Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts

Friday, April 20, 2012

Remember that Prayer Request??

Okay so it has been way way too long since I posted a prayer request about my personal health. 
What had happened was.. (spoken like the ladies man) 

C was born on Jan 15, we went home the morning of the 16th.
By the 17th I was holding fluid, not a little... like... alot.
See.
28 pounds of fluid post delivery to be exact.

I called casey and he said its just the trauma of delivering. you are fine.
Two days later a dear friends mom brough us dinner. 
(wed night, baby was a couple days old)
She came in, sat the food down and said, umm you may want to make some lemon water. Lemons are a natural diuretic. 
So that night I lay in bed, propped under about 20 pillows. I couldnt lay down to sleep. It was too hard to breathe. 
The next morning I drank my lemon water. I also drank about 6 glasses of grapefruit juice. 
Nothing changed, fast forward to friday.
I called Casey around 4 and I told him I was starting to feel worse and I thought we needed to go to the ER. I called a friend who's husband is a paramedic and they told me to come over and her husband would check my "stats."

My resting heartrate throughout the whole pregnancy was around 80-90 bpm. I got there and he checked my oxygen level, BP, and heartrate.

My oxygen was only slightly off, my BP around 160/95 (high for me but still normal)
but my heartrate.... it was a consistent 39.
Friends hubby walked out of the room, my friend went to the kitchen to get her baby a bottle and she came in the den, sat next to me on the couch with the scariest look on her face and said; "Brent doesn't EVER freak out about things... but, uhhh I think you are going into heart failure! You need to go straight back to labor and delivery"
WHAT? I feel a little off but not heart failure!!!!
Friend then proceeded to call a good friend of her's who is a labor and delivery nurse.
The nurse agreed with Brent's concern and I met Casey at the house, 
our wild friday night was being spent going BACK to l&d with my newborn. 

Do you have ANY idea how weird it is to check in at the counter WITH your baby?? just plain weird! I know they thought I was nuts!!

Nurse checked everything out, hooked me up to monitors and everything was the same as when Brent took my stats. But my heartrate continued to drop. 
38, 35, 34, then 29. 
At that point you start setting off monitors, like repeatedly!!! Scary/annoying.

They took bloodwork, determined my liver enzymes were off. The dr on call told me she would notify my dr. and she sent us home with NO answers!

It made NO sense. 
Sat, Sun, still not sleeping, started to get some relief from the fluid, in 12 hours I urinated off almost 18 pounds of fluid! I thought I was feeling better.

By monday morning I had spoken with 2 friends moms who have been  l&d nurses for close to 25 years. 
They both suspicioned things but didnt want to scare me, they basically told me if I felt worse to not go to ER go straight back to l&d at the women's hospital.

Monday night I still felt bad.

I waited until AC was down for the night and I called my very dear friend Ruth. She graciously agreed to come and sleep at my house so we could go back to labor and delivery and hopefully get some more answers. 

me, casey and my one week old headed again back up to the hospital! At this point I felt pure D stupid!!

My dr happened to be on call and she came up to talk to me. She checked my heartrate and it fluxuated between 35-39.
She ordered an EKG, Echocardiagram, and a CT Scan. 
CT came back confirming I had pulminary edema as well as pitting edema all the way up to my thighs.
The EKG determined the electricity in my heart was off. 

She told me she was referring me to a dr who specializes in women's heart health.

Wednesday morning

This swollen girl and this tired baby headed up to the cardiologist. 
BTW those offices smell of moth balls and sucrets. I giggled, I was the youngest there by a good solid 40 years!!!
That dr ordered a stress test, another EKG and Another Echo.

She then determined I had Sinus Bradycardia.

She had NEVER seen cases like mine before and mine included she had 2 other patients, both who had recently delivered with similiar symptoms to mine.

She had no answers, to rhyme or reason as to why it happened it just did.

I had to wait for my medical release from the ob to come back for my stress test. 

By the end of the week I lost the last of the 28 pounds and I sat at home tired, confused, with a 2 week old, high blood pressure and a low heartrate.

This was about the time I believe I asked for yall's prayer requests.

Things were so uncertain and all I knew is it felt good knowing I was in the lords hands and soon enough I would have answers.

I went back at 4 weeks post delivery for my stress test. Everything went as it should have and my heartrate had returned to normal. 
My bp was at its normal 110/60.
The dr had no answers. 

Hooray she said everything corrected itself.
YES, hooray!!
But just like that?? how?? 
She had no answers for me, just said it's too weird! She told me when she attended her yearly cardiologist conference she would confer with other women-specialist cardiologist and let me know if she figured anything out.
I know she cares and was extremely thorough. She even called in the aneshesiologist to check what I was administered in labor.

Shortly after this test we met with Mrs. Lisa, my friends l&d nurse mommy for dinner. 

She said she had spoken with Ruth's mom, also a former l&d nurse and they both suspicioned I had peripartum Cardiomyopathy.

Basically...it is a rare disorder in which a weakened heart is diagnosed within the final month of pregnancy or within 5 months after delivery.

It occurs when there is damage to the heart. As a result, the heart muscle becomes weak and cannot pump blood efficiently. Decreased heart function affects the lungs, liver, and other body systems.

                                                     It only occurs in 1 in 1,300 pregnancies.
It is still undetermined If I actually have this but I have not been able to speak again with the cardiologist again to confirm this.
We are waiting until she returns from her conference to see what the future holds. As of right now I am "fine" and she wants me working out to build up the muscles in my heart.  If I DO have this there is a 25-50% chance of heart failure in a following pregnancy and the potential need for a heart transplant. 

With a sidenote: I know I had severe and extreme swelling post delivery with my daughter. I thought you just felt like a truck ran over you for the first 2-3 weeks and I am positive I had this with her. However, since i did not seek medical attention (mainly for lack of knowing other pregnant women, etc the dr's consider this a "first offense" and will not give me a NO, don't get pregnant again, it could kill you)

So as of right now Thank you thank you everyone for your sweet prayers, concerns and words of encouragement. We would love to continue adding to our family but not if it means my two living children would no longer have a mommy.

This has been the biggest reality check there could be.I know the lord has answered prayers thus far just hoping to get some clarity on the situation.
The only other diagnoses even mentioned were peripartum preeclampsia and I did alot of research showing my symptoms also went hand in hand with HELLP syndrome.
So.. for now... I start working out, and the story continues. 





Thursday, January 26, 2012

Pictures and a Prayer Request

Found a few more sweet pictures I thought I would share.
loading up in the car on the way home from the hospital!
 this crazy hair just kills me haha
sleeping away at our first dr. appointment.
In our almost 2 weeks with this little guy the one thing we have found is he REALLY likes to sleep. And fine by me:) At night we are going close to 5 hours at a time!! I find myself waking up to make sure he is okay!
 
In other news some of you may or may not know I have had a unique post-delivery experience to say the least.
The Story:
Labor was relatively quick, delivery even quicker and overall I was really hoping to be able to do a VBAC. Halfway through labor we did not think it would be possible because I was not progressing. I purposely waited to get an epidural as to not slow down labor any more than it was already. Once I got the epidural I went from 3 to 10 in an hour and a half!! Guess I just needed the medicine to relax a little. haha. 

So, day after baby is born we had lots of visitors. I knew I was swelling a little bit but didn't think much of it at first. 
We came home monday afternoon and by tuesday afternoon my feet were so swollen I could only wear my house shoes. I was also having a hard time breathing (felt as if my back between by shoulders and at my sternum were bruised.) On friday my face had begun to swell and I was not feeling like myself at all. Friday night around 9:30 we packed up and headed back to labor and delivery to see if they could determine what was wrong.
Originally all symptoms pointed to Eclampsia. They tested my blood pressure (usually low, 110/60) and it was 159/88. This typically isn't too high but high for me it was. My pulse was a different story; it was dangerously low, staying at a solid 38-40.(normally between 70-80) My Dr. was not on call and lab work all that came back elevated was my liver enzyme levels. They sent me home without any answers and said you are too close to borderline for us to administer the Magnesium. I literally laid on the couch all day sat and all day sunday. 

Monday I went to drop AC off at MDO I told a friend of mine there about my crazy weekend and she insisted after school I go by her house and have her husband (a paramedic) check my BP and HR. Again we got very similar ratings to what we found on friday night. My friend called a close friend of hers who happens to be a L&D nurse. She gave her the run down and the two of them decided I needed to head back to the hospital. On my way home I called my Dr.'s office, just so happened she was out of office that day and the nurse agreed with the friends I needed to go back to the hospital. 
I met casey at home and was NOT wanting to go. We ate our dinner and got AC headed over to a friends house. We spent the better part of the night going back and forth.

At first my nurse told me they would admit me for testing, then she said L&D was so full that people all around me were having to labor without epidurals in Triage because they didn't have room on the floor for these women. (broke my heart!) Then around 9:30 my Dr. came up to the hospital. My heart rate was staying around 39 and at some times dropping as low as 35. BP was still elevated. She ordered more labs, a CT Scan, and an EKG. After the EKG the Dr. seemed concerned and told me she would be consulting a cardiologist to read the test as well. Labs all came back normal and CT Scan came back normal. They did find a little big of fluid on my lungs and said that should be relieving as the swelling goes down.
Tuesday I met with the cardiologist (who I LOVE) she ordered another EKG and an Echo cardiogram. Both of those came out seemingly fine. Once I am released for physical activity I will do the stress test and she will put me on a heart monitor. 
Requests:
So... all of this to say everything I have been feeling and they have tested is one big mystery!!
If I could ask for specific requests they would be for the Dr. to find something in all the tests we have already run and see if something was missed or over looked. 
Also, in the coming weeks for the cardiologist to be able to explain the sudden drop in my heart rate and determine if medicine is necessary to help my levels return to normal.

Thank you for everyone who has already been praying and been so concerned. Such an incredible feeling to know you are being blanketed in prayer.
I am also happy to report most of my swelling has decreased to a manageable level so I can continue to rest and take care of my babies. 

Hope each of you are having a wonderful week.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

It's about Twine, i mean time..

HAHAHA okay now that you all know i am the corniest person on the planet just wanted to let you know i am still here and have LOTS LOTS LOTS to share this week. 

My goal is to post twice a day for 7 days.

Let's see if i can live up to that promise....

In the past 14 days i have cleaned, sewed, painted, cleaned, did dishes, lost my job and started applying for new ones, made homemade pickles, cleaned out the attic, gone through all of baby's clothes since birth (HUGE UNDERTAKING) what else??? Did i mention i lost my job?? 

It's really okay, honestly it is such a blessing to know the lord has ultimate control. Things have been tense at work since our dispatcher was given orders to return to active duty with the Coast Guard, more was placed on my plate and my supervisor's. I have been praying the lord would show me his will and if this is where i needed to remain. After praying that prayer thursday night, he answered it at 4:01pm friday afternoon. I think the president of the company was a little shocked with how "at peace" I was with everything.....
All that being said I have had some other very very exciting opportunities 
the lord has also laid on my heart,
they require that leap of faith into the unknown....

It will require me to be very diligent, use my creativity to it's fullness, 
and allow me the opportunity to be with my sweet blessing ALOT more.

In the words of a true southerner, "If yall are prayin' people, join me in lifting these 
concerns before the lord."

Heavenly Father, Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be at peace with my current circumstance. You have never failed me, and I know your love will comfort me in my times of despair.
God, show me how to trust you even more, I give my talents, and thoughts and financial concerns to you. Continue to humble me at your feet and show me how to show your love to each i encounter. 
Romans 8:25
But when I look forward to what i do not yet have I wait for it patiently and confidently!!

Love you all dearly and thank you for being such dear friends.