Eden Ansley Bowman

On March 15th,  I wenr to my Non Stress Test at the hospital to find out that my blood pressure was very high. After meeting with Dr. Riley (Dr. Alvey was on vacation) I was sent up to labor and delivery. We basically just hung out and waited until 8:00. At that time I was given a dose of medicine that was supposed to soften my cervix. At 11:00, I was  given another dose, and then at 3:00 Pitocin was started. When Dr. Reid came in to check me at 5:30a.m., he told me that I had not progressed at all. My cervix was still very hard and very high. He also told me that he did not believe I would have progressed enough to deliver vaginally by 40 weeks. He said, not that they would even consider waiting until 40 weeks due to my Hypertension. He scheduled a C-section for 7:30 a.m. I was so scared, and became so hot and sweaty waiting for the surgery.

When it was time to go, my wonderful nurse came to get me and wheeled me down in a wheelchair. Josh was all suited up, and he was asked to wait outside the operating room. When we went in, the anestheseologist cleaned off my back and put shots in my spine to numb it. This was the worst part for me. I could feel the needle and it burned. It also felt like it took forever. I was just trying to stay calm. After the numbing, he began to insert the spinal, but I could feel it, so he had to add more of the numbing medicine. The next time he went to add the spinal, I didn't feel a thing. I began getting tingly from my toes to the bottom of my chest, and then I was completely numb. It happened so fast. They began cutting my incision, after pinching me to make sure I didn't feel anything, and then they let Josh come back in. I was so happy to see him! He tried to keep me calm, talking about the whole process of trying to conceive, pregnancy, and now the beautiful baby girl that we were just minutes away from meeting. It worked, I was calm and excited.

It didn't seem long at all, before they told us that we had a daughter and we heard her soft cries. They kept saying how quiet she was. Ocassionally we would hear a soft cry, but she really didn't make much noise. When we heard her though, Josh and I just looked at each other with tears in our eyes. It was definitely one of the best moments of my life so far. Josh got up to see Eden and he took pictures and brought them back to show me.

The nurses told us that they felt like she was having a little bit of difficulty breathing correctly. They decided to have her sent to the nursery just to be observed for a little while. I was a little foggy during this time, but I remember at one point being in the room and everyone else watching sweet Eden in the nursery. The nursery decided to send her to the NICU.

The NICU Dr came and talked to us and told us that she appears to possibly have fluid in her lungs. The doctor did not seem to concerned, but he is going to order a chest X-ray and some labs just to make sure that nothing more severe is wrong. He really doesn't anticipate that there is, so we are praying. I hope that she gets to come out of the NICU tomorrow.

Regardless, today has been one of the best days of my entire life. I love my daughter so much, and I couldnt have asked for a more perfect birthday for her.

35 weeks 6 days

I went to my doctor's appointment yesterday, surprised to find out that my blood pressure was rather high. 156/88, I believe. I was surprised, because I have still been monitoring it at home, and it has been pretty low. Nothing like 156/88. Of course, since things had looked so good, I had just had an appointment last week AND Bethel Manor is currently undergoing their annual state survey, I told Josh that I would be fine to go to my appointment alone so that he could stay at work. My doctor told me she was concerned about the high blood pressure and she also told me that Eden's heart rate was abnormally high. That scared me. She scheduled an ultrasound and then sent orders for me to head to labor and delivery for another 24 hour observation/ urine test to check for protein that could be a sign of preeclampsia.  I called Josh and he headed to the hospital. He made it before the ultrasound, which I was happy about.

In the ultrasound, everything looked great, and the heart rate had slowed down significantly. The ultrasound tech checked it three times, and the doctor was happy with all of heart rates. I really think that her heart rate spiked, because I was nervous/stressed about the high blood pressure. She is still growing well (She now weighs 5 lbs 13 oz), has plenty of fluid, and was practicing breathing. Everything with baby looked great. What a sigh of relief!

When I went upstairs to labor and delivery, they began monitoring my blood pressures, as well as Eden's heart rate, and contractions. My blood pressures stayed pretty high, until I laid on my left side. Then they began to lower. I got blood drawn, which all came back normal. Josh went home and got me clothes, toiletries, dinner, etc. He also stayed the night with me on the terribly uncomfortable couch. I am so  thankful for him. We played cards and watched NCIS. It was a good distraction.

 Now it's just the waiting game until 2:30 when they will collect my twenty four hour urine sample to take to the labs. My doctor is out today, because she was on call last night, so the doctor filling in for her just came in and talked with me. She told me that she expects the urine sample to come back either normal or only slightly abnormal since all of my labs looked so good. She said if it is normal, I will be sent home for bed rest and my doctor will decide what to do about induction. If it is slightly abnormal, she said that I would be sent home for bed rest and we would schedule an induction. She said if it was more than a little abnormal, we would discuss that when the results came back. Looks like bed rest is definitely in my future. We will find out soon enough though.

Thanks for your continued prayers. God has been faithful so far, and  I know he will continue to watch over this pregnancy.