my Parker Parker is 2!

Today our Parker is 2 years old!!!!!

I figured since he was 2 that it was time to finally post his birth story...

Parker’s Story

Apparently I can’t have a baby without tons of excitement. I was looking forward to a normal, boring birth, but God had another plan. This is the story of my Parker…this is the story of yet another time that God taught us of His unfailing faithfulness…

Itching

I had started to itch terribly! I had the same thing with Jacob. It wasn’t an issue with my skin (lotion didn’t help), it was under the skin. I was going to school 20 hours a week and working 18 hours a week and itching all night…I was exhausted! I was so nervous about getting sick again with this pregnancy. Adam kept taking my blood pressure and everything was good, but I was still worried.

I didn’t feel right (did I mention I was itchy??? It was constant!) and I didn’t know if that was from exhaustion from no sleep at night or because I was getting sick again like I did with Jacob or just normal pregnancy. I had seen the high-risk doctor, Dr. AlMalt, at the beginning of my pregnancy for a few visits, but he released me from his care when he couldn’t find any more reasons to have me keep coming back because I was doing so well.

End of June

Because I had itched before with Jacob, I knew that before they could give me any medicine I would have to have blood work done. I called the OB and asked them to go ahead and fax me an order to get the blood work done so that when I went to my next appointment they would have the results and could hopefully give me something to make me feel better.

I was taking Benadryl every night, but that was barely making a dent and didn’t seem to be helping me sleep any better. Adam was spending most nights on the couch (good thing we have a comfy couch!) because my constant scratching would keep him awake. I couldn’t take hot showers or baths because the heat would make me itch more. Strangely enough, being cold was the only thing that made me not itch, so we would turn the air down at night and I would try and fall asleep with goose bumps.

The doctor faxed over the order for the blood work and I went and had my blood drawn. I had had so much blood work done, that I had started to recognize the people at Florida Hospital Apopka (by the time I had Parker, they started to recognize me because I visited there about 4 times in 3 weeks!). I was glad to get the ball rolling and was really hoping that they found something so that I could get some medicine to help me feel better.

July 7th

I had my OB appointment and was anxious to get the results back from my blood work. Parker was measuring great and his heart beat was perfect. My blood pressure (which was the main problem with Jacob) was up slightly, but nothing to worry about. (Oh, and to brag a bit, my weight gain was wonderful. I had actually lost a few pounds when I first got pregnant so even though I wasn’t worried about my weight, I was happy to see the number increase just a little and not have so much water weight!)

The doctor looked at my blood work and my liver enzymes were elevated and there was something else that they tested that he didn’t like. He wanted me to go get more blood work done (since the results he was looking at was about a week old…he wanted to see what had changed in a week’s time) and come back in a week (at that point, I was 33 weeks pregnant and normally only went every 2 weeks).

He conferred with another doctor while I was waiting for the blood work order to be printed. He came and found me and told me that he wanted me to go see Dr. AlMalt (the high risk doctor) and have him look at everything just to be safe. I was worried just a little, but was happy to get another sonogram. Before I left the office that day, I had an appointment made with Dr. AlMalt and more blood work to get done.

July 11th

I still wasn’t feeling well and still was struggling with if it was normal pregnancy that I was feeling or was I getting sick. I kept going back and forth. I didn’t want to be overly alarmed by everything, but I didn’t want to ignore something important. It was a battle that I seemed to fight hourly with myself.

That night I started to see spots. It is like a bright light in the middle of your vision. I had them with Jacob and normally it is a sign of high blood pressure. Adam took my pressure and it was fine. We called my cousin Stacy, who is a labor and delivery nurse, and her advice was to rest for an hour and if the spot was still there, go to the hospital to get checked out.

Both Adam and I didn’t want to overact to anything, nor did we want to make a trip to the hospital for nothing, but after an hour the spot was still there so off we went. Dr. Crider was the doctor on call that night (it was around 8pm) and he was able to pull the latest blood work that I had done. Parker was great, my blood pressure was great, but my blood work showed elevated levels compared to the one done the previous week.

I checked out great and they sent me home and wanted me to do a 24hr urine test (collect your urine for 24hrs and then take it to the lab to be tested). I HATE those things! I did it and would go over the results at my next OB appointment.

July 13th

I had an appointment with Dr. AlMalt and my mom went with me. It was fun to “see” Parker again as I hadn’t had a sonogram in a while. I filled them in on what had happened the previous week and they took lots and lots of measurements. My amniotic fluid was low. It is supposed to be at a 10 and it was measuring at a 6. Dr. AlMalt wanted me on light bed rest for a week, ordered more blood work and wanted me to come back in a week to see him. He also wanted me to drink lots of water because dehydration is a cause of low amniotic fluid.

