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Miss Mollie is here! (Long birth story and PIP)

MrsAJLMrsAJL member
in Austin Babies

Hi y'all!

We got home yesterday from the hospital and all is going well.  I wanted to share Mollie's birth story and a picture with y'all.

As you know, last week I went in for my regular OB check and my blood pressure was slightly elevated. My doctor asked me to come back in on Friday and have my BP checked again.

Friday morning, I dropped DS off at preschool and headed back into the doctor's office. My doctor was in surgery that morning, so I saw one of her partners.  At that appointment, my BP was elevated again and had hit that magic "pre-e" cut off of over 140/90.  I was sent to South Austin Hospital for a 24-hour BP evaluation and to decide what the next steps would be.

After a quick trip home to get some stuff and to coordinate care for DS, DH and I headed to the hospital.  The next eight hours took quite an exciting turn. Within four hours of being checked in, my blood pressure sky rocketed to the 180s/90s. My doctor had hoped we'd at least wait until the 36 weeks mark (which would have been yesterday) to deliver, but after those readings my doctor said it was go time. Baby Day was a mere couple of hours away!

At 6:30, they got me prepped for the OR. At 7, I got the spinal. At 7:14 PM, out came Miss Mollie, screaming and a hollering!  She was perfectly healthy, breathing well, with great APGARS (8 and 9).  She didn't need any help from oxygen nor a stay in the NICU.

I didn't do as great as she did though (but I'm fine now).  Because of the risk of seizures from the pre-e, I was put on magnesium sulfate for 24 hours (not a good time).  Additionally, there was a little hiccup in some lab work. While a routine mag screen (to see how much magnesium you're retaining) is always ordered on pre-e patients. But sometimes another test that measures your clotting factor is ordered, except for post c-section patients (that's because surgery can produce a false high result.)  Anyway, because of a confusion at the hospital lab, I had that test done by mistake and of course my results were high. This lead to a snowball of other tests including ultrasounds of both my legs to check for DVTs and a CT scan to see if I had a pulmonary embolism.  I didn't have either, but it was a very NOT FUN early Saturday morning.

One of the most frustrating parts was that because of the contrast dye that's used for CT scans, I was told I would have to pump-and-dump for 24 hours. That really pissed me off since Mollie was such a natural at breastfeeding. We were doing so great and I was not ready to give that up for 24 hours. Luckily my OB consulted with Dr. McCutie (i.e. Dr. Berry, my MFM) who said that a) the risk of the amount of contrast dye that I had in my system making it through my breast milk into Mollie to do harm was slim to none and b) because I had a "late pre-term baby" it was far better to not let my colostrum go to waste and breast feed Mollie.  So yay for great doctors with good news!

I'm healing well from the c-section (much better than with DS) and generally feeling physically well.  I'm starting to get a little blue-y but I think that's mostly because I haven't gotten much consecutive sleep.  I'm really enjoying breast feeding Mollie and we're doing great at it (something I wasn't successful with with DS).  Thank you to everyone for all the positive Ts&Ps and Nestie Dust!

I also want to add that the nursing staff at South Austin is simply amazing!  I wrote down all my nurses' names and their supervisor's name and will be sending a glowing letter of praise. If anyone as any suggestions about what else I can send to them to express my thanks, please let me know. 

Without further delay, here is our girl: 

Margaret Olivia "Mollie"
Born January 7, 2011
6 lbs, 10.4 oz, 19" long

image 

 

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