Back On Line

Okay, not exactly. I'm at my mom's house so I thought I would post an update.

On July 18th at 2:23am, little miss Elsie Maline Harris made her debut. Here's her story...

On Thursday, July 16th, I had a doctor's appointment - just a regular check up, nothing big. Tyler wasn't supposed to be able to go with me but through a lucky twist of fate, he was there. The doctor showed some concern for my blood pressure - it had been high through most of my third trimester but it was starting to get a little out of control. He also noticed some signs of pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy related problem that causes blood pressure to sky rocket. It can eventually harm your kidneys - serious stuff. The only 'cure' for it is to deliver the baby. So the doctor asked me some questions - was I having headaches etc? I hadn't been having any headaches worth mentioning. Then he had me go to a lab to run some tests to see if I indeed had pre-eclampsia.

Fast forward to Friday the 17th. I felt tired all day but just assumed it was part of being pregnant. Tyler came home from work and while he was telling me about his day. I didn't have much to say about mine since I had been on bed rest for about a week at this point. While he was talking, he noticed me rubbing my forehead. He asked if I had a headache. I did but it was just a little one, hardly worth mentioning. He said he thought we should call the doctor. I didn't want to because I thought my headache was from not wearing my glasses that day or something like that. He persisted. I told him no, if I still had a headache the next day, then we would call. He decided he would call anyway. The on call doctor told him to take my blood pressure and if it was over 150 or so on top, to go into the hospital for monitoring.
Tyler's mom brought in an electronic blood pressure cuff and we took my BP. The screen kept erroring out. It would work on Tyler and on Tina but not on me. Tyler said that was probably because my BP was too high to register. I just figured it was broken or something. So we went in search of a BP machine, like the ones at the supermarkets. We couldn't find one any where. Finally, Tyler said we should just go to the hospital and have them take it. Then, if it was too high, they could admit me and if it was fine, they could send me home. I caved and away we went.
When we got to the hospital, the took me back to triage to check my BP. The nurse left the room and when she came back she said they were going to go ahead and admit me because I'd be there a while. I asked why. She said because my blood pressure was 230/130 or something close to that. That is stroke and seizure level! And to think, I wouldn't have even called the doctor if it weren't for Tyler. I'm very lucky to have a hubby that pays attention to me that closely.
The nurse went to call the doctor to see what needed to be done and then came back in and said they were going to have to induce me. My lab that I mentioned early had come back showing a bad case of pre-eclampsia and they needed me to deliver so they could get my BP back to a safe level. I told them they couldn't induce me until my dad got to the hospital to give me a blessing. I called and called and couldn't get a hold of him. Mom, of course, was in Italy so I couldn't call her. I called Cheyenne and she said she would continue calling Dad until he answered. I think she enlisted Savanna's help in calling as well. In the meantime, the doctor was getting impatient. I decided I better have a back up plan. Savanna's in-laws lived in Lincoln at the time. Her father-in-law was a bishop. I decided to call him and see if he could come give me a blessing. Tyler finally got a hold of him and he agreed to come to the hospital. We waited and waited for him to get there all the while the doctor was getting more impatient. Finally, he arrived with his son. It turns out, the had gone to the wrong hospital :)
While all of this was going on, we took drastic measure on the Dad front. I called our neighbor to see if she could go over to Dad's to see if he was sleeping or something but I couldn't get a hold of her. Finally, Tyler's dad decided to drive out to Milford to see what he could figure out. When he got to Dad's, the car was in the driveway. He knocked but no one answered. He went inside and hollered and it turns out Dad was downstairs watching a movie and he had left his phone upstairs on the kitchen counter and couldn't hear it ring. So Dad and Burt high tailed it back to Lincoln.
It worked out that Dad arrived about 10 minutes after the Lake's. So, Bishop Bob and Dad gave me a blessing and the nurse induced me. She said it would probably be at least a two day labor so everyone should go home and get some sleep.
About 20 minutes after everyone left, the nurse came in and said she had talked to the doctor and they were going to have to do a c-section. The baby's heart beat was dipping every time I had a contraction and the doctor didn't think she would handle the stress of a two day labor. Had I been closer to my due date, or dilated a bit more, things probably would've been okay. But, since I was no where near physically ready to have the baby, they decided it would be best for all involved to do a c-section. I asked how much time we had. The nurse said about a half hour to 45 minutes. I asked if that was until they started or until the baby was here. It turned out to be that latter. So, we called everyone back to the hospital and they rolled me away!
The rest is pretty much a blur. Mostly because I didn't see any of it. They had a big blue sheet blocking my view. Tyler could describe the inside of my mid section to you in detail. Then, before I knew it, I heard a little cry! Tyler immediately went over to her and started talking to her and helping the nurses clean her up. He cut her cord and then tried to bring her to show me but I was too nauseous from the anesthetic to turn my head. I got my first look at her in the recovery room but I felt to shaky to hold her.
Finally, when we got back to our room, I held my baby girl for the first time. She was so sweet and so tiny. She was 5lbs 6oz and 18 3/4 inches long. More importantly, she was perfectly healthy, aside from a little touch of jaundice (no lights/blankets necessary).
It took quite a while for my BP to return to normal. In fact, it was still quite out of whack when we left the hospital. They actually kept us an extra day to monitor me.
So, there's the story of Elsie Maline. Now we're home and enjoying life. Every day is something new and exciting and she is growing and changing so fast I'm not sure I can keep up!


Okay - the photos were supposed to be at the end of the story but I'm tired of trying to figure this out. Plus the connection is kind of slow so it's taking forever to load - for more photos - go to my facebook page. There's a whole bunch there.

Too-da-loo!
Don't know when I'll be able to post next so savor this one!