Best By Oct. 08

Stop mocking me, Apple Juice. 

Most of you have been lead here by the big events of the past week - our precious baby Sloan (formerly known as Warby) was born on August 15, 2012. I'm sure many of you are thinking "but I thought you weren't due until October 8th?". Well, you'd be right. Here's the low down on how we skipped 8 weeks of pregnancy (for the record, I don't recommend anyone else trying to do this)...

It all started back during our Week 28 and Week 30 check ins. The Week 28 check in was with a midwife who thought my blood pressure was getting a little high. They did a few blood tests & everything came back normal, but they suggested I start taking my BP at home just to keep tabs on it. During our Week 30 visit, my blood pressure was much better, but now I wasn't showing enough belly growth between the two visits. So a follow up appointment with the imaging center was made for 8/8. We soon discovered that Warby was only measuring in the 5th percentile (anything below the 10th percentile is considered the 'danger zone') and that, coupled with my elevated BP numbers, could be cause for concern. The Dr ordered two rounds of steroid shots as a precautionary measure (they help with lung growth) and instructed me to come back twice a week from now until Week 36.

Our first check up was on August 14th - Week 32. All of the Doppler images of the placenta looked better (check for blood flow, etc), but my BP was 140/90 exactly. The Dr got a very serious face and told me that if my numbers went up at all for our next visit he would be sending me to the hospital for monitoring. Little did he know I was headed there anyway...

Finding a cab to the hospital 

I woke up Wednesday morning with cramps (now I know they were contractions) and bleeding. I also was not feeling Warby move, and she was always very active. After a quick phone call with my Dr (who had just reviewed the notes from the previous day's imaging visit) she suggested we just go ahead and go to the hospital.

The On-Call Dr (Dr. Flagg) was waiting for us and they whisked us away into a triage room. They strapped me up to some machines & quickly found Warby's heart rate - it was at 148, a good number. Relief! She was still there! But, in the time it took Barry to sign three admission papers, I had a sudden hot flash and another contraction. The nurse came in and said her HR dropped to 90. They had me lay on my left side, lay on my right, then get on all fours to find a better pulse. Each time I moved positions, another 3-4 doctors would come into the room. Dr. Flagg quickly announced "we're going to have to deliver your baby now". It appeared as though I had developed preeclampsia and it was causing the placenta to separate from the uterus. They immediately started wheeling me to the Operating Room - so fast in fact that my IV, which was still being put in, almost got ripped out. They told me they would try to keep me awake and just give me an epidural, but about 10 seconds in the OR they decided it was best to knock me out. I just told them "do what you have to do". I said a quick prayer and the gas mask went on my face...

Barry had to wait outside the operating room from here on out. He was putting on scrubs as he walked down the hall, and barely had time to process what was going on. There were quite a few anxious minutes outside of those doors, but everyone that passed in and out assured him that things were going well. Finally, a few minutes later he heard crying and knew that Warby was here! We got to the hospital no earlier than 9:30am; the time was now 10:04am and our daughter was here.

Proud Papa

"Warby" (the hospital called her "BG", or Baby Girl Loudis) was born at 3lbs, 1 oz. She was breathing on her own (Praise the Lord for the steroid shots!), but they took her to the NICU pretty quickly. They woke me up about an hour later with the good news; Barry also insisted I look at the awesome view from the OR...I was not interested in anything but sleeping. My blood pressure was still pretty high in the recovery room so they put me on Magnesium Sulfate. Talk about making you loopy! For the next 36 hours I would sleep for 2 hours, then wake up for 30 minutes and struggle to focus/keep my eyes open. Rinse & Repeat.

By Thursday afternoon they wheeled us up to the 13th Floor and we got settled in our room. I was finally able to meet Warby that night around 7pm. I was still a little out of it, but it was such a joy to finally meet my little girl. They even took her out of the incubator so I could hold her for a little while.

The next three days were a blur of NICU visits, needle pricks and blood pressure cuffs. By Sunday afternoon our time was up and we had to head home. It is a sad moment to walk out of the hospital with all your material stuff, but without your baby. But, as you'll see in the next post, she is being well taken care of by the best Dr's & nurses one could hope for.

It's not a very conventional birth story but it's our story; and we couldn't be happier or more blessed to have our perfect, little bundle of joy.