Friday, November 30, 2012

Lets Start a bit before Riley's birth

    I was diagnosed with preclampsia early in my pregnancy and had hoped it wouldn't be a big issue. Throughout the pregnancy I had felt pretty good besides the nausea and hot flashes the only other issue I had was being tired.  From the first trimester I didn't want to get out of bed, to the last trimester with Riley's night rollabouts and my heartburn I just couldn't get enough sleep.
    I was hospitalized on the 28th of September due to my high blood pressure.  I thought this will be good because I need the bed rest. Little did I know, you might be in a hospital bed all day but you can't actually get any rest in a hospital. They would come in to check on my vitals as well as Riley's. Riley always looked good, a nice sounding heartbeat and lots of movement.  I was getting worse by the day but never felt bad at all. I really wanted to make it to 38 weeks or at the very least 34 weeks, that was the goal I had set myself.
  On October 11th I was moved from the local hospital to Baptist Heath in Little Rock by ambulance. It was my first time ever to be in an ambulance, it was a strange feeling, to be strapped down to a gurney. I think we got there around 3. The room they put me in was a lot nicer then the one in Arkadelphia.  I thought okay, I should be able to rest here a lot easier. So I lay in my new bed and waited for my new Doctor. He came about 6pm, he looked at my vitals and at Riley's. Then the whirlwind started. 
    He decided it was best to do a emergency c-section. The prepping started right away.  Papers were signed, phone calls made, gowns put on and my bed was rolled down the hall into the operating room all in the space of 15 minutes.  The epidural wasn't to bad to get, kinda like a couple sharp pinches in the spine and and then the numbness started. The numbness traveled down my legs and up my torso. I didn't feel the catheter go in.  I couldn't move my lower body at all it was like being paralyzed. I felt pressure as I was cut open but no pain. Pressure as the doctor pushed on my abdomen and pulled Riley out at exactly 7pm. "It's my boy" I heard Matt say. There was silence for a moment as the doctor was sewing me up and the nurses were working with Riley and then I heard Riley's little cry. It was so cute, to hear him for the first time just filled me with happiness. He was okay, they held him over the curtain so I could see him for only like 5 seconds. ....my first thought seeing him still squished in the fetal position "he looks like a frog", then before I could even focus on his face he was gone.  They rolled him out of the room and I didn't get to see him again for a while.  I started shivering uncontrollably. The finished stapling me shut and the moved me to another bed and rolled me back to my room. I didn't get to leave that bed for three days.
   The shivering got worse when I was back in my hospital room, my teeth were chattering. I was told it was a normal reaction. My body was still numb and I couldn't move. I asked Matt to move my leg. If I hadn't seen him move it I wouldn't have believed he touched me. I felt nothing as he lifted my leg and moved it to the side a bit. I remember thinking 'what if I don't get feeling back? what if I stay paralyzed?' Freaked me out a bit. Matt and his parents went to see Riley. Then the nurse put me on the magnesium drip. I was attached to that hell for three days. It made my blood run hot, every inch of my body started sweating, my heart beat fast, and I couldn't focus my eyes. Going to sleep that night was hard.  




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