A week of bed rest meant no work (I just had one day left anyway) and no school. School was over August 2nd. I was finishing my pre-reqs so that I could start the nursing program in January (I was taking off the fall). I emailed my professors and let them know what was going on. The week that I was missing was a big week and the next week I had 3 tests that I was missing learning all of the information for. Adam and I had many conversations about what we were going to do. I had to make a B in the classes (Microbiology and Anatomy & Physiology II) and so we decided I would teach myself the information so that no matter what happened, I was prepared for the tests.

July 14th

I had another OB appointment. Everything went great. My blood pressure was perfect! The doctor said that was because he was from the Islands! I made an appointment to go back in 2 weeks.

That Week

I rested and rested…as much as you can with a 2-1/2 year old. I took a nap every day and basically lounged on the couch when I wasn’t going to a doctor’s appointment or getting my blood drawn. The further it got into the week, the more tired I seemed. I drank as much water as I could handle. I did the best I could, but still didn’t have any energy for school.

I cried and prayed a lot about school. I didn’t want to wimp out, but I didn’t know how I was going to catch up and how I was going to have the energy to continue. I didn’t want to quit. We had sacrificed so much for me to get through this summer…Adam had sacrificed so much…and I just couldn’t give up. Adam and I talked and talked and talked about what it would mean for me to continue and what it would mean for me to withdraw from the classes.

July 19th

Adam left the school decision up to me. It would have been easier if he just made it, but he released me and assured me (and I believed him) that he would not be bitter if I withdrew. I decided that since I was still exhausted after a week of resting and not going to school, that I would withdraw from the classes. I was still super worried that it was the wrong decision.

That night we went to sleep knowing that the next day Dr. AlMalt would tell us how I was doing. We were hoping and praying my fluid would be back up and I would just be monitored more closely. We knew that he also could keep me on bed rest at home, put me on bed rest at the hospital, send me to the hospital to get more fluids, want to deliver Parker at 36 weeks instead of 39 (August 19th), or (although I don’t think we said this out loud) want to deliver Parker now.

July 20th (Tuesday)

I was so glad that Adam was going to my appointment with Dr. AlMalt. I knew no matter the outcome of the appointment, that we both would have a lot of questions and I was glad I didn’t have to do that without him. We first had a sonogram and the tech said that my fluid was still low. I was disappointed, but (thankfully) was confident that it wasn’t low because I wasn’t drinking enough water. She told us that Dr. AlMalt would probably want to send me over to the hospital to get fluids put in me. Next we went into another room where they hooked me up to monitors and had me push a button every time I felt Parker move (they did this at the last appointment as well).

Dr. AlMalt then did a sonogram himself on me and said that my amniotic fluid was measuring at a 3. It is supposed to measure at 10 and if it is below 5, they will deliver the baby right away.

After all of that was done, they put us in the consult room and we waited to see Dr. AlMalt. We waited a long time and had plenty of time to talk. We knew it was a possibility that they would admit me to the hospital and possible deliver Parker that day.  We decided not to alarm our family until we knew for sure what the plan was, but I was texting with Stacy back and forth and she was confirming what we thought might happen.

When we finally got to talk with Dr. AlMalt, he said my blood work was still elevated and my fluid was low. He asked me if I had my bags packed. I said no and that I had thought just that week that I should do that. He told me I should have listened to myself. =) He said we have two choices…go the hospital now or go home, pack our bags and then go to the hospital. Parker was going to be born today!

We went home and packed our bags. I wasn’t too frazzled. I was in “do” mode. I had to pack Jacob and make sure he was covered and pack myself and pack Parker. I was so hungry, but I couldn’t eat (Adam got lunch on the way home, we were in two cars, and ate in the car so I didn’t have to smell it). Once everything was packed and Jacob was taken care of (I LOVE our family!!!), off to the hospital we went!

We called everyone on the way to the hospital. Still, I wasn’t too emotional…until I called my sister. She had originally planned on coming August 24th and staying for 2 weeks. Then when the C-section was scheduled for the 19th and I stated telling her about the plans, she said she couldn’t handle other people doing thing she was supposed to do so she moved her flight to be here on the 18th. When I called her, she was in California on vacation/at business training. It was about the only time I got emotional, but at that time I was saddest about having to tell her that she would miss his birth. (She was sad too as it was very hard for her to be that far away, especially after she worked so hard to be here for it).

Besides that emotional call to my sister, Adam and I had such a peace and even a sense of excitement. I was so sad after having a C-section with Jacob that that meant I was stuck having them from now on. I wanted that excitement, spontaneity that a “normal” birth would provide. How fun was it that God was giving me the excitement anyway! We had done this before. Parker had stayed in longer than Jacob. We had this, we knew what we were doing and we were excited to meet our little boy!

