The day I almost died …

So…. here goes…. I was 33 weeks pregnant…and wasn’t feeling the greatest for a few days… just had an upset stomach…but nothing that tums and a glass of juice didn’t fix…lol. Well… after a few days I noticed that I still wasn’t feeling the greatest, started losing my appetite… not sleeping (not a big change there)… just figured that maybe I was getting a cold or something. Friday night came around… and I was still not 100% so I decided to call the TeleHealth line and just ask if there would be anything to worry about. The operator took my information down and said that there is a 2 hour wait to speak to a nurse so they will give me a call back. I decided to go to bed to watch TV so I could hopefully get a few hours of sleep before we got a call back. Well… the phone rang as soon as I sat down in bed…. I spoke to the nurse…she advised that I just go get checked out at the hospital…that it wouldn’t hurt.

We went to the hospital… got into the triage and they took my blood pressure… well.. 189/110… was obviously not in the normal range of 120/80. The nurse took some blood and monitored M…she was fine..not even a spike in her heart rate… The Dr. came in to see me… with an ultrasound machine… all she said was 6 words… and they were scary… “she’s breech…you’re having a c-section” she got up to leave and I said..tonight????..she responded with a yes and left. I poked at my husband who fell asleep in the chair beside me…and said… “Um..we’re having a baby!”, he responded with a “Ya-think?”….as I turned around he must have saw the not so thrilled look on my face and cringed as I said… “um… tonight!… go call my Dad!”. His blank gaze at me was priceless.

I snuck into the bathroom to make a phone call and did my phone not DIE as soon as I said “Dad..come to the hospital…I’m having an emergency c-section now!”. Like really… imagine what my Dad probably thought? Especially being a Daddy’s girl all my life….my parents were in utter shock. I started to come to grips with everything that was going on as I made a list of stuff I needed for my husband to go home and pack and bring back to the hospital. Me being the BlackBerry freak that I am decided to send out a mass text saying “Emergency C-Section TONIGHT” to all my friends and family….and well…all of the Facebook world… no I didn’t think of the repercussions…and massive amounts of messages that I would get back! I was on blood pressure meds, anti seizure meds, anti stroke meds…had an epidural…the whole 9 yards. So …was I truly in the right state of mind…no… but it’s funny now that I look back at it.

I got into the OR…terrified but oddly not embarrassed about anything that was actually going on. There was a team of 7 people there for me and an uncountable number of people there to take care of the “33 weeker” that was about to be delivered. Me, being the comedian I am… totally proposed to the anaesthesia guy, telling him that he had the “good stuff” as my husband held my hand and our 1st child was about to be born. As the OR roared in laughter I also asked for a tummy tuck and yelled at M to say something because she was completely quiet…which was terrifying. At just after 4am……M was born via emergency c-section…. 3 lbs 2 oz… 16.5 inches long…. Blonde hair and blue eyes…and looked like her Daddy..she did however have my hands and feet… thank goodness!!!

Apparently the cord was wrapped around her neck 3 times, which could have caused problems as she grew more and put on more weight…. however… the c-section was done to save me…. If my blood pressure went any higher…one or both of us weren’t going home… so we had to do what we had to do! She was in the NICU at BCH for 5 1/2 weeks. The nurses were awesome….they called her the feisty one with the attitude… and me the funny Mom that everyone wanted to meet because of my OR antics.

I spent day and night there…day after day… for 41 days straight, until the day I got to bring home my Sweet Pea. As I look back on the experience you’d think this was the day I almost died… but it wasn’t. It was the first time M looked at me and said “Mom”… I looked at her in utter amazement and said “Yes Sweetheart?”…she smiled and right at that moment my heart stopped.