Quite a scare

Well this weekend has been an interesting one. We got quite a scare on Saturday. I was half way to work when I heard my phone beep because I had missed a call. It was from Sara. I called her back and I could tell right away something was wrong. She told me that she had started bleeding a bit and that we had to go to the hospital. I asked how bad and she said not to bad but because of the past history she knew that they were going to want her to go. Of course I turned around and did about 60 the whole way home.

I got home and Sara was doing ok. She said that she felt Claire move about 5 minutes before she noticed the bleeding. So we headed to Northside Hospital in Atlanta. We were told to go to the women's center. I had my fingers crossed the whole way that they would not send us to the ER. We got there and the women's center kept Sara. We were sent to room LH7 in like 15 minutes and they started running a bunch of tests. First they noticed that she had a bit of a bladder infection. Then the nurse came in with the heartbeat monitor to get Claire's heartbeat. Our fingers were crossed the whole time. She found it pretty quick and Sara said she could feel her moving around a lot. That right there was a huge relief. Let me say the nurses are all so nice and so friendly.

We then got to go get an ultrasound and see what was going on. Sara's perinatal specialist was there that knows all of her history. Audra did the initial ultrasound. She had mentioned that because we were getting one today we did not have to have one this Thursday. I told Sara that we needed to know for sure what the sex was of the baby. So we told Audra that the regular doctor had told us a while back but we would like a definite confirmation. Audra decided to make it a point that it be the first thing she looked at. "It's a girl!" Sara and I were very happy. Claire Bear is here to stay. So Audra showed us her hands and feet, she does have 5 fingers and 5 toes on each. We got to see her head, abdomen, femur, stomach, kidneys, her heart and her brain. It was all really really cool. They said that she looked great and that she weighed around 12 ounces. My little girl is getting so big :-).

Well they also checked Sara out and here comes the interesting part. Dr Lopezina (sorry if I spelt that wrong doc) said that the placenta is growing two close to the cervix. Sara has what is called marginal placenta previa. It is dangerous because the cervix and the placenta can tear away from each other and cause bleeding. Since Sara is on blood thinners they are worried about potential severe blood loss. Now, the good news is that as the placenta grows it could move away from the cervix, or the bad news, it could grow over the cervix.

Depending on what happens all of this news throws us a lot of curve balls. Dr Lopezina said that we are probably looking at a c-section at 36 or 37 weeks with the confirmation that the baby is full grown and developed. We are also looking at a potential of bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy or a complete hospitalization until the end of the pregnancy. We are not sure yet. Dr. Lopezina talked to the OB-GYN Dr Nix and explained everything that they saw. Bottom line is Sara is in the hospital for observation over the next couple of days.

As we were headed back upstairs to the room Sara looked at me and said "and I thought that if we got to 20 weeks then we were passed all the hurdles and obstacles and we would be ok". I laughed and said "C'mon, did you really think that Claire was going to make this easy." We got a good laugh. It was nice to know that she and mom were ok. We were sent back to LH7 for a bit while they tried to find us a room. As soon as we got back Sara had a lunch waiting for her of turkey and gravy, potatoes and a veggie with dessert. It looked pretty good. Since she was staying a while they said that they are going to try and get us moved soon.

Moving time! Not so fast. No nice room, just down the hall to LH4 this time. It was bigger, not luxury but bigger. We were told that there was no good rooms available until Monday and they were very apologetic about that. The OB-GYN Dr Nix came down and explained everything in detail. She said that they would see how things go over the next few days and take it from there. I ran home and got all of Sara's medicine and some clothes for her. I called my mom and asked her to stay with us for a while and help me out since I have to work a lot over the next couple of days. She said of course and that was a huge weight lifted off of me and Sara. Now we know Phoebe and Wes will be ok. Sara's mom went and spent the afternoon with her at the hospital which was great because it kept Sara occupied.

When I got back to the hospital I learned that they have opened up a room for Sara. Our new room 135! Room 135 is in the High Risk Prenatal section. This is the place to be. Sara gets moved up there about 7:30pm. We both got a huge laugh as we were walking in because this is what we see on the room marker:



Spelt wrong? Um ya. Anyway, Sara is really taken care of hand and foot. Nurses come in and check on her, feed her, ask her if she needs anything all the time. I left at about 9 or so because poor Sara was tired. It had been a long day. I went home and got NO sleep at all. She was not there with me, Phoebe was wondering where her mommy was. It was a tough night. I was up at 7 this morning to go see her before I had to go to work at 11.

I brought Sara a few more things that she wanted and the Sunday paper for us to read. I missed her so much I could not wait to finally get to the room. It seemed I could not walk fast enough through the halls to see her. She was awake and waiting for me. She was just sitting there watching "A Few Good Men On" on tv. The 2 hours I was there it was busy in that room. Sara had already had breakfast. The nurse came in and did all of Sara's vitals. They listened for Claire's heartbeat which was a little hard to find. She was way down in the back. They found it though and she was ticking away. Dr Nix came up to see Sara and see how she was doing. Sara told her she was still spotting some and that she had some cramping during the night. The doctor seemed concerned and I kind of got the idea from the doctor that the "few days" may be a little extended now. We shall see. The snack cart lady came by and let Sara pick from a whole cart full of snacks. Then the lady that handles the meals came by. They take orders for the next several meals. Sara had to place her order for today's lunch and dinner and tomorrow's breakfast and lunch. For lunch today she had chicken cordon blue and yellow rice. Dinner is grilled chicken sandwich and french fries. Breakfast is eggs and bacon and lunch tomorrow is meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I was floored. She is going to be eating well. After I left today she said that she got up to take a shower and they put all new bed linens on and the cleaning people came and cleaned the room. She feels like she is at a resort.

So that is the weekend in a nutshell. Bottom line is we need to kind of wait it out and see what is going to happen. One of the nurses said they have the "3 strikes and your out" rule. That is where if you have this bleeding episode 3 times then you are in the hospital until you give birth. Maybe with Sara it will be the one or two strike rule because of her past history. Not sure. All I ask is everyone please keep us in your prayers. I cannot thank you all enough for all the prayers we have already received. Saturday was a huge scare and kind of let us both know we are not in the clear yet. Claire is so important to both of us already. The health of her and Sara is all I want right now. As I find out anything more I will let all of you know.