My Miracle Baby: A Holiday Blessing
I have been blessed with 4 children, all with the help of a reproductive endocrinologist. All of my pregnancies took awhile to conceive. Tommy, our true miracle baby took 2 years to conceive. It was long and hard. Just after going back for fertility treatment, my husband was called overseas for military duty for 4 months; we had to take a break. Then after he returned home we went back for fertility treatment until my ovaries totally quit responding to fertility medications which required another 2 month break. Finally as I was ready to give up and adopt, I got that prized positive pregnancy test on July 5, 2006. I was in disbelief; I had so much bloating and irritability I knew I could not be pregnant. From day one of this pregnancy everything was extreme and tougher in a sense. I had a Level II ultrasound on Halloween at around 22 weeks along; all looked fabulous. They confirmed I was in fact having a baby boy, the brother my first son dreamed of. It was such a happy day. Nobody could predict what the next 6 weeks had in store. I had an OB appointment on December 5th. My blood pressure had crept up a bit - not enough to cause alarm. On December 18th I had a scare and feared my water was leaking. I went into the hospital to be checked. All was great, it was just a scare. The nurse did inform me my blood pressure was high and called the doctor. On December 20th, I called my doctor's nurse because my face was really swollen. Due to the one-hour drive to the office, they had me come in to be checked first thing in the morning. I knew it was bad when I stepped on the scale. I had gained about a pound a day since seeing my OB on the 5th. The nurse tried to calm me, but after she took my blood pressure she simply said "we're going to admit you to the hospital." I was admitted overnight and given steroid shots to help develop my baby's lungs. At discharge, my OB told me to plan on having a preemie and that he'd get me as close to term as he could. He put me on strict bed rest and had me come back in on Christmas Day for a checkup and to monitor the baby. I felt wonderful on bed rest until Christmas. I woke up feeling very ill, like I was coming down with a bad cold. I took Tylenol and blamed it on the kids trying to wake us up at 1:00 am because Santa had come. The kids opened their gifts and I simply held my head in discomfort. I went straight back to bed. I woke up feeling the same, took a bath and packed my suitcase knowing I'd be readmitted at the hospital. The hour long drive felt like 3 hours because my head hurt so badly. The kids had fallen asleep in the car. I walked into L & D alone for the monitoring and check up. I arrived at 12:30 pm. My vision was blurred and I blamed it on the tears from crying; what kind of Christmas is this? While others are sitting down to a festive dinner, I was being admitted to the hospital. The nurse was very nice and strapped me up to the monitors. My blood pressure was dangerously high, around 180/150-something. I was started on IV medications to help bring it down, but they were unsuccessful. I was crying, shaking and scared to death. How could this be happening to me? I recall my doctor trying to calm me telling me they were going to airlift me to a bigger hospital where they could hopefully, get me stable and/or be equipped to handle a 28-weeker. About this time my husband walked in with the kids. The rest is a blur, literally! I lost my vision due to my high blood pressure. I could only see light/dark colors. My doctor was amazing. He came in and told me I must relax, all will be okay and he was taking the baby NOW because I was going downhill too fast to make the flight.  Seeing Tommy for the first time. Thomas Alvin Nance was born 11½ weeks early on Christmas Day 2006 at 2:01 pm just 91 minutes after I arrived at the hospital. He was not breathing and had no heartbeat at birth. God decided it was not his time to go so soon and the medical staff revived him. Tommy weighed in at 2 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 15 inches long. Thank you Dr. Gregory Joslin and the nurses at Comanche County Memorial Hospital in Lawton, Oklahoma for saving my baby and my life! Tommy was airlifted to a NICU. The flight nurse brought him to me to say goodbye before his flight, but I could not see, so she put my hand on him. After getting me stable and recovered from severe pre-eclampsia and HELLP Syndrome (1), I was discharged - when he was 4 days old - to finally meet my Miracle Baby. Tommy was welcomed home on Valentine's Day 2007 after 51 days in the NICU. In April 2007, it was confirmed that my eyes have no permanent damage. Tommy had an evaluation done by Early Intervention to reveal he's right on target for his adjusted age. I was told he "simply should not be doing all this" for being a 28-weeker. We are blessed! Tricia Nance (1) HELLP syndrome occurs in approximately 10% of pregnant women with pre-eclampsia or eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia may be mild or severe. Severe cases involve high blood pressure and protein in the urine and can progress to seizures (eclampsia). Severe cases are life-threatening to both mother and fetus. HELLP syndrome is associated with more serious cases. It may occur long before a pregnancy reaches term (for example, HELLP at 30 weeks gestation). Many women have high blood pressure and are diagnosed with pre-eclampsia before they get HELLP syndrome. However, in some cases, HELLP symptoms are the first warning of pre-eclampsia and the condition is misdiagnosed as hepatitis, gallbladder disease, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, or thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. Symptoms: progressive nausea and vomiting, upper abdominal pain, headache, vision problems. |
I feel every baby is a miracle, but until the birth of my son last Christmas I didn't in fact know how much of a miracle a baby could be.