The birth story of my Miss Elliana Rose

Friday 12.16.11
We had our routine check-up appointment with the doctor that morning at 9AM. My BP was slightly high for me but everything else looked good...until my doctor checked me to see if I was dialating. Once he saw my poor swollen thighs, calves, feet and toes he asked if I was still working? I told him yes, and he quickily responded with, not anymore. You are on BEDREST...This was not music to my ears because I had planned to work until I was in labor. I am not one for sitting around not to do anything, especially with the holidays coming up.

As we were leaving my mom asked my doctor "what are my chances of making my EDD" (January 11th) he chuckled and said not very likely, she might be having this lil one by next week. A ton of emotions hit me at once. I was excited. I was scared. I was nervous. I was angry. It was starting to hit me that I could have this lil one sooner than planned. Was I ready? Would she be okay?

We then had to hang around so they could do some bloodwork on me. Once they drew 4 tubes of blood we headed home so I could be on house arrest aka bedrest. My bloodwork came back fine!

Sunday 12.18.11
I woke up not feeling 100% I had a headache that lingered with me all day long. My mom took my BP which was 155/106. She immediately called L&D where they intructed her to bring me in. I started balling in fear that I had pre-eclamsia and I was going to have to do an emergency c-section. So with tears in my eyes, the hubbs and I went upstairs to pack our hospital bags and to clean up, since we thought we would have our lil one that day...

I checked into L&D where they watched my blood pressure and they did some more bloodwork on me. After a few hours of laying there, my headache was allievated and the results of my bloodwork came back negative, so I was sent home with strict instructions to stay in bed.

Monday 12.19.11
I had a follow up appointment with the doctor that morning. Once again my blood pressure was high for me. He told me that I had early signs of pre-eclamsia. I was scared because I read results of this could be death for me and/or my baby. He sent us over to L&D once again where I spent the night as they watched over me. My blood pressure went down and they sent me home that morning.

By this time the hubbs and I were very anxious, because everyday was a waiting game and going back and forth to the hospital. But my doctor wanted to wait until I hit my 37 week atleast, which was in 2 days, that way my lil Ella would be considered "full term."

Wednesday 12.21.11
We had another check-up with my doctor at 8:30am that morning. Once again my BP was high and once again my doctor sent me to L&D. The hubbs had missed work for the last couple of days to stay by my side. So before we left the doctors office I asked what are the chances of him working that day? His reply was 0%, I think today is the day and he would come see us around lunch time.

So the hubbs and I headed to L&D once again...We were checked in to room #2. Once again I was hooked up to all these machines. I pretty much knew the rountine by this point :) So all I could do was lay there and wait until my doctor came to see me. He came in around 1:00 and gave us the different options we could do. I really had my heart set on a all natural vaginal birth and he told me it was still possible, but I would have to be put on mega-sulfate, which helps my BP from sky rocketing, but would cancel out my contractions, which I was having regularly on my own. They would also start a bag of pitocin in hopes to help progress my contractions, but most likely the mega-sulfate would cancel out the pitocin and my contractions. But we decided to give it a try.

Side effects of the mega-sulfate are feeling feverish, and symptoms like you have the flu. So the started pumping me full of fluids around 1:20pm and all we could do was wait to see if my contractions would progress.

The doctor came back in around 5:30pm to check if I had made any progress.....Nope! So he gave us some more options but we opted to press on for a few more hours with high hopes of changes.

He came back in around 8:00pm.....still no progress. He said we can keep going but this could take hours. By this point I did not feel well at all. I hadn't eaten anything all day and the symptoms of the mega-sulfate were really getting to me. I told him let's get this going and let's just do a c-section. (This was my last resort, but needed at this point) So he prepped his team and we headed to the operation room around 8:45pm with my mom and hubby by my side.

They had a hard time getting the medication in my back, since I was a little swollen and then I was all bones. So after what seemed like forever, success! My body immediately went numb from the shoulders down. It was the craziest feeling! They put up the blue curtain and began the surgery. I felt really nausious from the medication, which was normal. So all I could do was close my eyes and focus on breathing. The operation seemed fast to me because before I knew it, I could hear my little girl cry. The room cheered and I could hear them say she was born December 21, 2011 @ 21:21 (9:21pm)

The 1st time I held my little girl

She was taken to the nursery where the hubbs was able to give her a bath for the 1st time.

When she was born she didn't clear all the fluids from her lungs, so she had some troubles with her breathing. So she had to have some oxygen.

Once I had a few mintues to recover, I was taken into the nursery to see my lil one for the 1st time. She was absolutely beautiful. I was instantly in love and my eyes filled up with tears.

Although, we had a rough start and my labor did not go according to plan. I am so thankful that we were able to leave with Elliana on Christmas day. The perfect gift!
yours truly, Mr. & Mrs. Johns