Side note: It is crazy to think that for the longest time I was scared to death to go into a hospital even if it was for a good thing. I tried everything I could to stay away. Then something like this happens and I have to be there for over 107 days. Needless to say, when I do something I do it right! I will not make a habit of this! 
* worked on strength and mobility. 
May 10, 2007
I left school a few minutes early for my monthly check-up. I was 27 weeks along. Usually you go at 28 weeks but I had gotten off at the very beginning due to the scares we had early on. The month before I had gained 12 pounds. I knew that month would be a higher month for weight gain but 12 pounds was a little ridiculous so I swore I would not do that again. I lived up to this and only gained one pound. Woo Hoo!!! Go me! That's what happens when you resist the cravings for hamburgers, Wendy's frosties, and Sonic Fresh Fruit Slushes. Yummy! I sat down and asked if I could eat. I was starving and felt a little faintish. This had been happening every once in awhile but I did not think much of it. I figured it was just a part of pregnancy. The other thing that had been happening was that my tongue and my lips as well as my feet would randomly go numb. I knew this was not normal but waited to talk to the doctor knowing I had an appointment in a few days. The nurse took my blood pressure and immediately I knew that something was wrong. Both nurses looked at it and said, "Wow, that is high!" Not something you want to hear when you are pregnant, especially when it is two nurses saying it at the same time. She took me into the room and I patiently waited for the doctor. For the first time in a long time I did not have to wait long. She walked in right after I sat down with a very concerned look on her face. She took my blood pressure again. The first time the nurse took it, it was 160 over 120. I did not know this but anything over a 100 is really high. Knowing something was wrong I became nervous making my blood pressure sky rocket to 180/120. She said she would check it again in a few minutes. Then she told me I had a +3 protein level. Again, not good! The next few minutes felt like an eternity. She did all of this tests that she had never done before. She did the knee reflex test, pushed on my foot, and checked the reflexes on my arm. Usually, my visits with her are care free and friendly. This visit had concern all over her face. She took my blood pressure one more time and nothing had changed. She took a seat and said these words, " Well my dear, you are not going to like what I am about to say!" She proceeded to tell me that I was going to be sent straight to the hospital. I had a severe case of preclampsia and would not be able to go home. I was going to be admitted immediately and would not leave without having had the baby. At 27 weeks this news did not settle well. She left me alone for a few minutes to get my paperwork. I picked up the phone, collected myself and dialed Jason's number. Calmly, I said, "honey, bad news..." and then preceeded to bawl! Itold him to meet me at the hospital. The crazy thing was I had to drive myself. I know what you are thinking...Why was Jason not with me? We had decided that he did not need to waste his time at my appointments unless it was a major one. We did not realize this was going to be a "major appointment." As I drove myself to the hospital I decided to call my team mate. It was somewhat of an ironic phone call because prior to this appointment I had had a bad feeling. I had been sick for two weeks and all of a sudden I felt really good. I was doing what most people call "nesting" at work. I stood up, looked at my teammate and told him I was scared. He asked why? I told him I felt too good. I told him I was worried. Something was going to happen and I didnt know what but I was scared to find out. Needless, to say it was not good. After I got off the phone with him I quickly ate a granola bar. I was starving and had a strange feeling I was not going to get to eat for awhile.
May 10 - Hospital
As I sat in the car I decided to collect myself before going in. I refused to walk into the hospital crying. I walked in, got into the elevator, and walked into Labor and Delivery. I walked to the nurses station and started to ask where I should go. A nurse stood up with my paperwork in her hand. She had been waiting for me. Again, not a good sign! She asked me to follow her to my room. As she introduced herself I told her I was sorry because I was a little upset and then preceded to loose it. I cried all the way to the room and then some. My nurse was so sweet. She worked hard to calm me down and thankfully it worked. I changed, got into bed and immediately began to get hooked up to all sorts of monitors. Within an hour things began to move. Jason got there just in time for them to tell me that my blood pressure was even worse. When I asked what was happening they told me I was one sick mom and that as of now I would be delivering in 24 hours. I could not believe it!!! They told me that they were trying to wait as long as possible so they could give me two shots of steriods to help develop her lungs. Then they told me they were going to hook me up to magnesium. This was going to be given to keep me from having seizures. I could have a seizure from my blood pressure being too high and then they would be forced to deliver me. Now for those of you that have never been blessed with this, most women think this is the worst feeling ever. Most women get sick from it and cant eat. In fact, my doctor would not allow me to have anything but water. For me, it felt like I was drunk. You get a warm feeling all over your body. You actually feel like you might pee on yourself (sorry). Thankfully, I did not get sick. I think I was one of the rare few that was begging to eat. The only side effect was that I was very relaxed and very hot. Jason and the nurses had to bundle up to come into the room. Thinking the worst, we waited patiently for my blood work to come back. With all of the symptoms it was almost a given that my organs were going to be shutting down. This was the reason I would have to deliver early. When my tests results came back I knew that God had me in his hands. My blood work came back spotless. With the magnesium bringing down my blood pressure they decided that chances were I would make it a few more days. After talking with the doctor later that night we realized it was going to be a waiting game. Basically, I could deliver any day at any time. For now, the goal was to get me to 28 weeks. This would be when her lungs would most likely be developed. That night my doctor gave me an Ambien to sleep. This helped me sleep about 4 hours. From that point on I pretty much woke up every 30 minutes to an hour. It didn't help that my blood pressure was being checked hourly and I was on 24 hour fetal monitoring.
