Preterm Labor

7-11-13

Free Slurpee day Yay

As I got up this morning I received a text from Moo. She was seeing if I wanted to walk/run to Sev for donuts and free Slurpee’s.  Since we had not done our annual walk/run this year, I was like “Heck yes, bring on the fun”. So we got the strollers out and met at the legacy trail and began to run to the seven 11 which is off of redwood and fifth south. Everything was great until we were mid way and Moo’s tire to her stroller popped…..ah nuts. Well, I was determined to get my donut so we had all the kids get out of the strollers and start walking. Moo called her sister to come pick us up. We were about a mile or two away from sev so I just told them that I would meet them there. So I started running and running. I thought it was a lot closer than it was…..it wasn’t. By now I was sprinting (with the stroller, carrying Ely and Jace).  By the time I got to sev, moo and her sister and kiddos where just walking through the door. Yes Victory, I was going to puke from all the sprinting I had just done but then there they were……my donuts and free Slurpee’s, Mission Accomplished. However, I am going to be sooo sore tomorrow.

As we were snarffing our breakfast I just happened to look at my phone and I had received a text from Kim.  It said that she was having pretty painful Braxton hicks and dad was having her lay down.

I jumped up, told moo, put the kids in the stroller and started sprinting back to my house which was about four miles or so away. Luckily moo went and got my car and picked us up about a mile away from home.

I quickly jumped in the shower, got ready, put the kids in the car and off we went to be with Kim. I dropped the kids off at Debbie’s. I went to the office and picked Kim up and headed for the UofU hospital. Everyone was thinking I was just overreacting but I don’t care, (Yes Im going to pull out my death card now). I have died a painful horrible death, lost four babies, buried three of them, lost four adoption’s, suffer from serious PTSD, have panic attacks and depression all in the last two years.  I don’t care if people think I’m crazy or overreacting “we are going to the ER, NOW”.

Thank you have a nice day…..lol

When we got there we immediately went up to the OB ER.  They hooked her up to the baby monitors so they could see her contractions. She was having contractions about every 10 minutes apart. Then they checked Kim and she was dilated to a 1 and a half……ahhh not good. We are only 26 weeks and its way too early for our baby girl to come out.

Of course our amazing doctor, was on a pioneer trek so we just had who ever was on call that day. Then they started an IV and gave her a steroid shot to help develop the lungs. Then the nurse checked her again. She now was dilated to a TWO. We both panicked and asked if we could “undilate”, and they said no.

We  quickly packed up the room and the nurses moved us across the hall to Labor and Delivery. Not a fun place to be when you are only 26 weeks along and everyone else on the floor is having full term, nice healthy, screaming babies. The nurses put us in the room right next to the operating room so that if Kim’s water broke they would be able to quickly move her.

During all of this ciaos, I was texting my family, friends, and everyone to please start praying. They called the temples and put our names on the prayer roll. I kept everyone updated on fb and begged them to please start praying for Kimmi and our baby girl.    

Once in the Labor and Delivery room things got pretty intense. The medical staff started giving Kim all sorts of medications to help her stop the labor and to help develop the baby if she were to come right now.

One of the meds they used was Magnesium sulfate. When babies are born this early the blood vessels in the brain are so sensitive that if the baby were to be born right now they would burst. This medicine (magnesium sulfate) would help strengthen the blood vessels. They told Kim that for the first 30 minutes they were going to give her a very strong dose. The side effects would make her feel nauseous, headache, unable to control her body etc….

Five minutes after it started Kim was not doing so well, to put it nicely. She was going through horrible side effects and thought she was dying, probably wanted to die, asked if they could stop the medication and almost said just get this baby out of me. That is how miserable she was.

This whole time I just wanted to go home jump in bed and scream and cry, but I couldn’t. I had to stay strong for Kim. I had to be there for her. I couldn’t loose it.

As Kim was thinking that she was going to die I knew we needed a blessing, pronto dente. Jay was just leaving court and on his way to the hospital. I called moo to see if Tim could come and give Kim a blessing. I also called the Bishop to see if he could come and give Kim a blessing.  About 10minutes later our Bishop (Jenson), Brother Langlous, and Tim, all in their white shirts and a tie, were able to give Kim and myself a blessing. I am so grateful and forever will be grateful for the power of the priesthood and the power of prayer. After the blessings Kim was able to calm down a bit and so was I.

Finally Jay got there and I felt so relieved to see and have him there.

The on call Doctor came in and explained what was happening and answered any questions that we had. I was just in shock. Thinking to myself that this was just a bad dream, a nightmare, and I would wake up soon. Unfortunately, this was not the case L. When the Dr. was done I had to ask the horrible question, and that was, what is the possibility that our baby will make it? She said that she would have one of the NICU nurses come in and talk to us because they would know better than she would.

When the NICU nurse came in, everyone held their breath and prepared for what she was about to say. She said that babies born this early have about a 50% survival rate with a high percent that it will be deaf, blind, cerebral palsy etc… I wanted to cry and scream but again knew I couldn’t loose it in front of Kim. After that she said mentioned all the machines and operation’s that they would have to do on our precious little girl to help keep her alive. I couldn’t hear it anymore and my body just froze. After she left I was still in shock and felt like I couldn’t move.

Finally around 9:00 my dad came with all the kids. They came and visited Kim for about 5 minutes and then left. I went with them while jay stayed with Kim. I hurried and ran home backed my bags and came back to the hospital to stay with Kim. Jay then took the kids to the New homestead and got the boys some clothes and also Kim’s progesterone suppositories. Then he came back up to the hospital dropped the stuff off and took Ciaran, Cabhan, Elyse and Jace to our townhourse.

Around 11pm another dr. on call, came in and said that Kim was doing great and wanted us to switch rooms (out of labor and delivery). This was great news that Kim was well enough to switch rooms. However, by switching rooms it meant that she would be off the monitors and they would not be watching her as closely. I didn’t like that and begged them to see if we could stay just for the night. The dr. really wanted us to move but said we could stay until 5am. I was so grateful to here that.

At 5 in the morning I packed up the room again and we moved to another area of the hospital. Non of us had received any sleep and we were so tired. So Fridays goal was to sleep and that is what we did.

Finally after five days of being in the hospital Kim was able to go home on house arrest….lol  I say house arrest because she cant go outside, can’t drive a car, can only walk up the stairs three times a day,  etc…….

July 17, 2013

Today we went for our weekly check up with the Doctor.  Kim’s cervix had shortened again and she was having some pain and dilated the same. The Doctor said to lay low. I must say we have the best doctor. We don’t feel like a number or cattle, meaning they just get you in and out. He actually spends time with you and takes our concerns seriously.

July 18, 2013

Kim had sent me a picture of her discharge. It was really thick, long and a weird color (sorry for any guys that are reading this). I thought it might be the mucus plug so I text the picture to the doctor and he said to come to the hospital a.s.a.p.

So back we went to the hospital again. I think they should just have a reserved spot for us since we are up there everyday.

We went back to the OB ER and they hooked up the baby monitors again. Then the doctor came in and checked Kim. With all of that discharge he thought that maybe she had dilated some more. Thankfully she was still the same. Yay, we were so relieved that everything thing was still the same and that we didn’t have to spend another night in the hospital. J Our next doctor apt is July 13, 2013 to check Kim’s cervix again. I pray that we can at least make it to thirty weeks. I wish we could make it to 37 weeks but I’ll take whatever we can get.

Thank you everyone for all your thoughts and prayers on our behalf. We are blessed to have so many amazing friends and family. We love you all

Love the Richards