*I started typing this post on Sept. 13… just now getting around to finishing it.  This will be a series leading up to present day.  I want to have this all written out for myself and my family.

Sunday 8.29.10 – *Warning… long and mostly for my records* 🙂

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking I’d wet the bed! ha!  I thought that Eli was sitting on my bladder.  I had to get up to change three times during the night.  Once it was time to get up and get ready for church, I was fine and didn’t think much more of it except that he was on my bladder.  We got ready for church and Joey and I were joking that I wet the bed.  Jaxon said “I”m glad I wasn’t in there”.  It was a great morning.  I sat in the backseat with Jaxon on the way to church and we held hands and took pictures together!  I’m so thankful that I decided to ride back there that morning.

During bible class and church I felt just fine.  I had a few contractions, but nothing out of the ordinary.  I wasn’t quite 28 weeks yet.  In the bulletin I pointed out a prayer request to Joey for a friend of a member that had been admitted to the hospital at 27.5 weeks.  I told joey I couldn’t imagine and thought for a moment how thankful I was my pregnancy had been healthy and normal.

After church I was in the teacher workroom with one of my longest, best friends, Amy.  We were discussing the class we were to start teaching together the following week.  I had told her I thought Elijah was sitting on my bladder and what had happened during the night.  Joking again about wetting the bed!   I reached up on the shelf for a pen, and said ” oh my goodness, it’s happening right now”.  Thankful it was just her in there, I headed to the restroom.  We were having a potluck that day, but Joey and I decided to go ahead and leave.  We were going to go grocery shopping, but stopped to eat first.  I was being nice and suggested Taco Mayo for Joey!  On the way there Joey said he thought I should call the Dr. on Monday to tell her what was going on.  I said I would but kind of blew it off because I had an appointment with her on Wednesday.  When we got the restaurant, as soon as I got out of the truck I started leaking. a lot.  We decided we’d better call the on call to let them know.  They said to go into Lakeside to be checked out.  Joey immediately made plans for Jaxon.  Luckily, the Whitesell’s were eating lunch right by our house so it was really convenient to drop him off.  We went ahead and ordered our lunch.  After three bites, I leaned back in the seat to take a deep breath.  Once I exhaled, a huge gush of liquid came with it.  I ran to the restroom and then directly to the truck.  We headed to drop Jax off and then to the hospital.

Once at the hospital they quickly got us into a little holding room and me into a gown.  They did a little strip test on my wet pants to see if it was fluid.  It was a green piece of paper that quickly turned royal blue… royal blue means positive!  The did a swab test just to be sure, it took about 10 minutes for the results and it also was positive.  By this point about 20 minutes had passed since we arrived at the hospital.  I needed to go to the restroom.  They would not let me walk on my own.  The nurse excused herself to check with the on call Dr. about the plan.  She came back with a wheelchair and told me they were taking me to room 5 and I was being admitted.

Within about 5 minutes the Dr on call came in.  She confirmed that I was leaking amniotic fluid and gave us the game plan for the day.  She explained that the first 48 hours are crucial and they wanted to keep me pregnant.  Strong Antibiotics every three hours via IV, steroid shots to help develop Eli’s lungs, an ultrasound to measure fluid and baby, and shots to stop contractions as necessary.  Needless to say, it was a bit much, really fast!  I said to her “ok, so I’ll be here at least 48 hours, and then will I get to go home?  Will I be on bed rest?”  She calmly squeezed my leg, took a deep breath and said the words that we were in no way were expecting.  “Suzanne, you will be here until you deliver, however long that may be.  The only way you will leave here is if you are transferred to another hospital with a NICU”  Immediately tears filled my eyes and I’m pretty sure Joey’s face turned white.  She was very sweet to us and told us that we needed to process what was going on.  We needed to scream, cry, mourn “normal” life, etc.  They all left the room to give us a few minutes to let the news sink in.

The following hours were full of Iv’s, medications, shots, monitoring, tears, prayers, hugs, etc.  We knew we would be ok, we just had no idea of what to expect or what the following hours, days, weeks, months would be like.  We just wanted so much for our baby to be ok and healthy and for me to be ok and healthy.

We decided that things needed to be as normal as possible for Jaxon.  Joey went home to be with him that night.  It was so hard not having Joey there and knowing that Jax didn’t fully understand why I wasn’t there.

We had a few close friends and family visit.  They were tear-filled visits and I was so thankful to see those people.

We finally said goodnight and after some sleeping meds I was able to get a little rest… before my middle of the night steroid shot!

*I wish I could go back to that night and give myself a big hug, I guess ignorance is bliss and there is a reason why we don’t know all of the plans for our life before they unfold.*