Well I started this blog about forever ago, and neglected it about as soon as it started. I decided I would give blogging another try as a way of journaling this little adventure of ours, and to give a little more detail to those who are interested.
I found out I was pregnant back in January. We were a little surprised, but super excited. I had an ultrasound in February that gave me a due date of September 7th. My pregnancy with Alyvia was pretty normal. I was nauseated a lot of the time, and definitely felt the strain on my muscles and tendons more than I did with Sarah, but otherwise didn't have a lot of complaints. I lost a decent amount of weight in the beginning since sweets were completely unappealing, but I was eating healthier and started gaining weight slowly after week 20.
I had another ultrasound at about 21 weeks. Everything looked good at that ultrasound, and they were pretty certain she was a girl, but she was measuring almost 2 weeks smaller than she should have been. We were told by the doctors that she was still within the margin of error, but that they wanted to recheck her at 28 weeks to be safe. We sort of thought that Sarah had measured a little small at her ultrasound also, so we weren't even remotely concerned.
I had my 28 week ultrasound on June 18th. They again confirmed she was a girl and did all the normal measurements. The doctor came in and told us he was concerned. She was measuring a little over three weeks smaller than she should have been, there was low amniotic fluid and they were not showing good blood flow through the umbilical cord. He said that if I was further along he would take me next door and deliver immediately, but because I was only 28 weeks, he wanted specialists in Boise to take a better look.
We drove straight to Boise, not sure what to expect. They did another ultrasound that lasted almost two hours. They looked really closely at everything. Their measurements were not as scary. They only showed her being about a week and a half behind and they were able to pick up better blood flow and fluid levels, although they did still say that it was abnormal. They wanted to just follow us really closely. They told me I could try to eat more protein and drink more water, but that if it was the placenta, there wasn't anything we could do.
I went in for a non-stress test on the following Tuesday in Twin Falls. They also did another ultrasound. They said it looked better than the last ultrasound, but were still not happy with what they saw.
That Friday, June 25th, we went for another ultrasound in Boise. The doctor came in and told us that the blood flow through the umbilical cord was not good and that typically if left alone, the baby would die in utero in about a week. That scared us pretty good, needless to say. The doctor told us that he wanted to admit me to the hospital and give me steroid shots and deliver in two days. A few minutes later, the doctor who was on call for the weekend came in. He was not quite as concerned but definitely wanted to watch things closely.
I was admitted to St. Luke's in Boise and they did non-stress tests three times a day to check on the baby and gave me steroid shots to mature that baby's lungs. Kevin stayed with me and we were bored out of our minds as all we could do was sit and wait. The non-stress tests started out as just ok, but got a little more concerning as time went on. She wasn't being very active, and would occasionally have brief heart rate decelerations.
We had been hoping that I would be released on Sunday to continue close monitoring in Twin Falls. Sunday morning the doctor came in and did and ultrasound. He again showed that things were ok, but not what they wanted to see. He was not comfortable discharging me, so I was stuck indefinitely. The doctor suggested that the baby could potentially be reacting to a virus (I had been a sick for the past week or so) and that she might bounce back on her own. He increased the frequency of how often they did the non-stress tests. Kevin and I decided that it would be best for him to go back to Twin Falls to work and to be with Sarah since this was stressful to her as well.
I had a non-stress test at 10pm that night that was not encouraging. The nurse told me that they would do the next non-stress test at 1am and if the were still concerned they would take me over to labor and delivery for continuous monitoring. Within the first 10 minutes of the 1am non-stress test she had a deceleration. The moved me over the labor and delivery. There they picked up a small contraction. They figured that I had been having mild contractions that were causing the baby stress. They gave me a shot to stop the contractions, and were watching to see if that worked. The baby stopped having decelerations but her heart rate had gone up over the past day, which concerned the doctor.
Finally around 4 am the doctor decided that it was time for him to come in. While the doctor was on his way, that baby's heart rate suddenly jumped to 220 and then dipped down to around 80. The nurse at this point started to prepare me for a c-section because she was fairly certain that the doctor would not be happy with the past few hours of monitoring. The doctor came in and said that he was concerned and that he felt it was time to take her.
By this point there was no way that Kevin would have been there on time. I was definitely a bit scared, but the nurse was really good at walking me through everything and making the situation as calm as possible. I think it was that nurses sense of humor that kept me from having a complete meltdown at that point.
Alyvia June was born on Monday, June 28th at 5:32 am by c-section, weighing 1 lb 14.3 oz and 14.25 inches long. For being almost 30 weeks, she should have been closer to 3 lbs. She was in a transverse/breech sort of position and the doctor had a hard time getting her out. Her arm and back got pretty bruised up in the process. They were going to do a pathology on the placenta to see if they could figure out exactly what was going on, but her difficult delivery tore it up to the point that we will probably never find out exactly what was happening.
We were prepared for Alyvia to be a lot sicker upon her arrival than she was. They started to put her on a ventilator right after she was born but she started to cough and gag and the tube slipped. She was starting to pink up so they were able to skip the ventilator and go to a CPAP machine that provided continuous air pressure to keep her lungs inflated. Over the first few hours they were able to reduce the amount of oxygen and pressure they were giving her to the point she was breathing regular room air without additional oxygen. From there, they moved to a nasal canella that gave her regular room air. By the beginning of day three, they had weaned her from that was well and she was breathing entirely on her own. She has continued to do extremely well with her breathing. She gets caffeine every day as a respiratory stimulant, IV fluids and nutrients and enemas to help her intestines work. She is otherwise medication free at this point. Because of the bruising she got when she was born, she has struggled quite a bit with jaundice and has been in and out of phototherapy. Otherwise, Alyvia is doing very well. Our biggest challenge right now is her feeding. She is fed by a tube through her nose since she is too young to eat by mouth. Her digestive system is very immature at this point, and so feeding has been an on again off again thing. She was doing very well with the feeds at first, but as the amount of milk she gets increases, she has had increasing trouble with reflux and her intestines. Today we had to discontinue feeds until morning because she was struggling with the amount. We were told that this would be a start again, stop again process for the next little while.
Alyvia already has quite the little personality. She is a feisty one, and throws little temper tantrums when she isn’t happy about something. She is also pretty strong for being so small. She can lift up her head a little, and when she is put on her stomach against her will she will put her head and toes on the bed and push up the entire rest of her body so her bottom is straight up in the air. She is fairly alert when she wakes up, and likes to look around. She smiles a whole lot, and I swear she has even giggled a few times. We feel very blessed that she is doing so well and that she is a part of our family. We were told to expect her to be in the hospital until at least her due date, September 7th, and maybe a little longer because she was so small. We can hardly wait to get her home!
I had another ultrasound at about 21 weeks. Everything looked good at that ultrasound, and they were pretty certain she was a girl, but she was measuring almost 2 weeks smaller than she should have been. We were told by the doctors that she was still within the margin of error, but that they wanted to recheck her at 28 weeks to be safe. We sort of thought that Sarah had measured a little small at her ultrasound also, so we weren't even remotely concerned.
I had my 28 week ultrasound on June 18th. They again confirmed she was a girl and did all the normal measurements. The doctor came in and told us he was concerned. She was measuring a little over three weeks smaller than she should have been, there was low amniotic fluid and they were not showing good blood flow through the umbilical cord. He said that if I was further along he would take me next door and deliver immediately, but because I was only 28 weeks, he wanted specialists in Boise to take a better look.
We drove straight to Boise, not sure what to expect. They did another ultrasound that lasted almost two hours. They looked really closely at everything. Their measurements were not as scary. They only showed her being about a week and a half behind and they were able to pick up better blood flow and fluid levels, although they did still say that it was abnormal. They wanted to just follow us really closely. They told me I could try to eat more protein and drink more water, but that if it was the placenta, there wasn't anything we could do.
I went in for a non-stress test on the following Tuesday in Twin Falls. They also did another ultrasound. They said it looked better than the last ultrasound, but were still not happy with what they saw.
That Friday, June 25th, we went for another ultrasound in Boise. The doctor came in and told us that the blood flow through the umbilical cord was not good and that typically if left alone, the baby would die in utero in about a week. That scared us pretty good, needless to say. The doctor told us that he wanted to admit me to the hospital and give me steroid shots and deliver in two days. A few minutes later, the doctor who was on call for the weekend came in. He was not quite as concerned but definitely wanted to watch things closely.
I was admitted to St. Luke's in Boise and they did non-stress tests three times a day to check on the baby and gave me steroid shots to mature that baby's lungs. Kevin stayed with me and we were bored out of our minds as all we could do was sit and wait. The non-stress tests started out as just ok, but got a little more concerning as time went on. She wasn't being very active, and would occasionally have brief heart rate decelerations.
We had been hoping that I would be released on Sunday to continue close monitoring in Twin Falls. Sunday morning the doctor came in and did and ultrasound. He again showed that things were ok, but not what they wanted to see. He was not comfortable discharging me, so I was stuck indefinitely. The doctor suggested that the baby could potentially be reacting to a virus (I had been a sick for the past week or so) and that she might bounce back on her own. He increased the frequency of how often they did the non-stress tests. Kevin and I decided that it would be best for him to go back to Twin Falls to work and to be with Sarah since this was stressful to her as well.
I had a non-stress test at 10pm that night that was not encouraging. The nurse told me that they would do the next non-stress test at 1am and if the were still concerned they would take me over to labor and delivery for continuous monitoring. Within the first 10 minutes of the 1am non-stress test she had a deceleration. The moved me over the labor and delivery. There they picked up a small contraction. They figured that I had been having mild contractions that were causing the baby stress. They gave me a shot to stop the contractions, and were watching to see if that worked. The baby stopped having decelerations but her heart rate had gone up over the past day, which concerned the doctor.
Finally around 4 am the doctor decided that it was time for him to come in. While the doctor was on his way, that baby's heart rate suddenly jumped to 220 and then dipped down to around 80. The nurse at this point started to prepare me for a c-section because she was fairly certain that the doctor would not be happy with the past few hours of monitoring. The doctor came in and said that he was concerned and that he felt it was time to take her.
By this point there was no way that Kevin would have been there on time. I was definitely a bit scared, but the nurse was really good at walking me through everything and making the situation as calm as possible. I think it was that nurses sense of humor that kept me from having a complete meltdown at that point.
Alyvia June was born on Monday, June 28th at 5:32 am by c-section, weighing 1 lb 14.3 oz and 14.25 inches long. For being almost 30 weeks, she should have been closer to 3 lbs. She was in a transverse/breech sort of position and the doctor had a hard time getting her out. Her arm and back got pretty bruised up in the process. They were going to do a pathology on the placenta to see if they could figure out exactly what was going on, but her difficult delivery tore it up to the point that we will probably never find out exactly what was happening.
We were prepared for Alyvia to be a lot sicker upon her arrival than she was. They started to put her on a ventilator right after she was born but she started to cough and gag and the tube slipped. She was starting to pink up so they were able to skip the ventilator and go to a CPAP machine that provided continuous air pressure to keep her lungs inflated. Over the first few hours they were able to reduce the amount of oxygen and pressure they were giving her to the point she was breathing regular room air without additional oxygen. From there, they moved to a nasal canella that gave her regular room air. By the beginning of day three, they had weaned her from that was well and she was breathing entirely on her own. She has continued to do extremely well with her breathing. She gets caffeine every day as a respiratory stimulant, IV fluids and nutrients and enemas to help her intestines work. She is otherwise medication free at this point. Because of the bruising she got when she was born, she has struggled quite a bit with jaundice and has been in and out of phototherapy. Otherwise, Alyvia is doing very well. Our biggest challenge right now is her feeding. She is fed by a tube through her nose since she is too young to eat by mouth. Her digestive system is very immature at this point, and so feeding has been an on again off again thing. She was doing very well with the feeds at first, but as the amount of milk she gets increases, she has had increasing trouble with reflux and her intestines. Today we had to discontinue feeds until morning because she was struggling with the amount. We were told that this would be a start again, stop again process for the next little while.
Alyvia already has quite the little personality. She is a feisty one, and throws little temper tantrums when she isn’t happy about something. She is also pretty strong for being so small. She can lift up her head a little, and when she is put on her stomach against her will she will put her head and toes on the bed and push up the entire rest of her body so her bottom is straight up in the air. She is fairly alert when she wakes up, and likes to look around. She smiles a whole lot, and I swear she has even giggled a few times. We feel very blessed that she is doing so well and that she is a part of our family. We were told to expect her to be in the hospital until at least her due date, September 7th, and maybe a little longer because she was so small. We can hardly wait to get her home!
In the delivery room
Shortly after birth
Showing off her little attitude early
Having her temperature taken
Aly next to my pinkie....she is so tiny
Aly on her glowing blanket...I thought it looked cool
My new and improved uterus
Snuggle time
More snuggles
Taking a break from the lights
My happy little girl posing at bath time
She smiles a lot
Most of the babies in NICU don't like bath time....She happens to love it!
She knows how freaking cute she is
Aly at 2 pounds, 1 ounce
Cuddling her doll from Grandma T
Aly's really proud big sister!!!
2 comments:
Bravo! Way to blog. I'll be keeping up with this.
Thank you for sharing this. I will keep you and your family in my prayers. She is such a cutie and fighter! What a little miracle.
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