Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Greyson Thomas Smith

Wow! It's been a while. Here is my excuse:

At 34 weeks I started to feel very uncomfortable in my pregnancy. I was seeing the dr once a week and I had high blood pressure on and off. Which should have been a red flag, it was overlooked. At 35 weeks I was dizzy, getting bad pains and headaches which I thought was from high blood sugar. I had just seen the dr and he told me to pay attention to headaches bright spots or pain under the right rib....The next monday, I was at work and I got a sharp pain under my right rib after having a horrible headache ALL day. I called the dr and they told me to go home and lay on my right side for 2 hours and they'll call me back to see if I feel better. Well they called back and my headache went away but the pain in my rib was excruciating. They told me to go to the hospital. I was there until 11 pm doing testing on my gallbladder, liver and they gave us an ultrasound. Well the ultrasound showed that I had low fluid. On a scale from level 5-25 being "normal" I had level 6 and the baby was breech... GREAT, so all this time I thought I was rubbing his hiney under my rib, it was his huge noggin! Tests came back fine "go home and see the doctor every other day".... I rested the whole next day. The following day I went to work and then to my dr appt. "Blood pressure is too high it needs to be monitored closely, go back to the hospital and get an ultrasound, our tech is gone for the night"... we were there until 11 pm again Fluid went up to 8, baby is still breech. "No pain, good to go home, go back to the dr every other day"... UGH..Took off the next day and relaxed. Friday rolls around and I go to my dr appt to be monitored. Blood pressure way too high, baby is still breech, we need to get the baby out tonight, You cant drive yourself to the hospital but you have to go now....At this point I was freaking out. Thank God Tommy was on his way home. My sister Tara picked him up from the train station and they came and got me.. (this was like appointment 1 of 3 that Tommy had not been to so he was upset he missed it.) We got to the hospital and the fluid was at 2 and an hour later they were prepping me for surgery.
Tommy got to watch the whole thing! He told me when they started cutting, the tool broke and they had to find a new one and i was bleeding out all over the table. I had no idea! Baby is out and i heard him cry, which made me cry of course. Tommy leans down and says he has curly red hair.. and i was in shock... CURLY?? (turns out its straight so far lol) Because he was breech he was standing on his leg the whole time so his right hip was dislocated. they said they were able to pop it back in. While they were stitching me up I turned to the anesthesiologist and said how is my bp? and he says "good"... Come to find out it was 210/120 and i was close to having a stroke or seizure. I saw my baby for 1 minute and he was taken away. He was 4 lbs 15 oz and 21" ,long. He was a tiny boy. but healthy! he was just a bit jaundice so he stayed in nicu. Unfortunately I couldn't see him for 24 hours.  They had to put me on Magnesium sulfate which was to prevent stroke/seizure. They told me I would get nauseous and I would see double and feel bouncy.. Well that was the truth! I threw up all night long, I hardly remember anything besides throwing up. I received blood tests every 2 hours. The tests showed that i had HELLP syndrome. HELLP syndrome is a group of symptoms that occur in pregnant women who have: H -- hemolysis (the breakdown of red blood cells); EL -- elevated liver enzymes; LP -- low platelet count. they weren't sure if i would need a blood platelet transfusion or not so i had to be taken to ICU. Another 24 hour dose of this medication that was making me want to die and not seeing my handsome boy. I was very out of it and the Dr did not explain exactly what was going on to me or Tommy so by the end of the day after seeing ICU nurses who knew nothing about my syndrome or the drs plans We were fed up! I asked a nurse if i would be able to see my son after the meds finished. and she said " No , you're going to be on anther drip of this at 8 am". I broke down and was hysterical and screaming. Tommy flipped out and demanded to speak with my actual Dr. (she hadn't been able to see me because she did 3 C-sections back to back after me!) She came down and explained what was actually going on with HELLP and how serious it was and we were finally understanding what was going on.** Because at that point all we thought we were in ICU for was to be able to get more frequent blood testing. **ALSO i hadnt eaten since the morning before my c section so i was STARVING. They only gave me ice chips so Tommy demanded that i eat (hes the best lol) So they finally gave me jello and juice. Ithey brought me a pump earlier on so i had been pumping for the baby and Tommy was bringing it up to him to feed him. He also had me write a little note on each sticker so he could read it to the baby while he ate, which i thought was the cutest thing ever. He also secretly skyped with me so i could see the baby, except my vision was so off it gave me a huge headache trying to concentrate on anything. The next morning rolls around  I got to eat food! (Tommy slept in a chair that ended up collapsing) and they said i was able to leave ICU. Well it took 5 hours for them to get me a room and they wouldn't let me go up to NICU until i had a room in mother baby. SO FRUSTRATING. Well when i finally got my room they asked me to wait until i had all my vitals checked. So i waited. again. I got myself dressed and freshened up my face to the best of my ability. It was hard to walk with the incision but I was up on my feet  quick so that i could see him sooner than later. After the nurse came in and did what she had to do I was on my way to see my tiny nugget of love!
He was so little. He had straight red hair. 4 Lbs 10 oz, a little button nose and he looked just like me. It was crazy looking down at him and seeing my baby pictures. Those lips! They are exactly mine! I couldn't help but cry. Any mom would know. That little bean in your belly is finally in your arms! At that point we had to pick a name. We were between Camden and Jackson because Tommy ruled out Greyson months prior. We both agreed he was NOT a Jackson and all the sudden Tommy was all for the name Greyson. Greyson or Camden it was down to and  48 hours after he was born we decided he was a Greyson Thomas. He was all smiles. Tiny little EVERYTHING. I couldn't get enough,  Well i was released from the hospital and he had to stay because his Billie Rubin was still too high but the following day he was ready to go! He hardly fit in preemie clothes, his car seat, or his swing! He fit in Tommy's baseball hat and I'm so mad we never got a picture! We couldn't be more in love with this little boy and hes finally reached 10 lbs at 8 weeks old. Feeding breast milk and only supplementing with formula when necessary. He loves his baths and even the pool! He giggles in his sleep, cries a lot, poops a lot and he loves gripe water!  He drinks 4+ oz every 3 hours and sometimes he may skip his 2-3 am feeding (which i like because i can sleep) (i am mostly pumping right now because he isn't to fond of breast feeding most days). Here are some pictures of him: