June 2010: nausea begins.
July 5th 2010: Pregnancy test positive.
August 2010: A blur of gagging and sleeping.
September 2010: Trip home to Georgia for sealing.
October: Things are getting tricky.
November:...
It all started with the kidneys. Apparently protein is a good thing when it's in a steak, but not when it's in your pee. In October, the OB checked, and my protein was pretty high. By the first week of November, my protein had doubled, which was a sign that my kidneys were beginning to fail and I was on my way to a nasty case of preeclampsia or P.I.H. (pregnancy induced hypertension). A week later we did another pee test and the protein had doubled again. The following day (November 9th) I was scheduled to see the parinatologist around 2, but when Ben called at 9, they had just received the lab results from the OB and told me to come in as soon as possible, not to wait. We arrived at the American Fork hospital around 11:30 and met with Dr. Schemmer, who I told to not speak to me until he removed his University of Florida lanyard. He looked at the labs, checked the ultrasound of the baby, razzed me about the Dawgs, and then sent me to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center to be admitted and put on strict bed-rest until the baby came, which he informed us would likely be sooner rather than later. In the last week I had begun to retain water in my ankles and face a little, but I had no idea what was coming.
Ben got me a BEAUTIFUL bouquet of flowers, Brenna sent me orange tulips (in November?!?!) and Sia and Joe brought me beautiful orange sunflowers, all to help brighten the room to which I was confined indefinitely. The nights were terribly uncomfortable and I hope never to have to sleep in a hospital bed again. Ben drove back and forth to Lehi, a good 30 minutes one-way, almost every day to shower and grab things to make me feel more at home. The nurses in Labor and Delivery were all amazing. Our main goal was to get Welton to 24 weeks before delivery. That meant November 14th was the magic day. My secondary goal was to have him wait until after my birthday. Being the youngest of nine kids, my birthday, for a long time, was the only thing I didn't have to share!
After 7 days of contant blood pressure monitoring, grueling blood-draws by the vampires (phlebotomists), incessant finger-pricking, drinking all the water my body could hold, medication revisions, ambien induced nonsensical rantings, non-stress tests, bad t.v., air bags on my legs, pee measuring, headaches, spotty vision, wheelchair joyrides, and so on, I got a late birthday present. On the morning of Tuesday, the 16th of November, the parinatologist entered my room and informed Ben and me that my liver was beginning to fail. Developing HELPP meant that the baby had to come immediately because my body would no longer be able to sustain his tiny body. She told us that they would re-run all my labs, and about an hour later, it was confirmed that it would be Welton's birthday! I was so proud that my baby was already obedient (for waiting until after my birthday)!
We only called my Mom and Dad. In less than an hour, Mom was booked on the first flight out Wednesday morning.
After the re-run lab work came back positive, everything gets a little blurry. I remember Ben coming to snuggle with me in the tiny hospital bed because I thought I would start to freak out. Turns out that my blood pressure actually started to stabalize. (Through this whole process, we discovered that most of my body is wired incorrectly. I'm sure I'll mention it later.) The nurses were baffled. Eh, anyway. Ben might have to help me fill in the blanks. I think I have blocked out a few hours. Ben went straight to gathering a week's worth of clothing, toiletries, snacks, flowers, etc... since we were being kicked out of our home :) I asked him tonight what I did. He said I watched t.v. I do recall being stuck quite a few times by idiots trying to put in an I.V. After the anesthesiolotgist tried and failed, they called in the "vein team." They had to bring in an ultrasound machine to find my vein, which took about an hour. Because I was so high risk, we opted to keep me awake during delivery instead of knocking me out completely. They told me we had to deliver by c-section because inducing would take too long, and baby wasn't big enough to be sure that he could "find his way out." Since the I.V. took so long, delivery was pushed back because we needed a certain amount of time for the epidural to kick in (bye bye dreams of natural child-birth). I think I was the most nervous about the needle in my back, since it's crooked. I was just hoping that the anesthesiologist didn't miss. Once I was perfectly numb and started on the magnesium sulfate (for my blood pressure), I was wheeled into the operating room. I don't really know why, but my arms were strapped down, which made them fall asleep and I was pretty sure they were going to fall off... and I got verbal about it. Then again, it could have just been crazy talk from the drugs. The Doc asked if I wanted a tubal ligation, ya know, since they were going to be in there (they HIGHLY discourage the having of more children), but I decided that since I was going to have a 16 week premature baby and recovery from major trauma, I didn't need to deal with being barren at 29. We'll save that for another day.
At 7:40 p.m., Tuesday November 16, 2010, Benjamin Welton Tuinei came barreling into this world, weighing a whopping 1 lb. 10 oz. and measuring 15 inches long. Ben says my numbers are off a little, but those are the first ones he told me and they stuck. The baby was taken immediately to the neonatalogist where he was intibated and checked out. Ben went with him to make sure everything was ok and then came to report while I was being closed up. Since then, he has lived in his own tiny little corner of the NICU.
There are a ton of details and milestones that need to be inserted, but people keep asking for the story. This is the baby part. My part...well, I'll write that next.
So, I'm a momma. Ben's a daddy. We have a tiny, healthy baby. Life is amazing.
