An Amazing Woman

This past weekend has been long, exhausting, and traumatic. Now that it is all over I need to tell you about an amazing woman. That woman is my sister, Cathy. On Friday evening Cathy was admitted into the hospital because she had developed pre-eclampsia/toxemia in her pregnancy. Over the past couple of months she has had excessive swelling, and last week her blood pressure was rising. They ordered some blood work, and that is what landed her in the hospital. I hated hearing the nurses say it all weekend, but she was very sick.

I ended up going down there around 11:30 pm on Friday and was there until Sunday late afternoon. They had her on Magnesium (the nurses told her it would make her feel like she had been hit by a semi). She actually did well with it until later on Sunday. The Mag. was given to her to increase her threshold so that she wouldn't go into convulsions. The problem with that is it is a muscle relaxer for the uterus...so it was kinda counter productive for her induction. She was given a pill once every four hours that helped to soften her cervix, and get it ready for labor. This went on until 4:00 PM on June 2. That is when her water broke. Once her water broke they started her on pitocin. This made it very hard on her because we found out the baby was posterior (like Caden was) So with every contraction that she had there were shooting pains all across her lower back. This went on for 18 hours without an epidural! She was absolutely miserable. I wish that I could have done more for her. I was/am so amazed at how well she did with the pain. She was practically dilated to a 10 minus the little lip of the cervix that needed to thin out. Because the baby was already in the birth canal...his little head continued to hit up against that lip, and caused it to swell. There was no way that the swelling was going to go down, and that is when they opted for the c-section.

The c-section was very risky. The reason why they didn't do it in the first place was because her platelets were so low. Platelets are the cells in your blood that help it to clot. A normal person has 300,000 to 400,000 in their blood. When Cathy was admitted she only had 73,000. (In order to have an epidural your platelet level has to be atleast 100,000) They didn't want to have to do a c-section because there is a possibility that her blood would not clot. Her platelet level got as high as 95,000, but fluctuated alot through out the whole process. By the time it was decided to have the c-section they were up to 85,000. So she couldn't get an epidural or a spinal block. She had to be completely put out. Because she was put out, Jesse (her husband) could not be in the room. We sat in her room until they came and got us...when the baby was in the nursery.

She had the baby at 12:08 pm on Sunday, and he is doing really well. However, she was not. By the time she was going to go into surgery her kidney were not functioning very well. She was getting rid of little to no fluid...and then the fluid was practically just blood. She spent the next day in the ICU so that she could be under constant supervision. Yesterday she was finally upgraded in her status, and once a room opens up in post partum she will be able to move back downstairs, and be with her baby. She still has a long road for recovery, but atleast she is progressing.

Cathy really has been so strong through all of this. I know that she doesn't think so, but she really was. She hardly complained, and took each contraction like a trooper. She was completely exhausted because she really didn't get much sleep...she was awake for practically 48 hours. My heart ached for the process that she had to go through. My deliveries have been wonderful experiences, and hers was an absolute nightmare. She only got to see her baby for the first time almost 24 hours after he was born. I am just thankful that she is doing better, and she no longer has to deal with the pain that she has endured this weekend. It really is incredible the sacrifices that we make in order to bring a precious little child into this world. I want to introduce to the newest little member of my extended family. This is Dylan.