Maxwell Birth Story

It started out like any other day.  I was feeling pretty good.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  I got a phone call from my hematologist letting me know that my heparin (PTT) levels were too high.  So I had to lower my dosage.  Not a big deal.

Around 5pm I went to the bathroom.  When I wiped there was blood.  That made me nervous.  One of the risks of being on a blood thinner is internal bleeding.  I called Nate letting him know that I might have to go to the hospital.  He was picking up the kids from someone who was watching them.  I then got in contact with the high risk OB office.  They told me to come in to be evaluated.  I called around to find people who could watch the boys for a few hours & for the night if this was more urgent.  We had no idea what was going on.  At this point I wasn't really having any contractions accept the usually braxton hicks contractions.

We dropped the boys off with a church friend.  Then headed to the hospital --30 minute drive.  Nate dropped me off at the entrance and I was suppose to sit in a wheel chair and wait for him.  As I was sitting in the wheel chair I felt a huge gush of blood. A lady came up to me and ask if I need help.  I said "yes, I need someone to push me to Labor & delivery".  That sweet lady pushed me up there and waited with me until Nate met up with us.

I told the ladies at the Labor & Delivery desk that I was gushing blood and was on blood thinner.  I needed to be seen right away.  They were taking their sweet time.  I was feeling really anxious at this point because I had no idea what was going on with my body.  They got a room ready for me and hooked me up.  The on call OB saw me right away.  She did an exam.  She told us there was no active bleeding which was hard to believe because her hand was super bloody.  The OB told me the bleeding was probably the start of labor.  I was dilated to 4cm.  The scary part was I had just taken heparin at 4pm.

They had to start an IV and reverse the heparin.  After they gave me medicine to reverse the heparin they had to make sure my levels were safe enough to perform a spinal anesthesia.  If it wasn't safe I would of needed to be put under with general anesthesia.  They were able to reverse the heparin and prep me for a spinal.  At this point I was having pretty consistent contractions.  I had to drink some yucky stuff and be shaved.  Getting shaved hurt so bad!  The electric razor was not gentle.

I was wheeled into the OR.  Nate had to wait until they had placed my spinal.  I was super nervous during the surgery.  It all went okay.  I didn't even require a blood transfusion.  YAY!  Maxwell was born without ANY complications.  The only real complications was the reactions I was having to the IV pain meds.  My O2 stats kept on dropping.  The main reason was cause I was on pain meds over load.  The morphine wasn't working and they tried to give me some Demerol.  It was just too much for my body.

Maxwell Arthur McCoard was born at exactly 10pm on June 18th.  He weighed 4 lbs 15 oz.  Maxwell was 17 inches long.

The risk

Since I am on Lovenox which is a blood thinner.  It makes certain things more risky.  That being my c-section.  I have an increased risk for bleeding. I will not be able to get  We don't know when I'll go into labor due to my short cervix.  So that is the scary part.  I'm so scared of leaving my sweet little boys behind.  I want to be around for them for a long time.  We don't know what will happen.  At 34 weeks I can be switched over to heparin because it can be reversed but the problem is we don't know if I'll make it that far.

So so scary!

Factor V Leiden Mutation (2 copies)

When I was admitted to the hospital they ran all sort of blood tests on me.  One came out positive.  I tested positive for the genetic disorder called Factor V Leiden Mutation.  The thing is I inherited it from both my Mom & Dad.  They both had 1 copy of the disorder and passed it on to me.  Having two copies greatly increases my risk for developing more blood clots in the future.  Depending on what happens I may have to be on blood thinner for 6 months or even for the rest of my life.

If you want to read more on the condition:
http://www.genome.gov/15015167

Hospital Stay - Blood Clot

On April 8th I started having pain in my leg.  I thought it was because of being on bed rest for the past five weeks.  Nate kept on telling me to call the doctor.  April 10th I could hardly walk on it.  So I called the doctor and was able to get in.  I didn't have any of the typical symptoms of having a blood clot other then the pain.  I had no swelling, redness, or warmer skin in that area.

The doctor didn't seem concerned.  As a precaution though they sent me down to radiology to have my legs ultrasound.  It hurt really bad in my left leg.  I was told to wait in the waiting room until the radiologist reviewed the results.  The doctor called me and said they'd be admitting me cause they found a DVT in my leg.

I was admitted and was told I would be meeting with the hematologist.  That night was started on a blood thinner called Lovenox.  After that things got crazy.  They almost sent me home that weekend without even seeing a hematologist or even seeing if my levels were where they should be.  We knew this wasn't right and fought it.  We saw the hematologist and he wanted me to see a vascular surgeon.  They wanted to perform surgery on me.  It sounded like the risks were minimal so we decided to go ahead.  Come Monday the day of the surgery one of the high risk OB's came in and said the surgery was off.  There were more risks than we were informed about.

After this we decided to treat it with just the Lovenox and hope things would get better.  Before they released me from the hospital they made sure I was on a therapeutic dose of the blood thinner - Lovenox.  I was scared to go home.  So many "what ifs" running through my mind.

I ended up spending 6 days in the hospital.

25 week appointment

I had my 25 week doctors appointment yesterday. Viability goes up to 50% this week. I'm not very fond of those odds but it is better then it was.

My cervix is either measuring the same or a tiny bit shorter. No dilation which is a good thing.

Baby is weighing 1.5 lbs. I'm told that is a good weight for 25 weeks.

At every appointment I get a shot of progesterone. I'm not a fan of the side effects but I'm willing to do anything to keep baby boy in a little longer.

I hope we will be blessed with one more week! Viability goes up quite a bit in week 26. Baby stay in & warm! Keep us in your prayers!