It's hard to believe it's already been a week since I last gave an update. I'm especially sorry to have left things in such a heightened state of concern; the last anyone knew, Vanessa could have been in the hospital for quite some time yet.
I'm happy to say that it's much, much better than all of that.
Abigail Anya[*] Green was born on December 20, 2007! She was 5 pounds 3 ounces, which is particularly healthy for a baby born six weeks early, and 18 inches long. Her APGAR (for those of you into that sort of thing) was 8/9 which, again, is awfully impressive for a premie. She's got a full head of dark brown hair, ten fingers and ten (long!) toes, and the cutest little face. (Update: pictures are trickling in at my Flickr site.)
Vanessa did so wonderfully through the whole thing, but it was definitely an ordeal. After ten days of sitting in a bed on magnesium sulfate, she was rewarded by waking up on the 20th at 6 AM in full-blown labor, 8cm dialated, and ready to go. Thirteen hours later (!), Abigail finally arrived, but Vanessa was pretty beat up. She lost a lot of blood, enough that the doctor who delivered Abigail was pretty concerned. Her blood pressure was hovering around 78/44 and she was shaking and weak. They tried to give her a blood transfusion, but she spiked a fever of 101 degrees after the first unit, so they couldn't give her any more blood. Her pressure eventually dropped to about 68/38 and it seemed like it was everything we could do to just hang on.
She was transferred to postpartum care with her low blood pressure and dangerously low blood count. (Her hemoglobin number was 5.6 (out of 12), at which point the hemotologist offered that his brother had died at a 4. Um, thanks for the info. :-/) She slowly started getting better, and the nurses even brought Abigail in to stay in the room with us. One big happy united family, we all responded very well. Vanessa was healing, Abigail was eating (and even jumped up five ounces!), and we were all happy, if a little tired.
On December 23, Vanessa decided to take a shower. A few minutes after the shower, she called out to me for help and I ran in to get her. I got there just in time to catch her as she fainted off the toilet. Holding her off the ground with one arm and pulling the emergency call rope with the other, I managed to hold on long enough for the nurses to start arriving. Vanessa was as white as a sheet, her head was rolling around limply, her eyes were rolled back in her head, and she was moaning (and sounding a bit to my untrained ears like she was about to swallow her tongue). We struggled to get her back into bed and get warm blankets on her. Her blood pressure had dipped again and she was only moderately responsive for a good while. Something more had to be done.
Her obstetrician called in a hemotologist, who ordered a series of blood tests, chest X-rays, and other consults. Finding nothing whatsoever, he ordered another two units of blood, only having the white blood cells filtered out. Lo and behold! Vanessa's body accepted the blood perfectly, her blood pressure and count numbers climbed (albeit slowly), and her physical health improved drastically. A day later, we were both sitting at home.
That's right, "both", as in, "the two of us". Abigail is, lamentably, still sitting in the nursery at the hospital. She developed jaundice (which is very common (about 80%) in premies) and pretty poor eating habits. After a day under the UV lights, her jaundice subsided, but she's still not eating terribly well. They've had to supplement her diet by feeding her through a tube in sittings where she doesn't eat her one ounce (now 1.5 ounces). It sucks (boo!), but isn't terribly uncommon, as babies tend to develop their strong sucking reflex around the 34th week. She's just passing that mark, so we're holding our breath that she'll start eating better again and will come home soon. That is our main (and, really, only) prayer at this point.
So that's all of that. We're very thankful for all of God's blessings thus far and hope He doesn't consider it presumptuous to ask for Abigail's continued healing. Thanks for all of your prayers, emails, calls and gifts; your concern and encouragement mean so very much to us. And Merry Christmas to you all (for one more minute)! :-D
[*] "Abigail" ("the joy of her father") because she will be a joy to her father every day of her life. "Anya" ("grace, or favor, or mercy") because she will be a reminder every day of God's grace... but even more of His grace in bringing this girl into my life after everything I've been through.
To answer the titular question I asked yesterday, no, Vanessa won't be coming home anytime soon. :-(
She has gone from 4cm dialated to 5–6cm dialated in her week in the hospital. The magnesium is doing its thing — she hasn't delivered yet! — but it isn't turning anything around. Dammit Jim, I'm a contraction inhibiter, not a miracle worker! Anyway, she's too far along to send home but (apparently) not far enough to allow labor to progress unfettered. So for now, Vanessa's stuck.
