Preeclampsia - Delivering Baby to Save Mommy

Written by Lindsay-

The last week of December 2020 was a blur. In an attempt to make sense of and cope with what happened this is my journal of notes and a handful of texts I had sent out.

In summary, I went in for a regularly scheduled appointment on Monday, was transferred to a high-risk Hospital on Tuesday, my kidneys started to fail on Wednesday, and Thursday we asked our baby boy if it was okay if he could try and live on the outside of Mommy at 26 weeks in order to save her.

Google Everything:

My first symptoms of preeclampsia were swelling in my hands around 21 weeks. This is super early as Preeclampsia normally occurs at the end of the pregnancy. After a few Google searches and ordering a blood pressure cuff off Amazon... I let my doctor know at my December 10th appointment of my self diagnosis.  They ran some blood tests and confirmed it with finding extremely high amounts of protein in my urine. My OB and MFM team decided it would be best if I saw them every Monday at Mease Countryside Hospital and Thursday at St. Joseph's Women's Hospital for the rest of my pregnancy to make sure we stayed on top of the preeclampsia. 

12/14 Monday

1st Preeclampsia Follow-up Appointment with OB; but instead admitted into Mease Countryside Hospital until Wednesday 12/16. On mandatory bed rest, Doctor told me that I'm done with work until I delivered. Start of my FMLA. Had Tommy stay with Brenda for a week. 

(At this point my thought was I could manage the preeclampsia until the due date in April)

12/17 Thursday

Preeclampsia Follow-up Appointment with MFM in Brandon - everything stayed the same.

12/21 Monday

Preeclampsia Follow-up Appointment with OB - numbers still look okay.

12/24 Thursday

Preeclampsia Follow-up Appointment with OB - continuing to get discharged after each appointment.

12/28 Monday

Preeclampsia Follow-up Appointment with OB; but instead admitted into Mease Countryside Hospital. Started Blood Pressure Meds orally and through IV. Set Tommy up with past sitter, Sara in Clearwater for 2 days. 

"Horrible night. No sleep. Blood pressures were over 190 so they started an IV at 4am (she had trouble and tried twice, blood everywhere) to put me on blood pressure medicine (labetalol) at 20ml, but BP wouldn't go down, then pushed 40ml, still didn't drop, then 80ml. Also started the steroid injection in my ass for the babies lungs (2 shots spaced 24 hours apart) just in case I need to deliver soon. Now I'm on oral blood pressure meds too as well as IV."

12/29 Tuesday

"Did more labs and another Ultrasound. I really think the acid reflux is causing this, it is horrendous. So I don't see us leaving here." 

Moved Tommy to new sitter in Tampa, extended stay week by week once we knew we wouldn't be leaving the hospital before delivery.

Transfered by Ambulance on Tuesday evening to St. Joseph's Women's Hospital to the High Risk OB Department (1st room). Mike was forced to leave that night, due to no guests in that department.

12/30 Wednesday

Morning Ultrasound with MFM team. Told us we would be delivering within a 1-2 days. Right afterwards we were moved to Labor & Delivery department (2nd room). This is when things started to blur together. Everything was happening at lightening speed. 

"Just had an ultrasound and got the news that we are looking at delivering in a few days. Several factors, mainly my kidneys (creatinine level in blood went up today), my blood pressure (i'm on 3 different kinds around the clock), and now the baby's blood flow (blood leaving the baby is coming across a lot of pressure which causing it to reverse and randomly drop sometimes.) We are being moved into Labor and Delivery department this afternoon from High Risk. In L&D, Mike can stay overnight. I've only had 3 hours sleep since Monday night."

Looked up my blood labs late on Wednesday night in the online Baycare Portal, saw that my creatinine level went over the max needed to deliver and knew that Thursday was going to be the day. Needless to say I did not get any sleep. It was terrifying.

Mike and I had discussed baby names over the past 2 years, but had never really officially settled on one. Knowing that we would most likely deliver within 24 hours I know we needed to choose the name that night. So after going back and forth between James Weston and Weston James I knew that this baby was going to need a strong name to get through this. Baby Jimmy was going to be born on the west coast of Florida. (Weston meaning from the west isle)

12/31 Thursday

"We have several doctors and nurses coming in every few minutes."

"I have a catheter in now (which was put in without anesthesia, and feels like a horrible UTI). I started the magnesium drip. Spoke with anesthesia, the doctor, my high risk team, and my nurse. They will be doing a spinal versus an epidural. I guess it's safer and blocks more. I'll probably be in the hospital for about 5 days after reovering. After that Mike and I will most likely be in the NICU with the baby for several months if everything goes well."

"Going in for an emergency "Classic" C Section at 2pm today since my kidneys are starting to fail due to the severe preeclampsia. There have been several complications and things have been changing daily. As of today, 12/31 I am 26 weeks, but the baby is a few weeks behind. He will be a Micro Premie and will be in God's hands at that point and in NICU most likely until after his due date 4/8. Currently looking at a long recovery for myself and hopefully for baby as well. Last night, we decided to name him James Weston Abramowitz. "James" after my late father."

C Section happened closer to 4pm. They said it would take about hour, but it felt like 10 minutes. This was a very traumatizing experience even though we had the best group of doctors and nurses. I don't think you can really be prepared for an emergency C Section. Just terrifying. Especially knowing that you are putting your baby at risk but you have no other choice. Mike held essential oils of peppermint and lavender over my face as I tried not to vomit. After I received my spinal and laid down on the table I quickly heard, "the baby is out". I was in disbelief because it was so freaking fast. Mike and I had made the decision right before the surgery that at that moment he would go with the baby. The nurse used Mike's phone to capture some great action photos.

In Recovery for 2 hours, Mike used a hand pump on me to start lactation. Yes, this was a first.

Moved back to High Risk OB Department (3rd room), but Mike could stay this time because we had delivered a baby.

1/1 Friday

Post C Section -  Standing up for the first time and using the restroom, I experienced the most extreme pain I've ever felt in my life physically and emotionally.

Went to NICU for first time late at night to see Baby James. I was still in shock as to what had happened and in too much pain to be able to soak it all in.

1/2 Saturday

OB asked us about being discharged same day. Over heard staff meeting discussing all patients info right outside of our hospital room. 

1/3 Sunday

Broke down to the OB on call for the morning round. Discussed anxiety and depression. Got Xanax and was moved to new room (4th room) within department down the hall. She extended our stay until Monday 1/4.

***I don't know how someone could go through this on their own as a single mother.... recovering from a C Section, pumping every 3 hours, and handling a baby in NICU. But the fact is I do have a very dear friend who did and I am even more impressed now that I can relate. If it wasn't for my husband I would not have made it through this experience. He stepped up to the plate immediately and I'm very excited for him to be a father. We still have a long road ahead but the future is very bright. 😎