A Baby Named Holly

I woke up Wednesday, September 26th ready for a full day of “8.5 months pregnant” fun. I was headed down to San Jose from San Mateo (roughly a 40 min drive south) to a checkup with my OB/GYN, then to lunch with my Dad (I was dying for In and Out Burger) and home to have dinner out with Charlie. I was even thinking I might get my nails done—cause I’m crazy like that (and the chipped shellac was really starting to annoy me).
I drove down to my doctor’s appointment and just as I was arriving, my mom called me. She told me she was on her break at work and could come to my appointment with me if I wanted company. My mom is a nurse in the ICU at a hospital in San Jose, and her hospital happened to be across the street from my doctor’s office, so joining me was simply a convenient trek across the street. When I was called in by the nurse, we stopped by the scale and blood pressure machine to do the usual check-ins. 
Now, we already knew my blood pressure had been on the fritz for quite some time. For seemingly no reason, it was significantly higher some days than others and having had no past history of high blood pressure, it was concerning enough to my doctor (and to me) to monitor it closely. I was taking my BP at home 2-3 times a day towards the end of my pregnancy, and was logging it in a (very cute notebook by Emily Ley #NotAnAd) journal to report back to my doctor. I had to really watch my salt intake, hydration levels, and stress which unfortunately was nearly impossible as it was my “busy season” at work. I powered through what needed to be finished at work and was soon given the OK by my doctor to head out on my leave a few days early so I could begin stress reduction and prepare for an early delivery, by induction or a c-section.
Flashback to the Dr’s office: I get on the scale – all is well and fine. I get my BP taken and unfortunately, it was SIGNIFICANTLY higher than it had ever been. I was alarmed, but figured it was something my doctor would have me monitor at home for the next few days because I was going to deliver that Friday anyways. My mom looked at the BP machine and made a concerned face with her lips pressed together….”hmm,” she said to the nurse, “that’s not good.” The nurse shook her head but smiled at me and guided me into the exam room. She told me today they’d be checking to see if the baby was head down (thus far she had been breech but we were hoping she’d somersault so I could labor and have a vaginal delivery), and give me a shot in my hip that would help develop her lungs faster since she was coming sooner than expected and would miss out on the last few weeks of lung development. She administered the shot which hurt like a….you know. I’m no weenie—during my pregnancy I had several blood tests done, finger pricks, the TDAP shot, and many more fun things that I didn’t perceive to be painful or jarring, but this one in particular really hurt. Suddenly I was 8 years old in the pediatricians office holding my Mom’s hand post-shot and holding back the tears. The plan was for me to get another shot the following day as this shot for lung development comes in a set and is administered the 2 days in a row before delivery. My mom promised she’d come with me the next day and I was eternally grateful she didn’t decide to skip attendance this time.
In walks my Dr. and the first words out of her mouth were “well……your BP is too high for my comfort level, we need to get the baby out today most likely. I’m going to send you to the hospital to be monitored and if your BP doesn’t come down in the next hour, we’ll deliver this afternoon. OK?” Um….what? Wait. What? But Charlie is at work?! I don’t have my bags with me for the hospital?! I’m not mentally prepared?! I NEED MY IN AND OUT BURGER!
Before I knew it I was at the hospital with 3 nurses hooking me up to various monitors, IV machines and BP cuffs, and were taking my blood pressure every 10 minutes. Mom sat next to me telling me to picture myself in Hawaii floating atop the waves (in hopes that a relaxed vision would bring my BP down) while nervously texting who I can only imagine to be Charlie, my Sister Theresa and my Dad telling them to brace for impact, baby was coming today. I’m no fool, I could tell she was nervous too. There must have been a storm on my Hawaiian vision vacation because my blood pressure didn’t budge. The nurse came in and told me the Dr. had been monitoring me and decided today was the day. Mom called Charlie and had him get home to get our bags (he still had to pack his — insert eye roll) and head down to the hospital.
Because of my high blood pressure and going into surgery to do a C-section because low and behold baby was still breech, they had to administer a medication through my IV called Magnesium, or “Mag” as the nurses called it. The point of the Mag was to keep me safe from this point on because seizures can occur when your blood pressure gets high enough. In addition, your liver, kidney’s and other organs can be in danger of shutting down, so to be on the precautionary side, they administered the Mag. The side effect of the Mag is that almost immediately, you feel like you’ve got the Flu. I was burning hot—even my eyelids felt like they were on fire—and achy. The nurses gave me ice packs to put under my arms, legs and neck, Charlie fanned me with some gigantic binder a nurse handed him, and my sister was on the cold-towel duty.
An hour later, the Mag had successfully flown through my system and although I felt pretty foggy and woozy, the feeling of laying on the surface of the sun had passed. It was time for surgery.
The actual C-section took about 20 minutes. I will spare those who aren’t keen on reading about needles and the scent of an operating room, but it was a relatively action-free 20 minutes until I heard “here she comes” with enthusiasm and a popping sound as her head emerged. Charlie had been by my side holding my hand, suited from head to toe in a surgical suit complete with a mask and hat, and when she was pulled out he was whisked away to be by her side. I held my breath as I saw a nurse running past me with a pink-skinned, tiny loaf but I heard no screaming. “Is she okay?? Why isn’t she crying?? Is she okay??” The nurse closest to me reassured me she was alright and that she had just been a little shocked from her quick journey from her cozy womb that she wasn’t immediately breathing. Seconds later, I heard her screaming and took my first (and certain to not be my last) terrified breath as a Mom. “She’s doing just fine now Valerie….we just had to wiggle her around a bit to get her breathing started, but she’s fine. Sometimes that happens — its just a shock to her system but she’s fine!” The sound of the screech coming out of my baby’s lungs in the next room was a sound I’ll never forget. A few lonely minutes passed as they were sewing me back up, and all of a sudden Charlie’s voice came from behind me asking if I wanted to meet our daughter. My eyes filled with tears as I stared to the side of the table I was pinned to, into the face of a plump, squishy, squinty-eyed, pink-faced bundle. She was wrapped in a white blanket with a tiny beanie covering her little head, with the fluffiest, most gigantic bow on the front. She was perfect.
The next few hours are fuzzy to me looking back and with the Magnesium still flowing through me, I was extremely sleepy and sadly, can’t remember all of our first evening together as a family. It was a small price to pay however, because it kept me safe during her delivery.
My time in the hospital after her birth were painful, uncomfortable, awkward (so much talk of passing gas and going #2), scary (my blood pressure continued to plague me for weeks to come), joyful, beautiful and memorable (once the Mag wore off). If anyone reading is experiencing preeclampsia, you’re not alone and I would be glad to answer any questions you might have about medications, magnesium, etc. It was truly a whirlwind but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. Despite the painful recovery and hormonally-charged adjustment to Motherhood, my body sure did me proud. 11 weeks later, I feel so fortunate to be holding my beautiful baby girl named Holly.

Xx
Val

PS: My family got my In and Out for dinner the night Holly was born. I remember none of it.