Saying Goodbye to Jacob - December 2

The contractions started getting really bad about 1:00 am. I couldn't remember the breathing exercises to help control the pain since it had been 7 years since my last labor. And, we weren't suppose to start class until January. But, we made it to 1:50 am. That's when the pain was excruciating. Jacob was born at 1:55 am with a heartbeat. It was the most peaceful experience of my life! He didn't cry or open his eyes but he was alive! We were able to hold him and sing to him. He had all his little fingers and toes. He had Stephen's nose and chin! He was precious. He lived for an hour before going up to heaven. Jacob Aaron weighted 10.6 oz and was 12 1/4 inches long.

From Bad to Worse- December 1

8:30 am: It was Tuesday and as usual ultrasound day. This time in the hospital. I went down around 8:30 for the ultrasound. They were measuring Jacob's size, the blood flow thru his brain (mca scan) and checking for fluid. I was in my 24th week but Jacob was only measuring 21 wks 2 days. Dr. Graves came to visit me in my room shortly after. She suspected that Jacob had Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome. It's a very rare autosomal recessive disorder. They did not test for this when they performed the amnio in November. I was heartbroken. I had a very bad feeling the rest of the morning and into the afternoon.

2:30 pm:Dr. Graves had ordered another 24 hours urine analysis that began at 11:00 am on Monday and ended on Tuesday. She wanted to check the protein count in my urine. Elevated levels can indicate advancement of the preeclampsia. My first protein count two weeks before that came back 4.2 grams. That's when they decided to put me in the hospital. The nurses had told me it couldn't get much higher than 4. We thought we were doing better last week because the count came back at 3.6! But, today Dr. Graves came back at 2:30 to tell me this 24 hr urine count was 7.2!!! I knew it was going to be bad when she sat down on my hospital bed. She wanted to induce me ASAP. My protein level was way too high and my blood pressure was starting to creep up. I was having levels up in the 160's/90's and I was already on blood pressure medicine! She was going to give Stephen time to get to the hospital and call our family. Dr. Graves also told me the baby would probably not survive the delivery. I was devastated!

4:30 pm: I was moved down to the labor and delivery side of the hospital. I was told no epidural because I was on the blood thinners for my clotting disorders. They would have to wait 12 hours from the time of my last shot and there wasn't enough time. They put me on an iv with small amount of fluid and anit-seizure medicine. And medicine to thin my cervix.

Mom and Kristie got to the hospital about 8:30 pm. All we could do was wait. They didn't put a heart monitor on the baby because they didn't expect him to live thru the labor and delivery.