A few years after we had Ryah, we decided to try for another baby. We found out on Halloween 2015 that we were pregnant. When you have antibodies built up, the beginning of the pregnancy is pretty normal until you hit a certain week when they can start checking your blood for your antibody titer levels. I believe mine were high right away so that meant I got to have ultrasounds to try and determine if she was showing signs she was anemic. If I remember correctly (since this was 5 years ago) this started around 18 weeks. She showed signs early so we got to do blood transfusions for her in utero. This was different than with Ryah. She showed signs she was anemic at nearly 30 weeks, not this early, and she ended up not needing a blood transfusion.
We did 4 blood transfusions over 4-5 weeks. During one of them the doctor was playing FloRida and was singing along to it before he had to really focus. They all went well and the hospital stay after was that day only where 2-3 years before, I was staying in the hospital for 2-4 days after showing signs of Ryah being anemic. The last transfusion went perfectly. My doctor, Dr Bartelsmeyer (who is simply amazing), was assisting another doctor during the transfusion. He had re-checked Elainah’s heart rate and found that it dropped into the 90’s (maybe lower, this is just what I remember.) They rushed into a true emergency mode for an emergency c-section (this was number 4 for me.) They left Nathan with the job of holding the anesthesia (mask) on me. I remember asking Nathan to make sure and call my boss, Dawn. I also remember crying slow tears because I was basically stuck to the table (arms strapped down) and 26 weeks was so early! They kept saying that they needed to get Dad out but no one would relieve Nathan from holding on the anesthesia. Eventually someone took over and led him out.
Post surgery I was told that I was “oozing” by a nurse. Turns out I lost a lot of blood (that they never really “told” me about.) I think they told Nathan the amount maybe, then I heard the nurses talking about it during shift change. I know it wasn’t a small amount. Luckily I was fine, I didn’t need a blood transfusion or anything.
When I got to go see Elainah, I was still stuck to the bed and remember the NICU was so hot. I felt nauseous so ended up leaving to finish recovering in my room. Once I was able to get into a wheelchair, I went to visit her.
When Elainah was born, her eyelids were still fused shut. She was 2.2 pounds. She was just longer than the length of my hand. I, being overly optimistic in most situations, never saw how bad her state was until after she was home. She definitely had a rough road with her lungs, being on various ventilators. We were so lucky to not have her on any types of treatment after she got home. She was in the NICU from 3/26 to (I believe) 7/18. She was over 10 pounds when she came home.
Balancing work, kids, and a baby in the NICU is extremely difficult. This was something we never wanted to experience again. This is what led us on our foster care journey...
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