Jordan - Part 1

This is the story about the adventure of Jordan!  This is a birth story!  If you don’t like reading things that you end up thinking… “that was waaay too much information” stop here.

It all started on Wednesday, Nov 13^th.  I was 29 weeks pregnant and at BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) helping in the children’s program. A regular day.  About 90 minutes into playing with 1 year olds, I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom and when I got there saw lots of blood.  Not good.  I made it about half way back to the room when it happened again.  At this point I called the nurses line and left a message with my high risk OB.  I went back in to help with the kids, made it another 15 minutes and spent the remaining 10 minutes or so in the bathroom.   Time for a plan.  I knew I needed to get to the ER, but wanted to ask my friend who is a nurse for sure.  I also knew I couldn't have the kids with me, so I was going to ask another friend (who only has  1 child…since I only have 1 seat open in the van for a car seat) to switch me cars and take the kids home for me.   As soon as the lecture was done and Moms were going to start picking up their kids, I went in and the two people I needed to talk to were sitting in the first two chairs in the door.  God orchestrated this in so many ways, let me tell you.  1.  BSF is held at a church that is TWO BLOCKS away from my hospital.  2.  A lot of my friends go to BSF, so coordination for me getting to the ER was easy.  3.  I honestly was more worried about coordinating all of this part, and once that was taken care of I was breathing a lot easier.

I could still feel the baby kicking a lot, my nurse friend told me to get to the ER, and my other friend handed me her car keys and got mine and the two of them loaded up the kids and got them home and fed.  All the while I drove 2 blocks, parked, and was checked into Labor and Delivery within 15 minutes.  They immediately found baby’s heartbeat and found there to be no signs of stress on the baby.  Huge relief.  I then called Josh and filled him in (don’t worry he’d gotten a few texts from me prior to this, but I didn't really have any info to tell him up until this point).  I sent out a mass text asking for prayer and within 5 minutes had another friend coming up to sit with me in the hospital until Josh could get there (Ft. Stewart is a good hour+ drive away).  She also brought me clean clothes (because I of course thought I would be going straight home ?!)  Julie stopped by the house, dug through my laundry piles for clothes that would fit me (ha!) and when she arrived, she stopped by our friend Angela Maria’s room (she had just had her baby ((6 weeks early)) and was 2 doors down from me) and we had a good time waiting for more answers.  I had an ultrasound  (in which both Julie and Angela Maria saw the gender of the baby—WHICH WE DIDN'T KNOW—and kept the secret J) that showed possible partial abruption of the placenta (where it comes unattached from the uterine wall).  They decided since I was having regular contractions and the bleeding was still happening that they would start me on some steroids and magnesium, both would help the baby (lungs and brain) if I would end up having an early C-section.  By the time Josh arrived I had gotten the steroid shot and had an IV started with the magnesium.  We knew then I would be staying at least 24 hours.  The next several were spend coordinating child care for the next few days.  Josh couldn't completely miss work because he had a big event coming up.

I had another ultrasound the next day and another steroid shot.  The longer I was on the magnesium the more my brain got fuzzy and eye sight was cloudy.  But I didn't a lot better on it than most.  The worst part was I was SO overheated.  The AC was on full blast and I was sweating ridiculously. HA!  When my Dr came in, we talked about a plan.  We didn't know why I was bleeding, there appeared to be a blood clot at the bottom of my uterus and the presence of blood near the cervix causes contractions.  The goal was to make it to 34 weeks.  The health of the baby would be significantly less at risk if we could make it that far.  A month and a few days.  Bed rest was certain.  Whether they would let me go home was not.  They have a high-risk long-term stay section of the Mother-Baby floor, I could wait it out there, or if I was going to be wise and a good patient I could do bed rest at home.  We were really praying for that option because we were told that since it was flu season that the kids would not be able to come see me.

The Dr agreed that I could try bed rest at home and after another 48 hours I was home.

Stay Tuned for Part 2!

The Last 2 Days

Because it's funny therapeutic, here are the last few days in our house. :)

Monday the kids started getting colds. No biggie.

Tuesday they were getting worse. We are praying for health, and I specifically am because the two Bible Studies/Women's Groups I'm a part of meet on Wednesdays and Thursday mornings and I LOVE being there.

Wednesday morning, the kids wake up hacking up stuff and sneezing everywhere...and then...nothing. So, I think, YES! We can go! Get everyone dressed, out the door, in the car... (what actually happens is someone loses shoes, can't find their drink, oops isn't wearing underwear (TRUE STORY), someone else needs to potty, three trips for diaper bag/purse/search for phone. Break up fights over who sits in what car seat, drop the hammer on throwing toys, readjust the rear view mirror and turn off wipers and blinkers from the child who 'drove' while another kid was in the bathroom)...and on the road. Jack names every vehicle we pass while simultaneously counting school buses, and then it begins. An insane chorus of sneezing, coughing (the productive kind that has a disgustingly audible swallow afterwards), and intermittent crying. OK so we are not better, we are nearly there, and the kids know where we are going. So now what. I stop out front of the church to drop off a few things and pick up my lesson for next week and then give the kids a brief chat about how we're being kind to our friends by not spreading our germs and we head home. Turns out Renae has violent tendencies when she is not feeling well. Immediate tears, and then aggression. Poor Jack. But not really cause he's a wrecking ball in every action so he without meaning to dishes out plenty of payback. If she vacates a toy for even one second if someone even looks at it=LOOK OUT. WOW. Obviously, this kind of reaction is not good and needs lots of correct and discussion, but it really is so ridiculous it's kinda of comical.