Friday May 11, 2007
* This day was filled with many doctor visits, a sonogram, and many visitors. I felt so blessed to know that so many people were worried about us.
* Around 10:30am I was wheeled out to get a sonogram. As I was being pushed out the main doors of L and D I heard someone say (from the newborn nursery), "Isn't she beautiful!" Being pregnant and emotional I lost it. Their was not a thing I could have done to stop the tears. Once at the high risk doctor I had my sono. and was able to see my beautiful baby girl. The doctor told me she was great. She was small but that is typical for a preclampsia baby. The doctor told me she had Inter Uterine Growth Restriction or IUGR. This means she is not recieving enough of what she needs to grow well. He also told me that girls thrive better than boys and that she should be able to fight because she is already thriving in a stressful environment. It was kind of funny how happy the doctors were to hear we were having a girl. That was good news! Basically, As long as my blood pressure and protein levels stayed down she could stay in utero.
* Since I had been taken off of IV and magnesium my doctor finally allowed me to eat solids. With everything I had gone through I felt I deserved Mc. Donalds. Right as Jason got back and we sat down to eat it the doctor from the NICU came in to talk to us. How embarrassing. I am sure he didnt think anything of it but I still felt the need to reassure him that I did not do that on a regular basis. He sat down with us and told us what a baby born at 27 weeks would look like. For Jason and I our major concerns were blood to the brain and making sure she got breast milk to keep her intestines from rupturing. I could do the milk thing but the blood to the brain was out of my control. The risk for this does not go away until 36 weeks. That is when the blood cells evaporate. Surprisingly, we felt somewhat at peace with what he had to say to us.
Saturday May 12, 2007
* Things were looking good for me and baby Macmurphy. I was moved into the post partum unit. This is where all the pregnant women go who are waiting to deliver. If all went well I could have been their 5 weeks. This unit was awesome. They work hard to help women be comfortable. The nurses would do anything to ease any stress or worry you may have had. We could even bring our dogs up for pet therapy if we wanted. Can you see Shiner trying to lift his leg on the nurses station? For some reason I do not think they would handle that very well!
Monday May 14, 2007
* Had another sonogram, things were still looking good! Another sono on Thursday.
Tuesday May 16, 2007
* Not feeling very well this day. Nurse is a little concerned.
Wednesday May 15, 2007
* We made it! This was 28 weeks! I could not thank God enough for the blessings he had bestowed upon us!
* My high risk doctor was going out of town for the weekend and decided that he would see all of his patients now instead of having someone come in to do it. As we were looking at my baby girl I could tell by his look and his questioning that something was wrong. Up until now things with her had been great. I did not have to worry about her. As he looked around he started to tell me that some things had changed. He turned the monitor for me to see and explained that it was beginning to look like she was reverse flowing on her blood. That means she was about to start pushing the blood back through the umbilical cord. He told me that from now on he would have to see me every day. He finished by telling me that I would most likely deliver in 2 to 3 days tops. Ugh! Up to this point I handle new information well. I would cry and then move on. I had been optimistic in thinking that I could be there for awhile. I did not handle this well.
* As you can imagine the rest of the day was very stressful for me. I was so worried that something was going to happen to her over night and I wouldn't know. My doctor tried to help by having her monitored more but it didn't put me at ease. I was so nervous she decided to kick me harder than she had before. This made me more nervous!
* With everything going on my doctor told me I could have no food or drink after midnight. I did not realize this was with the intent that I could deliver the next day. I was going to have to do this every night.
