Some Serious Stuff

I don't think anyone of us (especially me, I was on so many drugs) realized just how serious last week was and really could've been had God not done a miracle. This is what happened as best as I can remember it. My blood pressure was taken later Sunday evenong and it was 183/119. For those of you who don't know that's the point when they start worrying about seizures happening. And it defined me as having severe preeclampsia. So my Dr. came in and simply said it's time to have the baby, I was of course in complete shock b/c I felt completely normal. So since it's was considered an emergency c-section they couldn't wait for all my supper to digest and got me prepped for the surgery asap.  Because of the high blood presseure they loaded me up on magnesium sulfate (to keep from seizing) but it made me so so so so sick. Lincoln was born and they started putting me back together and I started throwing up. FYI: Not fun while your stomach is cut open! It took them alot longer to put me back together b/c they essentially had to start over each time I barfed. (I later learned that this was a reflex when they would put pressure on my uterus to stitch it back up, so eventually they just had to do it even though I was vomiting through it all).  Oh AND before the c-section I had told Tyler to follow Lincoln to the NICU after he was born to make sure he was ok, not thinking that I would be in worse condition than Lincoln!  So I had to endure that horrible experience without him by my side.

After they had finished they rolled me to the recovery room (which I should've only been in for two hours turned into 4 almost 5 hours. Little did anyone know that I was actually a lot sicker than anyone thought.  I had this incredible pain right under my rib cage and above my stomach.  I've never felt so much pain.  (I found out later that my liver enzymes were 300 times their normal levels and had basically doubled in size and if it had ruptured it would've been fatal).  They kept me on Magnesium Sulfate until Tuesday morning. A normal level of it is "1" and I was up to "13" by the time they took me off of it.  I was throwing up multiple times per hour because of it's effects.  The Magnesium Sulfate's function is to decrease the risk of seizures and progress to eclampsia. 

Monday is when the H.E.L.L.P. syndrome (Hemalytic anemia, Elevated Liver enzymes, Low Platelets) started and my liver enzymes went 300 times their normal levels, my platelet count came down from above 200,000 to 24,000 and at some point my kidney's stopped receiving blood and basically stopped functioning. They told me if my platelet levels would've reached below 20.000 they were going to give me a blood transfusion. Luckily it never dropped that low! They were really worried about my kidney's and almost put me on dialysis.  Luckily I turned the corner right before they had to start dialysis and never was put on it.  My kidney doctor was always very positive about my kidney's returning to their full function and always reassured me that each day my numbers were looking better and better. 

The chance of getting this H.E.L.L.P syndrome is about 1/1,000 and can be deadly. I think this actually set in for me yesterday (right after being dismissed from the hospital) when my mom went to get all my prescriptions filled and told the pharmacist what I had had and she asked if all my organs came back. I was just like "wow, this really could've been bad!" So slowly but surely everything did come back to normal but for the first three days they were drawing my blood and doing labs every 4 hours. That's why my arms looked like I was a drug addict. I was so out of it at first that I really don't remember what happened until late Wednesday evening. My family keeps saying things like, "well your nurse this day did this," and "you don't remember so and so visiting?" I remember seeing and holding Lincoln on Monday, hardly anything on Tuesday and then seeing Lincoln again on Wednesday. I remember being sick and throwing up all over the bed and all our family being there on Monday but this is really everything. I'm glad that they didn't let on to me how serious everything was but I really wish they would've told Tyler more information. He really didn't know what was going on with me until afterwards.

Lincoln's birth was completely God's perfect timing. I was able to keep in him there as long as I could and my Dr. told me that Sunday evening she really didn't have a "scientific" reason to take Lincoln, she just knew it was time. If we would've waited any longer, I still would've gotten the H.E.L.L.P syndrome and it possibly could've fatal for Lincoln and much worse for me than it already was. I just Praise Jesus for keeping us all safe during it all and most importantly for being alive! I'm so glad to be on this side of it now. Lincoln is doing wonderfully and I'm slowly recovering. The main kind of recovery for me now is gaining back my muscles. After 8 1/2 weeks on bedrest, my muscles have basically atrophied and I'm incredibly weak. I'm so glad my mom is here to help take care of me for a few days, I can't drive until next week so she's able to help that way and just getting things for me because I tire out so easily. The physical therapist said not to get frustrated because this will be a long term recovery. Little by little I'll get my strength back.

I think it was completely a God thing as well that I didn't get emotional throughout the entire thing (I'm am now as I look back and see what really happened) but if I would've been emotional throughout it all, I think I would've taken longer to get well. Lincoln was doing so well that I didn't have to worry about him 24/7 which was an amazing gift.

So that's really all I have right now, just wanted to fill everyone in on what really happened last week and to give God all the glory He deserves from it because He was the only one in Control the Entire Time!!!