Side Note: You have to have amniotic fluid for the baby to live. If you don’t have enough, eventually the baby will die. Had I waited until my normal, scheduled appointment to have my blood work done, as opposed to calling and asking them to send me the order early, everything would have been pushed back 1 week. In 1 weeks’ time, my fluid went from a 6 to a 3. I don’t know what that extra week would have meant…would I have noticed less movement and gone to the hospital? Would Dr. AlMalt decided at that first appointment to deliver Parker or still put me on bed rest for a week? I don’t know and I don’t want to know. All I know is that I am so thankful that I was itching so badly and understood what needed to happen for me to get diagnosed, that I called the doctor early. God’s provision is amazing!!!

We arrived at the hospital and they were ready for us. Not only had Dr. AlMalt called ahead so they would be expecting me, but so had Stacy so they all knew who I was. Stacy was on vacation with the family and was on her way to hopefully make in time for the C-section. She is very, very good at her job and well-respected by the nurses so it is amazing to be there as her cousin. Everyone took really good care of me.

We expected to arrive and have to wait awhile for the C-section to happen. I packed a book and even some movies. When we arrived, they walked me back and gave me a gown to change into. We were confused and asked if this was happening now (Dr. AlMalt said it would be a few hours). She said they had an opening and the plan was to take me back by 3pm…it was 2pm! I changed and Adam frantically called all of the Grandmothers and told them to hurry up.

They took more blood and we had to wait for those results before they could begin the C-section. While waiting, I met everyone who was going to take care of me. The nurses were great (and again LOVE Stacy so that was a big bonus) and my doctor was Dr. Crider. The anesthesiologist was hilarious. He introduced himself as housekeeping and told my mom that I had already had the baby (she didn’t think that that was funny).

Before the surgery started, Dr. Crider asked if I had any questions. I told him I just had one important question—is the birthday suit available? The birthday suit is a larger room with a queen bed in it. They just have two of them on the floor. It was and he reserved it for me!

I wasn’t nervous at this point. I was in good spirits and excited. It was so strange that just that morning the day was an average day and now I was about to have my Parker. Finally, they wheeled me back to surgery…it was time to meet my little man!

The hardest part of the C-section was that they would not let Adam in until after my epidural. Once that was done, they let him in and brought out a mirror so that we could watch. The NICU team was in the operating room to check him out, but we were really praying that he would not have to go into the NICU.

I don’t really remember watching them pull him out (thankfully Adam took pictures), but I will never forget the sound of his cry (I never heard Jacob cry as the whisked him off so quickly). He cried and cried and cried and I cried…I loved that sound. Adam went over to look at him and he comes back over to me and tells me that the NICU team left and Parker was still in the room…he doesn’t have to go to the NICU!!!

Adam went with Parker to the nursery as the doctors finished stitching me up. Stacy (and Jen) finally made it to the hospital once I was in recovery. She started feeding me ice chips…I hadn’t eaten anything since 7am! I felt great in recovery and was chit-chatting with everyone. Parker had to go to the nursery for an hour before he could stay with me.

They wheeled me to my room and right after they got me situated in my bed, my Parker was brought into my room. I finally got to hold my baby! It was wonderful.

That day was a blur. I was tired and we had a lot of family there. I kept falling asleep. Jacob came that night to meet Parker. He was so cute and seemed really excited to meet his brother.

When we went to sleep that night, it was blissful. Our Parker came unexpectedly early, but he was perfect and I was doing great. Little did we know that the drama hadn’t even begun yet…

Wednesday-Friday

I hadn’t been able to eat anything the day before and was looking forward to breakfast. Breakfast didn’t like me and I didn’t eat again until dinner. The doctor on call came in and said that my hematocrits were low (same thing happened with Jacob) and that I needed a blood transfusion. I said OK (I felt so much better after I had one with Jacob so I didn’t care) and he was surprised and happy with my response. Once he left, I realized that I did feel a bit weak and was looking pale. I felt much better after the transfusion.

Normally after a C-section, your catheter gets removed the next day. Well, the nurse noticed that I had blood in my urine. The doctors concluded that I must have a blood clot in my bladder and they wanted to put in a different catheter to flush it out. They used a double lumen catheter. It is a bigger, thicker tube and has one that goes in and then another one that allows them to pump in fluid to flush out the clot. It has one more tube that allows them to extract any clots that get stuck in the tubing.

I thought I was going to jump off the bed when they inserted the catheter. It hurt like crazy and was so big and the tubing was cumbersome going to the IV stand where the fluid was hung. I couldn’t get dressed, I couldn’t shower (although I did later, with Adam’s help), couldn’t get around well. It was a pain (literally and figuratively).

The days all blurred together. Lots of kisses on my Parker, visits from my Jacob and still blood in my urine. I was catheterized for over 72 hours! They kept pushing fluids into my bladder to help flush out the clot.

