Bailey's Birthday - 9.29.10

We know a lot of people wanted to know how Bailey's birthday went, so I figured the best place to post it would be on our blog.  

On Tuesday, September 28th (after making several jokes this week about my students raising my blood pressure....) I went in for my routine check-up with Dr. Ivey.  I always have to rush a little bit to get all the way downtown from school, but thanks to one my team teachers covering the last ten minutes of class, I didn't really have to rush on Tuesday.  They called me back into the exam room and checked Bailey's HR (153) my HR, and then came the blood pressure.  It was 170/100.  Knowing 120/80 is normal, I was surprised it was that high but didn't really think it was anything too bad (maybe they mention the cut point in some childbirth class I never took.....).  My feet weren't even too puffy that day.  The nurse said she wanted me to go give my urine sample and then they'd take it again, not to worry.  However, as I followed her out of the room and saw her pointing at the blood pressure cuff with a distressed look on her face I thought something might just be amiss.  I came back to the room and they took it again; it was 168/98.  I was glad it had dropped, but apparently that wasn't enough.  Dr. Ivey came in and said he saw how high it was, and that if it didn't come down, they were going to send me over to Labor and Delivery.  This possibility had not even occured to me and I think my articulate response was "Really?"  Like he'd be joking about that.  He explained that this could be a sign of preeclampsia and we had to check it out.  There wasn't any danger to Bailey, but it was dangerous for me.  After going through this I was told to sit and relax (yeah right!) for a few minutes and they'd check again to see if it came down.  I sent James a text message to let him know that heading to the hospital was a possibility and he said "Seriously?"  Like I'd be joking about that.    The nurse came back in and retook my BP and it was 165/95.  I think I looked hopeful at this point that I'd get to go home since it was dropping and Susan just shook her head at me and said I should call James to come down.  Dr. Ivey came back in to see if I had any questions and I said no.  He paused and looked at me and said "You look like you're hanging on by a thread.  Are you ok?"  I could already tell early in the day that it was kind of a hormonal day, so my emotions weren't really allowing me to accept this news with any sort of ease.  I said I was fine and Susan went to go get me a wheelchair.  Being as how I had just walked about a mile from the parking deck to get to the office, I thought it was funny they were going to wheel me over to L&D.  I asked if I could walk out and let my parents know what was going on pre-wheelchair (they had been wandering lost in the huge expanse of hospitals until this point...they'd come down to do a "dry run" to see where to go when I delivered.  haha) so they wouldn't be too concerned. 

Susan wheeled me over to L&D and wished me luck, hoping my BP would come down and I'd get to go home.  I got checked in to my room with the window (birth plan, see below entry) and they asked me to change into the yucky blue hospital gown.  This would have been the point where I would have taken out my soft, cute, pink nightgown specifically purchased for this occasion, but I was planning on doing that this weekend.  So oh well.  I stuck on the yucky blue gown and kicked my feet up to "relax" before they took my blood pressure again.  Luckily James arrived then, which automatically made me feel better.  A little bit later the nurse came in and took my blood pressure again and it went to 165/82.  I said something to the effect of "Well, that's better!" and the nurse kind of laughed and told me "I'm not impressed."  They took some labs and found some other signs of preeclampsia so about an hour later the attending doctor came in and let me know that it was time to induce.  After a brief freak out on my part (I had all these things that I was planning on bringing for Bailey to the hospital which were NOT with me), James calmed me down (he was awesome the entire time) and we said we were ready to go.

James and my dad went to go get Subway for me, so I could have my last meal before being cut off taste good instead of be hospital food.  Then my parents left to go to our house to go on a scavenger hunt for all the things that I would have had packed (again, it was on my to do list for this weekend) for my hospital stay.  Around 9pm I got my first round of meds to induce.  I was actually already 1 cm dilated and 30% effaced (had no idea) so they thought the medicine should work fairly quickly.  They told me to try and get some sleep and they'd come back to check on us at 1am.  I think I got a 30 minute nap around 11, but other than that I was wide awake.  At 1 am, they checked me again and I was 1-2 cm....not a lot of progress.  So they gave me another dose and said they'd check again at 5am.  We were watching the contractions start on the monitor, but I couldn't really feel them yet (I think at one point I though, well this is easy. Ha).  I wouldn't have known they were even occurring except for the monitor saying that they were.  About an hour later I could feel them a little bit, and then around 3am I was starting to get mildly uncomfortable, but they were getting more uncomfortable very quickly.  The doctors had said whenever I wanted my epidural was fine, so I decided to go ahead and get it so I wouldn't really feel any serious pain.  The doctor who gave me the epidural was awesome; except for the local anesthetic I didn't even feel a thing. 