Get.Thru.The.Day.

Then of course Daddy comes home and the world is perfect and happy. Then starts the "My ear really hurts" from Renae.

Thursday morning. Mommy inadvertently did not check the volume on the baby monitors and wakes up ON HER OWN to realize 2 children are standing by their closed doors hysterically crying. Great. Renae can work baby proof doorknobs so we have her door locked from the outside to prevent night time wandering and playing with phones (if you've ever gotten a 1:00am-4:00am phone call from Josh or me, this is why the door is now locked). I'm sure Jack would have been totally content demolishing his room if Renae had not been crying first but either way, I let them out and try to calm the chaos. Daddy walks in from finishing his run outside and walks into his absolute favorite situation...hahaha. But, it's helpful because Daddy is here so now everyone is mostly happy. Renae's choruses of "my ear hurts" and "my ear kinda hurts" and "my ear is a big giant owie" etc. continues. So I call the appointment line to make an appointment thinking that since she can actually tell me honestly about her issues that the other kids probably have the same thing. If you ask Jack if his ears hurt he will show you a car, or tell you about his bug bites. Helpful.

Ok, so we make the appointments. Only for Renae and Noah because Jack seems pretty good. I should know by know that his insanely sunny personality can mask nearly anything, but hey. He wasn't upset or bothered so I didn't make him one. So we say goodbye to Daddy, change our clothes, we eat breakfast (except Renae because she only wanted water--also BOMB attitude returns...she had a meltdown because Jack LOOKED at her blanket...?!?! Girl was not feeling well), and repeat the same get out the door process as yesterday. We get to the doctor, which thankfully the kids love going to. We get through the double doors, Jack bee-lines it for the toys. I roll Noah in the stroller to the front desk to check in, Renae trailing a few feet behind when I hear it. Puke on tile. Yup. Good one big R. The reception ladies spring into action while me and pregnancy brain is thinking about which kid I have to check on first and how I'm going to leave 3 unattended littles long enough to get paper towels/clean up, what Jack is actually up to since he is out of sight, and a tiny part of my brain is processing how many people are watching horrified with greenish faces. And somewhere in there I am wiping Renae's mouth and having a flashback to some creepy horror movie commercial I've seen sometime in my life with some creepy little girl with stringy hair and an extremely pale face staring blankly into space while standing completely straight and still. The reception ladies somehow break through my clean up fog to tell me (the giant pregnant lady with a sick baby in a stroller and 2 others in various places in the clinic) that I can't help because it's clinic policy that they have to ensure everything gets sanitized, so I can just go take a seat. And then my thoughts all switch from mild embarrassment/fight or flight, to "Wow, she timed that right, not at home, not in the van, I don't have to clean it up...this is working out pretty well!" Terrible I know.

So an hour later we leave with the news. Renae= almost bronchitis and an ear infection. Noah= TERRIBLE ear infection. Jack=a little mild version of both. (The doctor checked him also after seeing the results of R and N's ears). Also the nurse is very worried Noah weighed 26.8 lbs at his one year appointment 2 weeks ago and today only weighed 26.2 lbs. (!??! seriously!?) So we stop at the pharmacy: 5 medications for Renae, 4 for Noah, and a nasal spray and a nebulizer which I have to go pick up at a different pharmacy down the street.

Go to the new pharmacy--Praise God there's a drive thru! But, she tells me that I have to sit down with a pharmacist and get a run down on assembly and fill out some paperwork. She hears the ruckus in the car and goes to check to see if it's absolutely necessary that I come in. It is. So this isn't just a pharmacy, it's also a touristy gift shop. Weird combo I know it. So there in the middle of the over decorated CHRISTMAS TREES and little toys and gadgets she has me fill out paper work. And tells me how to assemble and run the nebulizer while I chase Jack all over and remind Renae and Jack about 35 times to only look and not touch things other people are going to buy. I hope she didn't feel slighted because to be honest, I was too busy trying to stop a massive disaster to listen at all. I figure I can figure it out in the safe zone of the house with much more focus and ease. I'm only partially sure no ornament or figurine was broken during the filling out of paperwork then we got back in the van and went home. EXHAUSTION.

Annnnnd it's 11:00.

I just had to give this snap shot for several reasons:
1. It's humorous.
2. Some time in the distant future I'll need to be reminded just how much I can endure accomplish in a morning.
3. I will most definitely forget most of this phase of life.
4. I was seriously just laughing at myself. WOW. If you would have told me 5 years ago that this would be life...