They wanted to do a sonogram on my bladder to confirm that I had a clot and that nothing else was going on. They got me onto a transfer bed and wheeled me over to the x-ray. It took a while, but I didn’t mind. The bed in my room was so uncomfortable and the transport bed was so soft—I was happy to hang out a while and sleep on a nice, soft bed. The sonogram confirmed that I had a blood clot in my bladder and the plan was to continue flushing it out.

On Thursday a clot got stuck in the line which meant my bladder wasn’t being emptied. That is so not a fun feeling. They tried and tried to clear the line, but couldn’t so they decided to take out the catheter and put in a new one. As soon as they pulled it out, I peed all over myself. It was wonderful! I was in so much pain from an over-full bladder and was so relived to be, well, relived.

After inserting in the new catheter (and almost sending me off the bed again from the pain) and pumping more liquid into me to flush out the clot, there was still blood in my urine. On Friday the urologist decided he wanted an x-ray done on my bladder. This time there was no comfy transport bed, just a wheel chair. I was in pain from having a C-section, I was in pain from not moving around that much, I was in pain from the painful catheter being in me and having the nurses constantly messing with it…it was an unpleasant trip. Once in the x-ray room, there was a bed that was high up that I had to climb up on. I don’t know why they thought I would, post-surgery with tubing sticking out of me, be able to climb up on that thing, but with tears in my eyes, I made it up. They took the x-ray and the climb down off the bed and the trip back to my room hurt about just as badly as the trip to the x-ray room.

Most of my poor nurses had never worked with this kind of catheter before. It is typically used on prostate patients. I had had some good nurses, but my nurse on Friday didn’t really understand how to flush out the catheter. I started having more and more pain and it seemed like my bladder wasn’t draining right. The nursed messed with the catheter a lot (causing a lot more pain) and we thought it was all “fixed”. After dinner, Adam was going to take Parker to the nursery for the night. With all of the bladder complications, we were both exhausted and figured we would all enjoy a good night’s sleep.

While he was gone, I started to have worse and worse pain. I considered yelling for help as it hurt so badly, but instead I patiently waited for Adam to return. He called the nurse and got me situated back in bed. The nurse fiddled with the catheter more and the pain grew worse and worse.

The next hour is a blur. I was hollering and crying in pain. The nurses couldn’t figure out what to do. They called the doctor and it was Dr Crider who was on call. He came in and tried to figure out a plan. They gave me 2 rounds of Percocet and then a round of morphine. I was still crying from the intense pain. They did a sonogram on my belly and could see that my bladder wasn’t emptying.

At some point I just started singing a worship song with tears running down my face. In the chaos and intense pain, it seemed to bring peace. Dr Crider told us that if it was up to him, he’d just take out the catheter and see how I did. We agreed that that seemed like the best plan. Before they could get ready to remove it, I decided that I would try and relax, almost like I was going to go pee. Well, that is exactly what I did…I pee’d through the catheter. It was the second time I had pee’d all over myself and it was wonderful. Finally, the pressure and pain started to go away. They took out the catheter and I was able to pee on my own.

The x-ray from earlier in the day had shown that I had a 9cm blood clot in my bladder (that isn't much smaller than your bladder!). The concern was that, as I slept, it would over-fill again so we set the alarm to wake me up to pee every hour (I didn’t need the alarm as my bladder did a good job of waking me up).

Saturday

The urologist wasn’t happy that Dr Crider had taken the catheter out. Honestly, we didn’t care what he said. I was feeling soooo much better and was able to move around. He said he’d do a follow-up appointment with me once I was discharged and figure out a plan from there. I was so thankful that Dr Crider had made the decision that was best for my whole body, not just my bladder (never ever did I imagine my bladder would get so much attention!).

Fast Forward

I went to see the urologist a few days after I was discharged. I had been making sure I was waking up to pee enough in the night and drinking lots of cranberry juice. They did a sonogram and the clot was getting smaller. They wanted to see me back if my OB was still concerned at my 6-weeks follow-up visit. There were just trace amounts of blood in my urine at that appointment so I was cleared. I was so thankful to be done with that and if it ever happens again, I’ll ask them just to go back in and take it out. No more crazy catheters!!!

Back to Saturday…

Once the urologist cleared me, they were ready to discharge me from the hospital. I will never forget that day. It was amazing. I was wheeled out of the hospital holding my baby boy. My empty arms ached so badly when I left the hospital without Jacob just two-and-a-half years before. Full arms felt good! We left the hospital and there was a baby in the backseat of our car. God is so good!

God, time and time again, proves Himself faithful! Although we would have preferred to not have so much drama, I love how God wove Parker’s story and, yet again, showed us how much He is involved in every detail of our lives. I love my “dramatic” story and can’t wait to share with Parker one day how God was working in His life from the very beginning!