She Came!

We welcomed Georgia Mae Walker into our family on September 05, 2010. She was so perfect, weighing in at 6lb, 9oz. She was 19" long.

The labor was long but went smoothly for the most part. We went into the hospital on Saturday for the "checkup" I was supposed to have every 2 days for the preeclampsia, and the doctor on call decided to keep me there and induce me. That was at about 1 pm. Georgia didn't come until 3:51 on Sunday. So 27 hours was not enjoyable, but I would do it again in a heartbeat for the perfect little girl we have. They had to put me on Magnesium for the preeclampsia, and it was the worst part of the whole thing. That drug is horrible and I hope to never have it again. It made it so I could not walk (the epidural would have done that anyway) but it made me really out of it. It makes you feel as if you are on another planet. The anesthesiologist who did my epidural the first time put it in too far and had to do it again. That one had a hole in the catheter

so he put it in a third time, and by that point it didn't even work completely. And I gave birth to her feeling half of it.

We were able to go home on Tuesday, and I left with a major headache which they said was just from being overwhelmed. I never get headaches, and so the one I had just didn't seem normal. Wednesday morning, we needed to take Georgia in to get her biliruben levels drawn since she had jaundice. All through that night, I couldn't sit up due to the headache. By the morning, I was throwing up every time I moved or sat up with my head above my heart. I called the doctor and they told me I had a spinal headache due to the first epidural going in too far. The only way for it to go away was to go back to the hospital and have them do a blood patch where they put in another epidural and push 20cc's of blood into your spine to clot the hole. I couldn't feed Georgia that day which made feeding her in the future difficult since she wanted only formula after that.

Homecare delivered her bilibed that night, and she had to be on it anytime she wasn't eating through Monday. She hated that bed, and it was hard to have her be on it so much and leave her crying on it.

She got over the jaundice and is healthy as can be now! We are getting into a good routine and are SO thankful for the family we have here that helped us get through that first rough week.

Here is Georgia Mae!

I have what?!?!

Preeclampsia?

So yesterday I had a doctor's appointment. I brought my papers with me to have him sign to decrease my work hours because it was becoming too painful to walk at work. I have been having some regular (or not so regular) swelling. This has been going on for about 6 weeks, and my doctor said it is normal as long as I didn't have high blood pressure or protein in my urine. I never did...until yesterday.

As you can see, I have elephant feet. This is not regular just so you know. (Taken 2 weeks ago)

The nurse took my blood pressure and it was normal. 118/68 or something. I typically have blood pressure around 98/60 or so, so it had been gradually creeping up. Then she saw my legs and feet. I have to tell you, its interesting when everyone wants to see them after they hear about them. Even the doctor was impressed by how swollen they were. He said they almost hurt him to look at. I had been getting pressure blisters from the swelling which caused my toes and feet to crack and bleed, making it very painful to walk. So then, the nurse said she was going to check my urine. Well, normally it's a 0. Yesterday it was a +4. Not a good sign. She came back in and took my blood pressure with a different cuff and it was 156/112 or something like that. Then she had me lay down and someone else came in and checked it. It was the same. I was indeed another one of their preeclamptic patients.

We heard Dr. Hutchison outside the door talking to the nurse and he told her to call the hospital and tell them we are on our way. He came in and told us he was going to send us over to have tests done and explained to us exactly what was going on. He told us to get a bite to eat on the way over, because if he were to have to induce me that night, I wouldn't be eating until that baby was out. We went to the hospital where they monitored me for about 3 and a half hours and did some blood tests to check the liver and an ultrasound to check fluid levels. My blood pressure decreased when I was laying down, so after talking with the doctor, he sent me home on complete bed rest. I will be going back tomorrow and Monday to the hospital for monitoring and then will be induced either Tuesday or Wednesday.

So until then, I lay in bed. I get to get up to go to the bathroom and shower. That's it. Awesome. I'm just so glad that as of Monday I will be 38 weeks, and he will let me have her after that. If anything changes, I will be induced right away so that nothing happens to me or to sweet Georgia Mae. I never knew how much I could love my little baby girl! I'm crazy about her already.

I don't envy those poor lady's who go on bed rest for months. It's hard, and it's been all of 4 hours for me.

I suppose the disgusting swelling that was leading me to only wear flip flops (which left indentations in my feet) and nick's slippers weren't signs enough. Or the fact that I have been gaining ridiculous amounts of weight at every appointment weren't enough for them to diagnose me. I have been taking care of myself and eating healthy. I haven't really been eating any more than normal either, so it was really sad every time I stepped on the scale and it jumped up another 1o pounds. I'm topping out at this point at 194. A nice healthy 55 pound weight gain. Scary!

This picture was taken 2 and a half weeks ago when I was about 35 weeks along.

At least our little Georgia girl is healthy still and is moving around as much as ever. I have officially been on bed rest for 12 hours, and I was sleeping for 8 of those. I'm ready to get up and do stuff now. Boy this will be a rough 5 days. Oh well! Until then, I will probably be blogging and reading.