November 11th came, and with grandparents and Abrham in tow we got to find out the sex of the baby. The Dr. had the girls fooled that it was a girl, but the men in the family saw the anatomy that did not belong to a girl and so it was. The 12th I celebrated my 26th birthday and the most wonderful gift of all, the news of our baby boy. His name came as easy as it sounds, Cash. I mentioned it to Dustin in the car one day and since we both liked it, it stuck. Cash Bryant Crocker. A name that we chose, combined with a family name passed down through multiple generations. The 'grandparent' names however, didn't come as easily. From Mami to Nanny and B-bop to Corn Pop, no one could find a fit. It was fun watching our parents debate the name he would call them, but we were finally glad to call them Poppa and Nonna, Grams and Pops.
December came and other than the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I was enjoying a normal pregnancy. Visits to the Dr. brought anticipation of growth and development, along with sonograms on DVD and souvenir pictures to show family and friends. I did however have a chronic urinary tract infection that had stuck around for 3 months. Until now, the Dr. had been controlling the infection with varieties of antibiotics. 3 months later our choices for antibiotics were slimming and the Dr. was discussing hospital admission, if indeed the infection did not subside. Two days later I started vomiting and running fever. A visit to a fellow OBGYN sent me home with yet another antibiotic and instruction to "drink more cranberry juice." Needless to say this visit frustrated Dustin and I and hours after returning home from the Dr. I began to get sicker. The vomiting worsened and sitting up on the couch became and effort. A 103 temperature sent us packing to Presby ER.
They admitted me for IV antibiotics and ordered a urology consult for the next morning. Dr. Feagins came for the urology consult and brought news that I don't think any of us expected. The consult turned into a timeline and he informed me that I would be in surgery by noon that day. Unfortunately his timing was off and I was alone in the room. Dustin and Terri were shopping for hospital necessities and my parents were on the way from College Station. Despite his reassurance that this was a typical surgery, and he didn't anticipate complications, I couldn't get past the word surgery. He explained that he thought I had kidney stones and during surgery he would find them, take them out and then everything would be back to normal.
Not only was this my first surgery I was PREGNANT. General anesthesia while PREGNANT? What about the baby? I needed Dustin. Dr. Feagins left me unwillingly, crying alone in my room. I hurried him on saying I'd be fine and proceed to dial Dustin a hundred times. Couldn't get him. Tried his mom, nothing. My parents, no success. Finally Little Momma's sweet voice calmed me momentarily and I explained what the Dr. had just told me.
Dustin arrived shortly thereafter and we barely had time to think before I was being wheeled to pre-op. Pre-op gave just enough time for more questions and an overload of information. The Dr. said the baby was too small to monitor. At this point I was only 24 weeks. If the baby had to be delivered in surgery it would have many complications, if in fact it survived. We signed the form that all measures be taken to save the baby if I was to go into labor. At this point we had to let God be in control. Dustin held my hand and prayed for mercy, healing, wisdom, strength and protection. I remember him kissing me on the forehead and saying, "I'll see you two in a little bit ok?" I breathed an ok and then I was rolled away. "Us two," I thought and smiled. "Cash and I will be ok." As the white lights of the OR passed overhead I remember a peace that I will never be able to put into words. I knew that God was in control. He was guiding this surgery. He was in this room with us, and He was not going to leave us. The lights in the operating room blurred, the voices ran together and I kept praying the same prayer over and over. I will leave that prayer unsaid. I believe most of you were praying the same for us.
I woke up in recovery thirsty and needing to use the bathroom. Bed pans are not fun while under the influence of anesthesia. As my foggy eyes regained vision the nurse at the bedside phone Dustin and the family in the waiting room to let them know how I was doing. I reached down and touched my stomach. He was still there. "He's doing fine hun." The nurse saw me and reassured his heartbeat was as strong as ever- 160 beats a minute. I couldn't be still, the excitement was relieving. We were okay. He was okay. I wanted to see Dustin. Anesthesia wasn't nice to the sweet girl on the gurney beside me and I was ready to get out of there before I too lost my ice chips.
When I was finally reunited with my husband and family word came that my ureter had collapsed. (The ureter filters the kidney.) Mine had collapsed (for unknown reasons) and had literally shut of my kidney, causing sludge (toxins) to build up and had caused me to become septic. Dr. Feagins had to put a stint in the ureter to keep it open and drain. He warned this would be uncomfortable and that I may need to take pain medications. He hoped I could tolerate the stint until Cash's due date thus preventing another collapse.
I lived on Hydrocodone for the next 2 weeks. I did not work, I did not move. When I had to go to the bathroom it was an event. My body was rejecting the stint and I couldn't go 4 hours without pain medication. My sweet Mother came for 2 weeks and kept me company on the couch. Dustin kept working and waited on me hand and foot when he came home. A consult with the urologist on Christmas Eve for a post-op check up had me back in the OR on Dec. 26.
We enjoyed our first Christmas together as a married couple. Cash got stockings from both of his grandparents. (Spoiled any?) A teddy bear from my parents and a stuffed horse from Dustin's. We put aside my sickness for the day and enjoyed family as much as we could.
The day after Christmas I was back on the table and Dr. Feagins was removing the stint. We decided to remove it for 2 reasons. The first and most important being: The longer I was on pain medication, the greater chance those medications would affect Cash and result in withdrawals. The second being it was incredibly painful and was debilitating me from functioning.
The stent was removed on the 26th, the 27th I felt halfway normal. The 28th, I felt like a million dollars.
No comments:
Post a Comment