So, even though I thought the baby would never come, and I must have been somewhere around 34 weeks on my last entry, time got away from me and now there is a baby here!

Torben Alan Gates was born on May 20, 2010 via c-section at 11:42am, he was 6lbs 9oz and 18.5inches long! Mommy was exactly 37 weeks. I was hoping he would come early, but I didn't think he'd come in quite the fashion that he did or that early!

After my mom came into town we started slowly getting things together. I knew not to overdo it since I had been on bedrest for a month, but every couple of days we would take a trip and do some more shopping or preparing. On Friday the 14th of May, mom and I had taken the last trip to Jacksonville and Babies R Us. We were gone several hours and I noticed when I got home that my feet and ankles were pretty swollen. I know that's common at the end of pregnancy, but since I had high blood pressure before the pregnancy I took it with my monitor. It was really high, something like 140/100. I knew that was too high, so I laid down to rest for a little while and was still getting it pretty high. It was after hours for the OB and there is no longer an answering service or way to reach an on-call doctor aside from showing up at the hospital to be evaluated. In hind sight, maybe that's what I should have done. I waited until the morning to take it again and see if the office had Saturday hours. They didn't, and my BP was still too high, 140's/100's. So I called L&D, knowing they couldn't give me any real medical advice, but just wondering if I should go in or wait until my Tuesday appt. They advised me to rest as much as possible and to stop taking my blood pressure because I might not have been getting accurate readings. I had no other symptoms of pre-eclampsia aside from the high BP readings and some mild swelling.

On Tuesday, at my appointment, when the medical assistant took my blood pressure real fast, she got a reading of 120/70. That was more like the numbers that I had all during the pregnancy. But I felt uneasy since all during the weekend I was getting much higher numbers and it didn't make sense to me for it to go down so much so suddenly, so I expressed my concern to the doctor. He didn't retake my blood pressure, but since I'd had a history of high BP before pregnancy, he ordered some lab tests as an afterthought and encouraged me to keep an eye on my BP and swelling as I'd also gained 9lbs in 2 weeks and that was concerning him.

Wednesday, I got a call from the doctors office telling me that my lab work all checked out okay. No signs of pre-eclampsia, the girl on the phone also asked me what my BP had been since leaving the office. I told her, they were of course still high, so she said she'd let the doctor know and then call me back. Well she called right back and had me come in ASAP to see one of the other doctors for a BP check. This time when I was checked in and the nurse did it, she got 144/101. When I saw the doctor, I showed him the numbers I had been getting over the weekend and what I had gotten since seeing the other doctor the day before, he said "Those are pretty bad, I'm gonna take it again myself right now, but if its not any better, I'm gonna send you to the hospital." When he took it, he listened really carefully and pumped up the cuff a couple of times and then just said "Terrible. Its terrible, 160/100." So I went home real quick to grab some things and then to the hospital to be admitted for observation. I had a ton of bloodwork, an u/s to check the fluid and the baby's development, a 24 hour urine collection, monitoring on the baby, and bed rest. When the nurse was admitting me, she asked my due date and then chuckled, then she told me she was laughing only because I wasn't gonna make it that far. When I was admitted my BP was 171/112. So I had to lay on my left side, I think the lowest they could get it down to with that was 140/100. They called and let the doctor know and gave me something orally for it. I wasn't allowed to do anything but lay on my left side. I sat up once to read a book and talk to Brad when he was visiting, but it was too high and they made me lay back down on my left side. I figured I'd be stuck in that bed on my left side until my 24 hour urine collection was finished, which wouldn't be until 5:30pm the next day. First thing in the morning the nurse came in with the doctor and took my blood pressure. It was still too high 150's/100's. The doctor said "Nope, we need to have a baby today. And because of your blood pressure and the fact that your cervix is not favorable, I think we need to do a c-section." He explained to me that an induction could take 2 days and my blood pressure was sure to increase during labor. I asked him what the benefits of doing a c-section were compared to doing something like magnesium sulfate (for my blood pressure) and pitocin(to induce labor), and he told me that no matter what, I was getting put on magnesium sulfate. And that his recommendation, because of the amount of time an induction would probably take and how high my blood pressure was, was the c-section. So off I went. I got to take a shower before being transferred from the OB unit to L&D. Two nurses got me prepped and ready for surgery and started my mag sulfate, which was no fun at all, it has terrible side affects, makes you feel woozy, weak, and like your body is on fire, I knew about all of those things so I was prepared for them to happen, but it still sucked!

