July 5th

Nope, she's not been born yet.

You'll have to excuse me, but my blog is about to become my journal on this little adventure with our (as-yet-unnamed) daughter and her birth story. I want to remember the details and because I didn't grab a journal to bring with me (or even think about it) this is the best way I know how.

July 5th

I guess maybe I should have noticed that something wasn't quite right from the night before. We had spent a lovely evening watching the fireworks in Heidi and Kent's backyard. My sweet husband had even brought our lazy boy recliner up for me to sit on in the lawn because I had been complaining of a sore back. (yes, we know it's a little white trash, but you'll get over it)

For me, complaining about a sore back wasn't that unusual lately. I've been seeing a chiropractor for the last couple of weeks for a herniated disk and a swollen siatic nerve, which is maybe why I didn't think anything of the pain that I was experiencing.

Anywho, so I sat outside and we watched fireworks and did all that good stuff. Brad & Tiffany who were in town a little early for the reunion went with the Simmons down to Clarkston to watch another firework show. (we couldn't get too crazy up at the Simmons because the wheat hadn't been harvested and we didn't want to be responsible for burning down the whole hill.) Kyle and I decided to stay home (me mostly because my back was really starting to hurt and Kyle because I think he just wanted to stay with me - so sweet)

We ended up going to bed around midnight I think. It was later than we should have stayed up, but family was in town and it is always nice to see family. Plus, we figured that we would be able to sleep in the next morning. Ha. How incorrect we were.

I was woken up around 4a.m. on the 5th with a gush of fluid. I wasn't sure what it was, I honestly thought for a second that I was hemmoraging again and was terrified that it would be bloody when I got up. But it wasn't - phew. It was clear so I just assumed that I had wet the bed or something. I got up, went to the bathroom and started to change into some clean dry clothes, when I had another gush of fluid... I knew it wasn't pee at this point because I couldn't stop it and I could tell it wasn't coming out of the same place. I'm not entirely sure that I thought something was wrong at this point because I really didn't think that it would be my water breaking. I am only 32 weeks pregnant AND I hadn't  been having contractions. With it being so early, I decided not to wake Kyle up to see what he thought and instead "googled" what fluid leaking in 3rd trimester could mean. That was a mistake. Unless you want to freak yourself out and convince yourself that you're dying - It's never a good idea to google what could be wrong with you.

I decided to call the Labor & Delivery department at St. Joes in Lewiston to see if they could shed any light on my situation. They said they weren't sure what it could be and that maybe it was some amniotic fluid, but that they wanted me to come in anyways - always better to be safe than sorry.

I went in to wake up Kyle to tell him that he needed to take me to the hospital and was a little apprehensive about it. He had been so exhausted lately and we had only been asleep for 4 hours so I knew he wouldn't be feeling good, but I couldn't drive myself to the hospital. I think he thought I was crazy when I leaned over him in bed and whispered "Honey, I need you to take me to the Hospital, I think my water broke." He just kind of gave me this blank stare and said "Seriously?".  I've sinced asked him what he thought when I came in to wake him up and he said "I thought I was dreaming, I still think I'm dreaming."

Anyways, he got up and took me into the hospital. We didn't grab anything except for our cell phones and our wallets. After all, they would just be sending me home in a couple hours. Not the case. After arriving at the hospital I was taken up to Labor & Delivery and immeadiately hooked up to monitors and they ran a bunch of tests on me to see what fluid was leaking. All the tests came back positive for Amniotic Fluid and that's when I knew something was wrong. This was probably around 5a.m. The nurses called the OB that was on call to come into the hospital and I figured from that point on, it was going to be a long day.

Dr. Watson was the OB that arrived at the hospital and after talking to the nurses and running some more tests, he came in and told me that St. Joe's was not going to be able to take care of me. (What does that even mean???) Because my water had broken at 32 weeks, that meant that the baby was coming soon and St. Joe's doesn't have a NICU that would be able to take care of her. That meant transportation to Spokane. Here's where I started feeling like I was in a dream. Seriously? I have to be transported to Spokane?? Oh dear.

We had all of 30 minutes in the hospital after Dr. Watson told me that I was being transported to Spokane to prepare to leave. I would have to be air lifted up there because they weren't sure when the baby was going to come and didn't want to leave anything to chance. Kyle called his Dad as soon as the doctor had left our room and asked him to come down to the Hospital to give me a blessing. His dad actually got here fairly quickly, which was relief.

I feel like at this point I really should say that it is such a blessing to be a member of the Church. I've been given a lot of blessings in my life and had alot of touching experiences, but this was sits at the top. With so much unknown and both Kyle and myself being terrified of what could happen, it was so reassuring to be able to have Kyle give me a blessing and have his father there to support him. I knew during the blessing that this would going to be really hard for Kyle. I think over the course of the whoel time I've known Kyle, I've never seen him cry. It broke my heart to listen to him giving me a blessing and not being able to choke back the tears. It was truly one of the most spiritual experiences I've had in my entire life. Very beautiful. How lucky I am to have a husband worthy to use the preisthood to bless my family.

After the blessing, the life-flight crew was there. I was strapped to a stretcher, hauled away in an ambulance, lifted into a plane and flown to Spokane. That was an interesting experience. I have never been on a plane that small and to be honest, hope I never have to again. After arriving in Spokane, it was an ambulance to the hospital and then more tests, more doctors, and more of the unknown. Kyle wasn't allowed to accompany me on the plane so I was all alone for a while before he could make it up there. I met with a bunch of different doctors and nursers who all confirmed that it was indeed my water that had broken and that meant that I would be on hospitalized bed rest until she arrived. Whether that was 20 min, 2 days, or 2 weeks they didn't know. Seeing as how my water was gone, however, they told me that I would not be pregnant longer than 34 weeks. At that point, the risk of me getting an infection is worse than the side effects of premature birth for baby girl. So the longest that I would be hospitalized would be for 2 weeks. Although noone seemed too optimistic that I would make it that long. Typically after your water breaks, you go into labor within about 72 hours.

I was put on an IV and immediately injected with antibiotics. Two rounds every 6 hours for 48 hours. They also gave me two steroid shots - 24 hours apart in my thigh. HOLY CRAP. Those, are painful.

I had some visitors on Thursday as well.. Grandma Linda arrived shortly after I did to the hospital. Dianne Mulloy came, my cousin Nico came, and Janet and Lindsay Bischoff came. It was overwhelming and humbling to say the least.

Thursday night was not great. My vein that the IV in my hand was in, burst so they needed to move it. They poked me 8 times up and down both arms before finding a vein that would work. Painful. I look like I've been beat up. But just on my arms. It took 2 nurses and 1 anesthesiologist to get my IV into a vein.
To be honest, thursday was such a whirlwind. I didn't know what to think and was constantly being fed all this information that I didn't know how to process and was still stuck somewhere inbetween "this has to be a dream" and "how am I supposed to handle this". I still think I'm stuck in that place.

I'm sure I've missed some of the details but that's all that my overloaded head can come up with at this point.

P.S. Did I mention that the Hobson Family Reunion in Lewiston started on July 5th?? Excellent timing. While Kyle's whole family was arriving in Lewiston for the next 4 days, we were being rushed off to Spokane to deal with this. I would MUCH rather be there than here, but there's nothing I can do about that now, is there?