I was all numbed up and on ice chips only (grrr...) so I was able to get a little bit of rest after the epidural.  They checked me at 5am and I was 3cm and 50% effaced, so they started me on pitocin and left me to sleep.  I dosed off and on until 7am (still had a cuff getting my BP every 30 min or so which makes rest tough) where we met our new (and completely amazing and compassionate) nurse Hope, who was going to be our nurse for the rest of the day.  Hope turned down my pitocin because my contractions were too close together (I didn't really care, b/c I couldn't feel anything.....) and she was worried my uterus would get too tired if it was going to be a long time.  I dosed off again for awhile until I woke up and could feel a little bit of the contractions again.  I hit my handy pump for a double dose...and nothing happened.  I could still feel them.  So 15 minutes later (the handy pump has a time limit on each dose) I hit it again and nothing happened.  The anesthesiologist came back in and told me I was tall (duh) and that I just needed a little more juice.  So he pumped it up, lowered my personal dose waiting period to 10 minutes, and went on his way.  This worked well until about 11:30.  At 11:30, for whatever reason, it seemed like EVERYTHING wore off.  The pain started getting bad, I started throwing up (dumb ice chips), and I called for Hope.  I'm sure I wasn't even feeling the full brunt of the contractions because my legs were still slightly numb, but they were horrible.  Hope had me lay back and breathe through them, but that only does so much.  The anesthesiologist (my 3rd, we'd been there for awhile) was in a c-section so I had to wait for him to come in.  The gave me a big ol' dose straight into my mainline instead of through the pump and after 15 more minutes or so I was a happy camper again. 

At around 12:30, Bailey started to bunch up around my ribcage.  Her little booty was sticking straight out of my stomach and she was as high up as she could go (she was actually making it tough to breathe, but I didn't mind).  I kept rubbing her to see if she would relax, since usually that works, but she was determined to stay where she was, booty up and all.  The attending doctor came in to check me a little after 1pm and said that I had shot up to 10cm and Bailey was going to be coming very shortly.  They started bringing in all their gowns and prep equipment and getting ready, and while I was sitting there I saw Bailey's little booty move down towards my belly button (it was still making a mound though).  They told me they'd get me in stirrups in a few minutes and I'd start to push.  I started to feel some pressure and to myself (since I was sure I didn't really know what I was feeling or talking about) I thought "hmm...it feels like her head is already coming out."  Turns out, I did know what I was talking about.  I called Hope over and told her I felt a lot of pressure from Bailey and she checked me and said "Oh gosh, Doctor?" (she could see her head). The stirrup idea was abandoned and they gathered around me and Bailey came right out!  I didn't even have to push once; she was ready.  Bailey Grace Galloway came into the world at 1:23pm.

They put her in a blanket and immediately handed her to me and James was right there at my shoulder so he could see her too.  We got to kiss her and hug her and tell her we loved her and see her sweet little face.  She didn't cry, and her breaths sounded like little hiccups.  She was able to make a few little movements and I put my finger in hers so she could hold it.  We got to feel her heart beat inside her little chest and had about 15 minutes with just the three of us.  After that we brought my parents in, James' mom, and David, and they got to say hi and meet her.  Hope set us up to give her a bath and James and I got to bathe her and start to clean her off.  James washed her hair with baby shampoo while I cleaned off her arms, chest, and face.  James held her for a few minutes after this while Hope set up to take a few stats on her and finish the bath for us (we were taking awhile) and she passed away in his arms.  He gave her to Hope to finish cleaning her up and then we dressed her in a little handmade pink dress the volunteers at the hospital had given us.  Even though we knew she was gone at this point, we had time to cuddle with her everyone could had the chance to hold her.  We took handprints and footprints and made a little mold of one of her feet.  She had lots of hair like James did when he was born, but it was surprisingly sandy blond (I thought she would have dark hair like James) and she got all of my curls.  I think they would have turned in to blond ringlets there was so much curl.  She had James' chin and the exact same shape of his big toe and my chubby cheeks and long legs.  She also had broad shoulders which we figured came from both of us.  She had the double cleft of course on her upper lip but her bottom lip was just perfect. She wasn't able to open her eyes, so we didn't get to see their pretty color.  It was so cute to feel her feet after she was born because they felt exactly the same as the impression she's been making on my stomach the last few weeks as she's been stretching out.  We weighed her and she was 4 lbs, 2.3 oz (bigger than they thought she was going to be, especially for five weeks early!) and was 17 inches long.  The hospital chaplain came in after we'd finished dressing her and wrapping her in her blanket and we had a naming ceremony and blessing for her. 

We are so thankful that Bailey went peacefully and knew without a shadow of a doubt that our decisions we made in her care and carrying her until she was born have been the right ones.  We waited until James' dad and Christine were able to come and then we took some time to say good-bye to her sweet little face and let the hospital staff take her.  We feel so privileged that my heart was able to help her stay strong for so long that we got to feel her "ninja" kicks all throughout my pregnancy and that she was such a fighter to be able to be with us for a short while.  We are blessed to be her parents.  

Thank you all for all the love that was expressed to us while we were in the hospital and even in the short time since we've come home.  We know that Bailey was able to know our love while she was here with us and now she'll only know perfect love as she's in heaven. 

Our church does a baby dedication ceremony where a life verse is chosen by the parents as the baby is presented to the church.  Early in my pregnancy, before we knew about Bailey's trisomy 13, this verse had especially struck me as I was reading one night and I thought it would be a good life verse for her.  It ended up being perfect:

Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart my fail, 

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.