Charlotte is our first child, so we don’t have another birth to reference or compare her’s to, but I felt that it was an interesting and scary experience. We spent quite a bit of time in hospitals for testing and monitoring which is nerve racking in itself. The testing was needed because my wife had some changes to her health that were starting to become dangerous. Around week 34 of my wife’s pregnancy, she was diagnosed with preeclampsia.
My Understanding of Preeclampsia
From my understanding, preeclampsia is like a battle between my wife’s body and the placenta. Her body starts to have issues with the placenta, and it starts to wreak havoc on the mother’s body, ultimately having problems with the baby. The mothers’ labs begin to change in ways that are hazardous for her health. She starts to experience high amounts of protein in her urine, liver function changes, and high blood pressure. An achy body and extra water retention is also causing problems. My wife experienced all of the typical symptoms except for pain under her right breast and extreme headaches that are not resolved with the acetaminophen.
Aleena also experienced blood pressures that were exceeding 160/110 which is dangerous as well. There are risks of having a stroke when the blood pressure rises too high. If the state of high blood pressure is extended, it also increases the risk for mothers to have seizures. Thankfully, we didn’t make it that far down the road, but it was a possibility. The physicians and nurses that were caring for my wife during the whole process were able to better control her blood pressure through medication which made me feel more at ease.
[If you want a better understanding of preeclampsia, my wife recommends reading this: Patient education: Preeclampsia (Beyond the Basics) – UpToDate]
The Antepartum Experience
At 34 weeks, Aleena was diagnosed with preeclampsia. She went into a normal prenatal appointment, and they saw her blood pressure was elevated. Her urine had a large amount of protein in it. We were told to go to the OB triage center at the hospital for further testing. This happened to be the Thursday before Christmas. The testing proved that she had preeclampsia; thankfully, she did not have any severe features at that time. We were allowed to go home as long as Aleena monitored her blood pressures multiple times per day. We went back to Indiana to enjoy Christmas with our families.
Christmas morning Aleena woke up and felt off. I took her blood pressure and her systolic was 160s. We spoke with the on-call doctor who recommended being seen in OB triage. We went to Parkview hospital to be evaluated. Her blood pressure came down on its own and Charlotte looked good on the monitors. They started Aleena on steroids to help Charlotte’s lungs develop. We were told to go back to Toledo as soon as possible to be closer to our OB.
Monday morning came and Aleena woke up with severe swelling in her legs that came all the way up to her hips. She had a lot of pain and difficulty moving. My mom took her in to triage in the afternoon after the swelling didn’t go down. Lab work was done which showed progression in the preeclampsia (worsening proteinuria, increased creatinine, decreasing platelets, increased liver function tests – none of which were at the severe level, but trending in that direction). She still did not have severe features, but multiple labs were borderlines. We were admitted to antepartum that night.
For the most part, we were able to just relax and spend time with each other during our time on the antepartum floor. Labs were run every morning (or sooner if needed) at 5:00 am to check her levels. Each morning Aleena’s labs continued to show progression. Her platelets continued to drop, and her liver function showed abnormalities. Her blood pressure continued to be high. On Wednesday, we celebrated getting to 35 weeks, however her blood pressures jumped into the severe range and medications were needed to bring it back down. They ran blood work early at midnight which showed severe range platelets levels. At this point they called it and wanted to start the induction process.
Our Time on L&D
Shortly after being rolled into the L&D room, Aleena was started on medication. The IV stand had 5 different bags hanging administering fluids and medication to her.
Almost as soon as all IVs were hung, they started my wife on a Cook Balloon. A Cook Balloon is used to mechanically dilate the cervix. Being induced early meant her body wasn’t as prepared for labor so the balloon jump starts the process.
She was at the same dilation for a LONG time after the balloon was removed. It was about 8 hours or so before she began making progress. I thought it was crazy how quickly she made progress once it started. She went from the doctors thinking she was not making progress at a checkup at 2:30 am (5cm) to the baby nearly delivered at 3:30 am (10cm).
The Delivery Scare
Delivering a baby has its own set of challenges. There is a lot of stress being put on the mother and baby. My wife was considered high risk due to having preeclampsia with severe features and the baby is at risk due to only being 35 weeks and (barely) 2 days developed.
The delivery itself was very quick. Aleena did a great job and by the third set of contractions Charlotte was in the world crying for mama. Aleena got to hold her for a few second while the cord was cut then Charlotte was taken to a connected room to the team of NICU personnel. Charlotte was evaluated and was doing amazing. She didn’t need oxygen and the NICU team said she didn’t need to be in the NICU.
After the delivery, Aleena began to lose quite a bit of blood. From the report, she lost about 1 liter of blood extremely quick. The doctors pushed medications to stop the bleeding and stitched her up (minor tears). After the doctor got her stitched up, Aleena headed back to our room, and I headed to another room with Charlotte and a nurse. Charlotte was going to do her first sunbathing session to warm her up a little bit.
As I fed Charlotte her first food, Aleena was sicker than previously. They have to keep preeclampsia patients on Magnesium for 24 hours after delivery for seizure precautions. This meant she was going to have that sick feeling added to loss of blood and just birthing a baby. When I returned to the room nurses were checking out Aleena because she had been vomiting and continuing to bleed. I remember vividly that she looked paler than I have ever seen her. She was so sick that she did not have the energy to hold her own baby.
She had lost a lot of blood at this point, and they were trying to stop it. She continued to bleed more than normal and pass clots until approximately hour 12 of recovery. After sleeping a lot, she had stabilized and progressed in an upward direction.
Throughout the course of the delivery, they were pushing Labetalol to keep her BP down. After the delivery her BP finally began to fall and was getting a little low for my preference. At one point she was down below 90/70. It was a good thing she is confined to her bed and not allowed to walk as that is a little dangerous. The nurses did a great job caring for her keeping her within a safe range and on the right track to recovery.
To the Postpartum floor we go!
It was great to finally move out of L&D and get back to a room with windows. We were confined to the middle of the hospital on L&D which meant – no windows. Finally getting to move to postpartum also meant Aleena would finally get to eat again. What was her first food after 2 days without eating? A Rice Krispy treat of course!
We moved to postpartum at approximately 4:00 am, so nothing was open for meals. I ran to a vending machine to get Aleena a snack of accomplishment for all she had been through. She had done a great job and I think something greater than a vending machine snack would have been better.
On the postpartum floor we were able to relax and watch TV together finally getting photos of our little girl now that Aleena was feeling better. Our baby was small, but very lively. She had the quietest little cry that felt almost comical because it was so cute.
Heading Home
Heading home was great. We were fortunate enough to have my parents and her parents waiting for us at our house. They were kind enough to give us food and clean up around the house.
Unfortunately, we were in the middle of a bathroom renovation when we went to the hospital for the delivery. My family was able to help on the bathroom to get it to where the toilet could be used at a minimum so Aleena wouldn’t have to go downstairs to our other bathroom. Charlotte wasn’t due until February, so having her born December 31 slightly messed with our plans.
So what I’ve learned is there’s never an optimal time to have a baby and there never an optimal time to renovate your bathroom.