She's pretty disappointed, as the doctors are happy to keep her as long as they can. Yeah, it's good for Abigail, but it's pretty rough on Vanessa. It's rough on me and the kids as well, as we all miss her terribly. But that's nothing compared to lying in a bed all day and night, being hooked up to and listening to three different machines beeping off and on all day and night, getting blood drawn every five hours all day and night, etc. Vanessa could still use your prayers for patience, strength and peace to stick it out these last few days (weeks?!).
Get better, baby. Cook up that bun good and get home!
Things are going very well with Vanessa and Abigail. She has responded to the magnesium very well, to the point that all of the nurses and doctors are pretty well amazed. They don't usually see someone that far along in labor (4cm, fully effaced) just... stop. They're happy enough that they're going to wean her off the magnesium tomorrow in favor of some oral medication in hopes of being able to send her home later this week. We're all thrilled, with the exception of the fact that she'll probably take quite a hit in terms of food quality if she comes home. :-P
That's about it for now. Abigail is still moving very well, Vanessa feels very good and I haven't burned the house down in their absence. Praise God!
Thanks for all of your prayers, everyone. It's always an immeasurable blessing to be a part of a group of people so kind, so loving, and so Christlike.
Vanessa has continued to respond very favorably to the magnesium, which was given to her to slow down the contractions. At this point, she has not had a palpable contraction since she arrived at the hospital. Her progress (or lack thereof!) is such that the doctor has talked about reducing her medication with the eventual goal of having her home next week. Given the fact that we've been assured that people don't just go home after arriving to the hospital at 4cm dialated, this is a minor miracle, and a welcome one at that.
Vanessa and Abigail both continue to be in good health and relatively good spirits. Abigail is moving a ton and has a great heartbeat; Vanessa is somewhat bored, being cooped up in a room all day and night. But she's very well, and has even gotten used to the every-five-hours blood letting and IV in her left (dominant) hand. :-)
For now, we appear to have dodged the preterm labor bullet. While we aren't (even remotely) assured a full-term labor, the doctors are all fairly confident in the success of a 34-week delivery. Every day beyond the 34-week mark (next Monday) is pretty much gravy and buys young Abigail three fewer days in the NICU. So we're still all in favor of keeping it together for just a bit longer, and all signs appear to point to that happening at this point.
Earlier today, I sent an email around to some friends:
I'd like to ask for your prayers for Vanessa and our as-of-yet unborn daughter, Abigail.Vanessa went into the hospital this morning with pretty severe pains in her back and other discomfort. It turns out she was dialated 4cm and fully effaced. She was immediately given magnesium to stop the contractions, to which she has responded very favorably. She was also given steroids to attempt to stimulate Abigail's lung development. The doctors are wanting to get at least 48 hours before attempting to deliver Abigail, and they think we might be able to get as much as four days, based on how Vanessa's body has responded so far.
At this point, Abigail is around 32 weeks and 2 days, and weighs about four pounds. The nurses are optimistic in terms of her chances if she's born now, but nothing is ever a "given" in these cases. That's why we covet your prayers over the next little bit. To be honest, I'm not even sure what you can pray for. We ask God that He lead your prayers into His will and thank Him for listening and being faithful to answer.
We saw the neonatologist and NICU nurse this evening, and it sounds like Vanessa is in the hospital for the long haul. One or two signs indicate she might be okay at home, but numerous others (thus far) indicate that she could deliver at something just beyond a moment's notice. Abigail is about 4.5 pounds, according to the neonatologist, so that's awesome. (At her age, every eight ounces is precious!) In addition, her heart rate, movement and position are all perfect. She's very low, which is fantastic, but it's a big reason the doctors want Vanessa to remain at the hospital for now.
So everything has stabilized... and we're waiting. Vanessa is already restless, especially given that she had to drop everything at work to lie in a bed all day, and the initial rush of adrenaline has worn off. We want Abigail to keep "baking" until it's best for her to come out, but that doesn't make it any easier to sit around waiting for it to happen. All of the medications seem to be doing their part (not the least of which being the Young's Winter Warmer currently medicating me!) so it's just a matter of seeing how the two main players react to it all over time.
Thank you for your past and continuing prayers through this. I'll try to keep the blog up-to-date with information to help you know how to pray and where everything stands. For now... stay tuned (along with us)!