March 2015 Moms
Charmedseed
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Wasn't expecting to be in the March board!
Charmedseed
member
Hi all! I'm Beverly, and I'm 'transferring' over here from the May 2015 board quite by surprise! Baby boy's due date was originally May 10th.
I've had chronic high blood pressure for years, and going into pregnancy we knew it could be a risk and complication, and it went full tilt on Wednesday the 18th when I presented with pre-eclampsia. We headed to our delivery hospital and got settled in, hoping to keep things under a little control with a bed-rest and observation stay for 10 days. After a visit with the high risk specialist, he decided I'd need to be delivered within 48 hours, and we planned a c-section for Saturday, March 21st at 7am, bright and early!
Alas, we didn't even make it that far! I started magnesium sulfate & steroids to help baby's lungs get going, but we couldn't keep my blood pressure down enough, and baby was getting lethargic. So Friday night after another high risk consultation, we pushed everything up and did the c-section that night, about 7 hours earlier than planned. Ben Louis was born at 11:50pm, March 20th, at 33 weeks and six days gestation. He was 3lbs 1oz, 15 inches long, and furious! Even through the haze of anesthesia, his cry was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard.
He did beautifully! He was off CPAP after about 30 hours, removed from bili lights for jaundice on about the 3rd day, and has been feeding via gavage like a champ! Mama didn't fare so well, however... We continued with the mag sulfate for another 12 hours and I was in terrible pain. Turns out I had an extraordinarily bad hematoma that caused my incision to bleed after we checked out on Tuesday, and I ended up readmitted the same night we tried to go home. 8 days PP and I'm still in significant pain, despite the medications. It's finally getting manageable, but it's frustrating when all I want is to be there for Ben.
On the positive side, I am a DAIRY (hehehe). With the help of my amazing sister (who happens to be a nurse and mama of two herself), I was still able to begin pumping three hours after the surgery and have diligently (perhaps even a little obsessively) kept up with it since. I'm now regularly pumping about 80ml (or 2-3 oz) each session. I'm so grateful for this one thing to be going so well.
So Ben arrived not at all how we expected, but he is here and doing spectacularly. I'm finally getting back to some level of... well, I don't know if I'd say normal, but at least stable and sane. Our community and family have pulled out all the stops being there for us, and we feel so incredibly blessed and humbled. Not to mention the amazing nurses and doctors that cared for both Ben and me, they were absolutely incredible.
So Ben arrived not at all how we expected, but he is here and doing spectacularly. I'm finally getting back to some level of... well, I don't know if I'd say normal, but at least stable and sane. Our community and family have pulled out all the stops being there for us, and we feel so incredibly blessed and humbled. Not to mention the amazing nurses and doctors that cared for both Ben and me, they were absolutely incredible.
We hope Ben will be able to come home in three or four more weeks. He still needs to master feeding on his own, and building up enough body fat to manage his own temperature. But we're already practicing for breastfeeding, and while he simply isn't developed enough to go at it properly, he's DEFINITELY interested!
Oh, and Saturday the 21st? We were supposed to have his shower. My little party crasher. 
Ben Louis, born March 20, 2015 @ 11:50PM. Delivered by c-section at 32 weeks and 6 days due to mother's pre-eclampsia. Doing brilliantly in NICU!
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Re: Wasn't expecting to be in the March board!
My name is Beverly as well, I haven't met to many others with our name.