They had trouble putting the catheter in because Ben was so low they couldn't get it to advance past his little head. So the nurse had to try and push against my cervix/his head and my vaginal wall to see where the catheter was stuck and to try and move him off. THAT HURT! Eventually it took two nurses, a ton of work, and pain for them to do it. Not fun.

I went down to the surgery holding area and saw everyone from nurses to OR techs, to anesthesiologists! They gave me an extra IV "just in case"- which I ended up needing and asked me about a million times for my name and birthdate and what surgery I was having, haha. I think I was down there for about 30 minutes and then it was time to go! I got my spinal done, which was really pretty much painless and strapped to the table and prepped. Brad was in the waiting room waiting for them to be ready for him, all dressed in his surgical gear. They brought him in just as they were opening up my uterus, about 2 minutes later baby was out and crying! It was great! I was a little worried about him being only 37 weeks and a c/s baby, his lungs would just barely be getting mature and the magnesium sulfate sometimes makes them a little lethargic so they don't want to cry right away and clear the fluid out. But he did wonderfully! He only needed a tiny bit of oxygen blow-by and then he came over to us. We were able to cuddle him for a long time before he went up to the nursery with Brad. They took pictures of him and us for me, but now we can't find them :(! I think I was almost closed up by the time that Brad left.

At this hospital, they use the regular OR for the maternity patients also, so afterwards I went to the regular PACU (recovery room) as well. I just kept asking for ice chips or a sip of water, haha. They were super attentive to me there, at first I just thought that's because that's what they were used to since they are usually recovering people who were fully put to sleep and they stay right at the bedside, but now I am wondering if they were being so attentive because I was in trouble. I noticed after a little while that they were massaging my uterus a lot and changing my pads frequently, but I just thought they were being overly cautious. After a little bit of this, the nurse didn't say anything to me but that my uterus wasn't as firm as they wanted it to be and I was bleeding heavily, so they were gonna give me some cytotec(to firm my uterus and slow the bleeding), which they did and I guess they thought that helped. After a while of more massaging they said I had passed a few clots and called the doctor who ordered some more cytotec. I guess that didn't work the way they wanted it to, because they called the doctor and got an order for hemabate, I'm familiar with these medications and I know hemabate is a pretty strong medication, usually its only used when other medications aren't helping and the patient is still bleeding- a lot. Then I heard the nurse say that the doctor was coming to check me out. I think they had a little trouble getting the hemabate from the pharmacy or something because it seemed like it took a while. Once Dr Patterson got there he was continually massaging my uterus to try and get it to firm and I guess he said it would firm some, but then not stay that way. I started feeling faint just as they laid me flat. I thought it was because they had given me something for pain in the IV, but when I started to feel like I had cotton in my ears and I couldn't hear people and the room seemed darker I realized it was from losing too much blood! I think I said "I am starting to feel faint..." Dr Patterson just looked at me and tried to smile and said "Aw, I bet you are." I also noticed that the amount of people behind my curtain doubled suddenly. I had fluids going in both IV's and one of the nurses on each side of me was squeezing an IV bag to make it go in faster. People were rushing around, another nurse was drawing blood, one was trying to help turn me to take the bloody stuff away, one nurse was stroking my hair and saying soothing things, and all the while Dr Patterson was mashing on my belly! I think I started whimpering a little bit at all the pressure on my belly and them turning me often to change the pads. I managed to look over and see the blood pressure monitor had my blood pressure at 73/36, I said "Hmm, that's not good." And the doctor apparently found that amusing because he said "No, not really, but its not high anymore!" (He knows I'm an OB nurse) I never really felt panicky or scared, just out of it and in pain from all the mashing on my belly. It was surreal, almost like it wasn't me there in the bed. People kept apologizing over and over, I guess they thought they were causing me pain, but I remember thinking it was strange that people were apologizing when they were helping me! Finally they had the hemabate and that seemed to do the trick, once I stopped bleeding I heard the doctor order 2 units of blood for me. I think I was more with it once the first one was in, they put it in pretty quickly. Then I was finally taken back upstairs to my room with tons of IV lines and the whole works going. I was just happy the PACU nurse let me have a ginger ale!