Thursday May 17, 2007
* As I got out of bed I had a strange feeling this was going to be the day I became a mom. Even though I was allowed to take showers they had to be quick. This day I didn't care. I got up and took a long shower making sure I had my hair washed and my legs shaved. When the nurse came in I told her that today was the day. She shrugged it off and walked out. Since I was not able to eat or drink I was somewhat cranky. My sonos were usually in the morning. Today, the guy came from Frisco causing me to have to sit around until 12: 30ish. That is a mean thing to do to someone who is pregnant! I was ok with not eating but I really wanted some water.
* As he was checking things out he started asking me questions. I could tell he was beating around the bush so I told him that if he was going to tell me it was time I was ready. I told him I knew she was reverse flowing. This threw him off. He was surprised I knew about this! He told me that yesterday we started watching for it and today it was actually happening. After a few more minutes of talking I asked him if today was the day. He looked at me and said, today was the day! I got into my wheel chair and called Jason. I told him to come straight to the hospital and to not stop anywhere. When I got back to my room I called all family and friends that needed to know. It was awesome to see how quickly all of my loved ones dropped what they were doing to be there with me.
* I got back to my room and the nurses started working on my IV. Since I had not had anything to eat or drink since the night before I was very dehydrated making it difficult to start an IV. It ended up taking the nurses 6 times to get it in. As I told the nurse what was going on she told me that chances were I would have delivered either way. She told me my blood pressure had started going back up and my protein had gone back up from +.05 ( which it dropped down to after a day) to +3. She said I was starting to go down hill on my own and may have only bought myself a few more days.
* When Jason got there I told him to eat quickly. As he was shoving food in, they brought the wheel chair in to take me to triage. When I got there they prepped me for the OR. I was hooked back up to the magnesium and the IV, my blood pressure was monitored every five minutes and people popped in and out to tell me what was going to happen. Everything happened so quickly. At times I just nodded not really knowing what I was agreeing to. This was especially true with the epidural. The guy needed me to tell him what I wanted. All I said was, which one is the best? That is the one I wanted! As they took me to the OR Jason was left behind to get dressed. I needed him more than anything at this point. I was doing well but nervous. I knew that no matter what God had me and her. As I entered the OR I looked around and realized this was it. The room was white and cold. They had me sit on the table and face away from the door. The nurse let me put my arms around her as the started my epidural. I do not know if I had a student but it took them 5 times to get it in. Each time they would get it in and move it it would send this shooting pain up my back. That was the only time I cried out the entire time.
*The epidural was the weirdest thing! I thought the circulation in my leg was being cut off because all of a sudden I had major pins and needles. What I soon figured out was that this was the medicine working. They helped me lay down and put up the blanket. My doctor came in and started to get things ready. Jason sat next to me and that was when I realized that I could feel what they were doing. I immediately spoke up. A few seconds later I felt more medicine go down my back and then I was good.
* As we sat there, people buzzed all around. I could not tell you how many people were in the OR with us. We had several people from the NICU standing behind me, the anestesiologists behind me, and the doctors and nurses below me. As Jason and I talked we heard them say it was time. A few seconds later our baby girl was born. I cried with fear and excitement. All I wanted was to hear her cry. It was loud and I couldn't hear anything. Jason stood up and started taking pictures. I kept asking if she was crying. Finally, it happened. She cried! Thank you God! He was with me and her the entire time. Surprisingly, she was pink and looking around. The NICU doctors gave her an APGAR score of 8 to 9's. How could that be. She was a 28 weeker. God is good. For the most part she was breathing on her own so she was put onto a CPAP machine. I am confident in saying this would not have happened if we had delivered at 27 weeks. Thanks steriods. As I layed there the nurse brought her over to Jason. He turned her towards me and I touched her with my finger. Even though I knew what was best for her I had a hard time not being able to hold her. The NICU staff, followed by Jason, wheeled our new bundle of joy out. Now I had to leave it in God's hands and know that he had her. There was nothing else I could do. I spent the next 45 minutes with my eyes closed listening to the doctors as the closed me up. I think I was still in shock with what had just happened. In a 2 hour time frame I had gone from pregnant to becoming a mom. Something I did not expect to happen for at least another two months.
* Right after she was born, Jason asked me which name we wanted. He told me that with everything I had just gone through it was my choice. I cried and said Kaylie. He agreed and said that if I got to pick the name he got to pick the spelling. Agreed!*On May 17, 2007 at 3:54 pm. Kaylie Marie Macmurphy was born weighing 1 lb 13 oz, and measuring at 13 inches long. We have a child of God! She is truly a miracle sent to us by our heavenly father! Thank you so much! Without God in our presence she would have not been born.
