May. 20, 2008 - An End and A Beginning - part 2

Everyone expected....

           the platelet count to be good.  The treatments I was given during my pregnancy were expected to work.  My doctors gave me less than 5% chance of the baby having low platelets.  They expected to send me home to wait for spontaneous labor.  The resident OB even checked my cervix before my cordecentisis - I was 3cm dilated.  He told me that after the cordecentisis, they could give me something to get my labor going if I wanted.  Of course, I wasn't going to let them do that.  There was no serious thought in anyone's mind that I might actually be having the baby that day.  Anyone, that is, except my husband. In his slightly pessimistic mind - made even more so by its drugged state - he really believed that the treatments didn't work and I was going to need the cesarean.  When my doctor came back, there was an immediate flurry of motion around the operating room.

                                                With worried eyes, she told me that the platelet count was only 7,000.

To be sure the machine count was correct, the hematologist himself came to do a manual counto f the platelets under a microscope.  They prepped me for surgery while they waited for the results.  When Victoria was born at 38 weeks, her platelet count was 6,000 and my doctors said it was the lowest they had ever seen.  And, with her, we had no treatment whatsoever during the pregnancy.  This time, even with treatment, our baby's platelets were at near fatal levels at 37 weeks, confirming to us that this problem gets worse with each pregnancy.  The hematologist confirmed the machine count.

Because of my own dropping platelet levels, I was told I would have to have general anesthesia.  For reasons I still don't understand, it is dangerous to give an epidural when the patient has low platelets.  (I always thought "you can't stick a needle in my back but you can cut me open?"  Doesn't make sense.  But eventually I came to realize that the reason was probably  not the safety of one procedure over another.  I believe that they wanted me under general anesthesia in case I started to hemorrhage and they needed to act quick and not have me panicking.) 

Russ came into the operating room wearing a paper "suit" over his clothes and a cute paper "shower cap" on his head.  He held my hand for a moment and I told him to call our parents.  I thought he looked really worried... but that could have been his drugs, or mine!  So there we were, two heavily-medicated people holding hands and realizing that neither of us would have a clear recollection of our son's birth.  He kissed me and disappeared into the hallway.

           Gabriel Morgan

was delivered into the world at 12:47pm.  I was told he gave a loud cry (a forewarning of what was to come for us!) and scored a 9 on his 1 minute Apgar and again on his 5 minute Apgar.  He weighed 7lb, 5oz and was 20 inches long.  Russ was allowed to see him as he was being weighed and examined and even managed to take a picture with our digital camera.  That picture was all I would see of my son for 24 hours.

Tuesday morning, I was encouraged to get up and walk.  It was very painful and the morphine only took the edge off.  However, my motivation was up on the 8th floor of the MUSC Children's Hospital (which was attached to the main hospital by long, scary corridors) in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  If I could get out of bed, they would take me to see the precious new addition to my family.  I did get out of bed and I did get to visit my son and nurse him.  Although if he didn't look so much like Russ, I wouldn't have felt like he was mine.  There was something missing from our early bonding process, no doubt due to the fact that I was uncounscious when he was delivered.  But we're making up for that and I love the little munchkin dearly!

Tuesday afternoon, Russ came back to the hospital and we went to see Morgan together.  This was also the momentous day when Russ finally passed his kidney stone.  I was very, very weak and found out late Tuesday that my hemoglobin level was 6.5 - roughly half of normal.  My doctors recommended a blood transfusion and I agreed.  They did the transfusion that night.  The difference in my energy levels afterward was amazing.

I was released from the hospital on Tuesday, the 10th and Morgan was allowed to come home the next day.  While in the NICU, he had one platelet transfusion and two rounds of IVIG, bringing his platelet count to over 100,000.  As of January 30th, his platelet count was over 400,000 and he will not need to have it checked again.  I am recovering from my c-section, though that process is going slow.  There is a large blood clot under my incision between the skin and muscle tissue that is causing me a lot of discomfort.  Because there is no infection, my doctors are just going to let it reabsorb on its own.  IN the meantime, I just have to get through it.

Victoria has responded to her new brother in a mixed fashion.  Some moments she wants absolutely nothing to do with him.  At other moments, she wants to hold him, pat his back, or rub his head.  When he is crying she is quick to tell me he's hungry.  "Brother hungry momma, give milk."  She is also very helpful in taking diapers to the trash and bringing his blanket to me.  "Here brother blanket."  The only disapproval she shows is when Morgan is near her blanket or her doll -two things she has made it clear he is not to touch!

So the first month of 2002 has been a mix of difficult situations and wonderful blessings.  There is a song that says, "every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." That is never more true than when a baby is born.  I am glad my pregnancy has come to an end.  We give glory to God for bringing us all through this healthy and (almost) sane!  Now, we face the always-tough but rewarding adventure of parenting another child.  We want to thank all of you for your prayers and all your wonderful words of encouragement and support.  Our house goes on the market today and soon we will be returning to Maryland.  Your continued prayers are appreciated as we go through this less serious, but still challenging, new transition in our lives.

Take care and God Bless.

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I'm glad you've hung in here with me through this entire story.   There have been many rocky roads for us to travel but God has been right beside us, stretching us, growing us, comforting us - though sometimes we didn't see it.  God gave us a some time to walk on a relatively smooth path after Morgan was born. It led to a gate; a beautiful gate made of solid gold with amazing flowers intricately impressed upon its glistening surface. Who wouldn't want to enter and find out what special things lay on the other side? 


...up next - what lay on the other side (the steepest, rockiest climb we'd faced yet).