I had to spend the next 24 hours or so on mag, getting my blood drawn I don't know how many times. I know I had it drawn a couple times for the blood transfusions and then I think they were also drawing it every 6 hours for the mag level. They didn't want me to eat anything in case I had a seizure from the high blood pressure they didn't want me to aspirate. I made a nuisance out of myself constantly begging for something to drink and trying to get my mom or Brad to put more water in my cup when the nurses weren't looking! I wasn't allowed to get out of bed either because the magnesium makes you so weak. I had heard patients describe being on Magnesium as feeling like you've been hit by a semi-truck, but I didn't really know what that meant until it happened to me! It really does, you feel exhausted, like you can barely move. I got duramorph in my spinal for the surgery and the pain relieving effects of that usually last about 24 hours, once that wore off I was in a TON of pain. My belly felt crazily bruised and I actually started to feel pain from the incision as well. It got better though once they started giving me motrin and percocet. I got to a regular room later Friday night, spent all day Saturday on blood pressure watch and then got to go home on Sunday!

I've tried blogging in the past, but with nothing really interesting to say, or shifts at work to complete, somehow my blogging always gets lost along the way. So this time I am gonna give it one more earnest try! I am hoping that it will serve as a way to keep all our family connected and updated to what is new with us! I make a pretty good effort at keeping up with Facebook so hopefully our families can see what is going on through there, but with everything else going on in facebook, I think we get lost in the crowd! So we'll see how this works, I have high hopes that it will work better.

For anyone who needs a quick refresher: we're thisclose to being settled in here New Bern, NC. Where Brad is doing his AV-8B Harrier RAG training. He's busy, busy, busy. And I keep him busier as I am 34 weeks pregnant with our first, a baby boy, and on modified bedrest! We had a slight scare at the beginning of the month of April with some bleeding. I had a short stay of 2 nights in the hospital, baby looked great the whole time, but since the Doctor couldn't be sure that I wouldn't have another episode of bleeding, he so nicely prescribed me modified bedrest. He is pretty relaxed though. I can be up on the couch, go outside and sit for some fresh air. Do very very light activity around the house. I try to help Brad out by getting the laundry started or sitting on the floor and folding, but I'm so big and I feel like I move so slow, I don't know if I am really much help to him! I can leave the house for "short, quick, emergency trips" but no pushing a cart around WalMart or Target or spending an hour in Babies R Us shopping.

Brad has been great about doing all the grocery shopping, and some of the other military families in Brad's squadrons have so graciously been bringing us a meal or two a week. Which really helps! Brad will cook a lot on the weekends and try to have things ready for me to fix quick if he's going to be working late, which lately is often.

The baby's room is very close to ready, it just needs some cubby type shelves for toys and books. He doesn't have a lot now, but I know as he grows, he's going to get a hefty collection of toys and books! We have a few more rooms left in the house that need some things hung up on the walls, and then the whole house in general just needs a good cleaning.

My mom is coming in to town next week on May 5th to help spruce up a little as some of the military wives have amazingly offered to bring a baby shower to me, since I am really not supposed to be going anywhere. I didn't want any added stress on Brad in getting the house tidy and clean since its going to be a short evening shower during the week. Hopefully after mom being here for a couple weeks, we will be able to get some idea of when the baby might want to come. I know, I know- pipe dreams. But just maybe, at least an idea of whether he's gonna come in 3-4 weeks or be plenty late and come in 6-7 weeks from now! I hope the little guy is kind and gives me a break by coming just a little before my due date.

Once I go into labor or have some sort of debt set for something, Brad's parents are probably going to come out and then stay for a little bit to help after we bring baby home, and then my mom will go back home after her visits with baby. I'm never sure how much time the Marines are gonna let Brad take off when the baby is born. I think he is alotted 12 days (??) but I don't actually know how many he will be "allowed".

I've been spending my bedrest reading, cross-stitching, petting the kitties, and watching the entire season collections of the TV show LOST on our netflix online account. And I'll admit it... browsing the internet for baby things... it's the only shopping I get to do!

My intention is to send this blog out to everyone who wants to keep up with us so they can bookmark it, and then update it several times a week with pictures, stories, and goings on. I think it will be easier for all parties involved as far as the telling (me) and the reading (you!)

I'll post some pictures of baby/house stuff tomorrow! Goodnight!