12 Years Ago Today......

Started out like any other day. I woke up and went to get myself a bowl of cereal for breakfast. But I didn't feel right. I was very nauseous which was a big surprise because even though I was pregnant, I was 28 weeks and had not even had a hint of morning sickness the entire time. I tried to ignore the feeling and go about my day, but as the day went on I felt worse. My whole body ached especially my back and the nausea turned into vomiting. After a call to my doctor's office they assumed I had a stomach bug and said if I wasn't feeling better by the next day to call back. By late that evening the pain had become much more intense and had settled on my right side. Every time the baby kicked it was complete agony. After another call to the doctor he wanted me to go to the ER because he thought I might have a kidney infection. After checking my white blood cell count which was though the roof, my doctor decided to have a surgeon check me out to rule out Appendicitis even though he was still thinking it was a kidney infection. No such luck. The surgeon stated that I had a classic case of appendicitis and had two choices. Either I had the surgery and the baby was probably going to die, or I didn't have the surgery and we both would die. Not exactly the words I wanted to hear. I wanted to be told the baby would be just fine. They went on to say that the trauma from the surgery would probably cause me to go into labor but they were prepared to transport the baby to Children's Hospital. My OB who had been delivering babies for over 25 years had never had a patient with appendicitis and the surgeon had never removed an appendix from a pregnant woman before. What choice did I have? We went to surgery.

They gave me spinal anesthesia because it posed the least amount of risk to the baby. I was numb from the neck all the way down to my toes. I was wide awake but could not even feel myself breathing. I could hear the doctors and nurses and the clicking of the minutes on the clock. When they started the surgery I had a long moment when I felt completely panicked and out of control,alone, and terrified beyond anything I could explain. I laid there, watched the clock and began to pray. In a few moments a feeling of complete peace came over me and a reassurance that everything was going to be OK. I knew with complete certainty that God was answering my prayers and that the baby would be alright.

We came out of surgery just fine. I never even had one contraction and her heart rate stayed strong. I was given a shot of Nubane for the pain as the spinal wore off, but all it did was make the baby go to sleep and stop moving but I could still feel the pain, so I refused any more pain shots and they switched me to Extra Strength Tylenol which barely touched the pain but it didn't affect the baby. I went home after 1 1/2 days in the hospital and spent two weeks on bed rest. The hardest part of my recovery was the baby constantly kicking my incision, but even though it was painful those kicks were also a comfort to me. I carried the baby full term and delivered Chelsea naturally at the end of February. She was my little miracle.

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