Have a great weekend, and please keep your fingers crossed that Baby Ferg has a less eventful week next week!!! :) 

1 comment: