Well, That Didn't Take Long.

Life is funny at times, no? About 17 hours after my last blog update, we had a baby! On Friday evening (May 8) we welcomed our sweet Ellabeth Joy into the world at 8:41pm. She was born at 29 weeks, 6 days and weighed in at 3 lbs. 2 oz.

Of course, this is our ministry blog and not just a personal blog about our lives, but seeing how everything has become so intertwined at the moment, I'll take the opportunity to update on how things are going with myself and Ellabeth as well as kinda fill in the gaps on how we got to this point, what exactly happened, why she was born so early and what our hopes are for the ministry from this point on.

So, in this post, I'll try to answer as many questions as I can remember about our exciting birth story. I'll share a few pics, too. Consider this a "trigger warning", if you get grossed out easily, there may be a pic here that you will want to scroll past or quit reading at this point. :) Please forgive some of this that may seem a bit overly detailed, but I want to document as much as I can remember, partially for my own recollection many years down the road.

When I last updated it was about 3am on Friday morning (May 8) and I was in the hospital waiting for a second ultrasound that was o take place that morning with a perinatologist. That afternoon around 1-ish I was wheeled back to radiology where they had ordered an MRI instead of a second ultrasound. We were told that so much more could be seen with the MRI versus the ultrasound and there was already enough concern after seeing the results of the ultrasound from the previous night that the MFM doctor decided to bypass the second ultrasound in favor of the MRI.

(Above is the photo of the ultrasound showing the tear in the uterine cavity and the 

amniotic fluid filling the sac outside of the uterine wall.  The tear is in the center of the pic,

the pocket on the right is the uterus and the big open space on the left is the fluid pocket.)

Once the MRI was finished, I was told that the radiologist wanted to read the results while I waited on the table in the event that they needed more pics. The wait in the tube was growing painfully long and I finally caved and had to press "the panic button". Ha! :) Good thing I did, because the radiologist had actually called in for a second opinion from another radiologist. When I asked the technician if that was normal, she said "To be honest, I've been doing radiology for 8 years and I have never seen anything like this before." Her response was one I was becoming used to. She wasn't the first and wasn't going to be the last person to say these words to me. In fact, just the day before on Thursday morning, I received this message from Dr. Monteith who performed my tubal reversal:

"Theoretically, it was possible but very unusual." This was his reaction when I shared with him what the doctors in Costa Rica were thinking was going on inside my body. And when I got back to the states and I had to explain it to the admittance nurses at labor and delivery, they pretty much looked at me like I had a third eye on my forehead. :) But as crazy as it sounded, what the doctors in Costa Rica told me was exactly what was going on and the MRIs and ultrasounds only served to confirm what was going on.

So what exactly was going on? Well, to explain the best way I know how, one of my previous c-section scars on my uterine wall had come open. However, rather than this being a typical uterine rupture, there were no other symptoms. Zero. No pain, no bleeding, no signs of labor. Then, through that tear in the uterine wall, the bag of waters was bulging through. It didn't break. As best I can understand, it was just pushing through the hole in the uterine wall and it created almost like a second bag of waters. During the MRI, doctors watched as Ellabeth played between the two pockets of fluids, reaching her had through the uterine wall and into the fluid sac that was bulging outside.

That afternoon there was a meeting of the minds where several of the maternal-fetal medicine doctors came together to discuss my situation and weigh the risks of immediate delivery versus the risk of allowing the pregnancy to continue. We were told that the doctors could not come to a unanimous decision on how to proceed. The meeting seemed to drag on forever as we waited for nearly 3 hours before we spoke with any of the doctors. Our nurse, who seemed very irritable, didn't know anything and we thought she was frustrated with us because we kept asking for updates. We found out the next day from another nurse that she was frustrated, but not with us. As it turned out, her shift was coming to an end and she was eager to find out what the doctors had decided and she thought she was going to have to go home without knowing the outcome. (We also learned that despite her shift ending at 7:08, she actually stayed late and accompanied us to the OR when the decision was made to deliver just because she was eager to see what exactly was going on inside as well!)

At 5:00, we were told no food or drinks until further notice and mom and I began to suspect that the decision had been made to deliver. I asked for a few things (stool softener & an antacid) and was denied each of them, which led us to further believe that we would be delivering, even though each time we asked the nurse she responded with the same "I don't know". Then at 6:00 we were told we would be moving to a room on the labor and delivery side. The only doctor we had spoken with was a resident who said she knew for a fact we would be at the hospital until I delivered but said she could not give me any idea when that would be. She also told us that the MFM doctors were still discussing their options with how to handle my situation and that one of them would be around to see me soon.

At 6:30, I updated on facebook that I was stable and that all was good. David, who was in Costa Rica was relieved to read that post. Then, about an hour later he got "the call". It was crazy, I tell ya!

At 6:45 or so things got very interesting when the nurse came in and said "Are you feeling these contractions?" I had been feeling what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions for several days but nothing was registering on the monitors Thursday or Friday so I wasn't quite sure how to answer her. I felt something but I had no idea what it was. By 7:15 my hospital room was filled with people.

My doctor said "well, we were trying to figure out how best to treat your pregnancy, but the fact that you are feeling these contractions makes that decision an easy one. We will need to deliver baby now." Then he said something like "Are you ok with that" or "Do you have any questions" or something like that and before I had a chance to respond, I had a nurse laying on my belly with a heart rate monitor trying to find Ellabeth's heart rate, two anesthesiologists asking me the wrap sheet of medical questions, two other nurses swooped in to shave my belly, a few waivers were put in front of me to sign, a nurse was asking my mom who would be going back with me, my mom was on the phone trying to get my dad to answer, i was panicking that David was going to find all of this out on facebook, the surgeon (a fourth year resident) was on his phone just outside the door calling the MFM doctor (who I was told never attends deliveries) and I overheard him saying "Yes, my patient from Costa Rica is having contractions...yes...Oh, thank you!!" Then he came in and told me he would have the MFM docs in to help him with the surgery. A few minutes later, the doc he was on the phone with showed up and came in to tell me that they were expecting to do a hysterectomy and a bladder repair as they thought the placenta had grown into the bladder as well. At some point my dad slipped into the room...I looked over from the bed and saw him fully dressed for surgery! I almost didn't recognize him except that my mom was tying his clothes in the back. Then on the other side of the room I looked and saw both of the elders from my church and their wives and I remember feeling so sorry that I couldn't visit with them. And then almost as quickly as the storm rolled in, we rolled out. All 17 of us (including myself, my dad, and Ellabeth), into the operating room.

Surgery started at 8:06 and progressed very slowly at first. They explained that they were taking things very slow and easy so that they didn't puncture the tissue sac of waters. They also allowed everyone in the room to come take a peek at the abnormality within my uterine cavity and they took a few pictures and "studied" it a bit, making a few medical observations and comments that I really didnt understand.

 (Once inside the docs immediately saw the bulge of tissues that was filled with amniotic fluid that 

had escaped through the tear in the uterine wall.)

Then when they decided it was time to proceed, things went quickly. Ellabeth was born at 8:41 and came out screaming and pink! For a 29 weeker, everyone in the room was impressed. Her apgar score was 7. I got a quick peek at her in the incubator and she was whisked away to NICU where I would be reunited with her the following day.

Ellabeth Joy Godsey, 1 minute old. (3 lbs. 2 oz.)

Praise the Lord, no hysterectomy was needed, as they were able to repair the hole in the uterine wall and also, the placenta had not grown into the bladder. We were advised by the perinatologist though, as he walked out of the OR, that just because I still had my uterus did not mean that I was free to attempt to have any more children. He smiled as he leaned over to me as I lay on the operating table and he whispered "I wouldn't try that again if I were you."

So where do we go from here? Well, I'll save that for another post. Thanks for reading! We look forward to sharing more soon! 

Ellabeth Joy Godsey, 1 week old. (2 lb. 14 oz.)