Our sweet boy was born on Thursday, July 10 at 12:28 pm. He was 8 pounds 3 ounces and 20.5 inches long. I was 3 days past my due date.
I was in labor for 0 hours. I had 0 contractions. I pushed 0 times.
It was amazing and so easy.
(Almost) just kidding!
Wednesday night Jason and I went to dinner. On the way back from dinner I
needed to stop at Publix for some apples and nectarines. (My current crave!) As we were driving into the parking lot I mentioned that my vision was getting blurry. Since it's the beginning if the month it's time for me to change my contacts so I just figured that's what it was.
Later that night I got up to use the restroom. Around 4 or 5 in the morning, I told Jason I had to go. He couldn't understand why I was waking him up and making an announcement about it, but he gave me his blessing nonetheless.
As I stood up from the bed, I realized that I couldn't see anything. I know it's dark outside and there aren't any lights inside, but I really had no vision.
I made my way to the bathroom and had success like so many times before. However, when it came time to flush I couldn't seem to figure out where and how to do that. Jason says he sat on the edge of the bed and watched me fumble around in the bathroom for way too long trying to find the handle.
I had no clue where I was or how to get back to where I needed to be. Jason, assuming I was exaggerating, came in and flushed for me and walked me back to bed.
A few hours later I woke up needing to go again. However this time I couldn't even figure out how to get out of the bed.
We figured I was sleep deprived and Jason set up a fort in the living room on the couches to see if a change of setting would help.
Nope.
My vision kept getting worse and I became lethargic and dizzy. I had no clue how to make my way around the house and would lose track of my thoughts mid-sentence. I would also skip complete phrases in the middle of sentences and end up in completely new sentences.
By now it was around 10:30. I was scheduled for my 40 week appointment that afternoon but I obviously couldn't wait that long to see what was wrong.
Jason called the doctor and they said I needed to head to the hospital right away. So we did.
Jason got me dressed and we grabbed our hospital bag and rushed over.
When we got to the hospital Jason took me to the front and someone came out with a wheelchair. She opened the door and said something along the lines of, "Take my hand and I'll help you in the chair." Jason told her I needed to go to Labor and Delivery but I couldn't see. She helped me into the wheelchair and took me into the lobby. I could hear that there was a lot going on in the lobby and this lady shouted out, "Excuse me! We're going to L&D and SHE'S BLIND!" I couldn't believe that it had become such a drama-fest. When we got into the elevator our conversation went something like this:
Her: "We're going to Labor and Delivery, right?"
Me: "Yep. That's where my doctor told my husband to take me."
Her: "You're so calm for being in labor."
Me: "I'm not in labor."
Her: "You're not in labor?"
Me: "Nope. I'm not even dilated yet."
She didn't respond.
She may have thought she was on a hidden camera show.
Anyway.
The next thing I remember is Jason coming up from parking the car and suddenly I hear my doctors voice. I was completely sightless at this point. I could tell that we were sitting inside and the lights were on but I, still to this day, have no clue where I was or who was around me.
The doctor told me that I had pre-eclampsia. I basically developed a very severe case of it
literally over night. My swelling had gotten so bad that it wasn't going down at night anymore and it had begin to cause swelling in my brain. My doctor said he thought that the swelling in my brain was putting pressure on my optic nerve and it was causing me to lose my sight.
Basically: This kid had to get out of me now or the damage could get worse and/or become permanent. Jason says I argued with him about not wanting to have a c-section. I believe it but can't believe it.
Since I was without sight and incoherent, Jason had to sign all of the consent forms for me. Because of the severity of the situation they told Jason that he couldn't come into the operating room like they usually let dads do for normal c-sections. This was clearly (to everyone else) a severe situation. I was still pouty about having surgery.
I do remember telling him that his medicine was dumb and it didn't work because I could feel everything. #1: They hadn't given me any medicine yet. #2: The "everything" I felt? Them moving me to a stretcher.
Jason had to wait in a delivery room while I was taken away for surgery. Within minutes family showed up and not long after that our sweet boy was brought up into the room to meet his new family.
Jason says that the nurses came to tell Jason that they were bringing Xavi up and the family lined up outside of the elevator, almost like a tunnel, to see him for the first time.
I wouldn't be able to join them for about 3 hours according to Jason. After my surgery was finished I was taken for a CAT-Scan. I have no memory of this. The CAT-Scan showen that they were on the right track with their diagnosis. Things were lookin' up.
Once I was done I was taken to the Labor & Delivery room. Apparently there was lots of family there. All of them had met our sweet boy and loved on him. I was still sightless and had no clue which way was up. They had to give him a bottle of formula because it had been so long since he had been born and they didn't know when I'd join them. Jason fed him first. He was the first to see him too. They're already BFF.
We spent a long time in the Labor & Delivery room. At first they said we'd be there for only a short time but since I was a seizure risk and very unstable they wanted to keep me on a stretcher in case there was an emergency. Once I was stabilized we were able to go over to the Mother & Baby side. (8 or 9 hours later!)
The next morning when I woke up, enough of my swelling had gone down and my sight was coming back. Xavi was perfect in every way and healthy and happy. I was still a hot mess and had no clue what he looked like. Boy, was I missin' out!
I needed to go for an MRI so that they could look into my brain for any damage and to see what exactly had happened. The CAT-Scan led them to believe that my doctor's assumption was correct but they needed to make sure so that they could treat me appropriately.
I had done zero mothering to our sweet boy since he became an outside baby. Jason (with the help and guidance of some amazing family we have) stepped up and has been such a big help to me. He is so amazing to watch as a dad.
Anyway, my MRI came and when the results came back it was exactly what they thought.
I had a severe case of pre-eclampsia and the swelling had gone to my brain. The MRI came back abnormal because the swelling was still present but it was expected to improve over time - days, weeks, maybe even months.
The neurologist called it
PRES. The symptoms are loss of vision, headaches, confusion, and seizures. I had all of them except for seizures. My doctor says that if we would have waited until my appointment that afternoon I would have started to have those seizures and it could have gotten worse.
My sight has returned and it's almost back to normal. I still see things that aren't there though. (I would have argued with you for hours about the design of the wallpaper in the hospital room. There was no wallpaper. Just plain ol' paint.)
We're home and healthy and happy. We're pretty tired and learning something new every 5 minutes, too.
They said it'd all be worth it.
They were so right.
