First of all, my apologies for being a bit vacant from posting lately! However, I have to let you know, we had a baby!
Introducing to you our brand new little GIRL! Mava Lis was born on September 14th, at 2:38AM via c-section, weighing a whopping (*wait for it*) 9 pounds 11 ounces and was 21 inches long.
This pregnancy has been an interesting one, indeed. We did not want to know the gender, but at 20 weeks, doctors told us that our baby had fluid in it’s kidneys. Out of all babies that get this, 80% of them are boys.
Next up, at 32 weeks I am in my hometown visiting my grandma who just celebrated her 100th birthday. She hadn’t been doing too well that week, and we were told she had a few days. While my sister and I are there, she passes away on us, unexpectedly. We are in a complete state of shock at this point. I drive back home that night with pure exhaustion.
Fast forward a few hours, it’s 6:00PM and I am completely wiped out with “the flu.” I mention to my husband that he has to take care of our son, Asher, because I simply cannot move. 10:00PM comes, and I suddenly start having contractions. 1:00AM hits, and they’re getting stronger. A call to the doctor and ibuprofen later, I calm down and finally fall asleep.
9:00AM the next morning they’re back. How can I be having contractions?Thankfully I have a doctors appointment that morning because I am thinking I might die at this point.
My OB sends me to Labor and Delivery ward at our local hospital, and while there, blood tests indicate that my white blood cell count is extremely high. The numbers given were related to the body fighting itself, not something simple like the flu. At this point, doctors are thinking I have appendicitis or chorioamniontitis, and decide to care flight me to another hospital an hour away to do emergency surgery.
While in the care flight, I am conscious and can feel every contraction 4 minutes apart, however I can also hear the blood pressure monitor on repeat. Apparently they cannot get my blood pressure because there is not enough there to read.
Arriving at hospital #2, I am rushed into the surgery room, and after some testing, decide not to move forward with an appendectomy or c-section as originally planned. An MRI, and multiple ultrasounds later bring up absolutely no issues, however I am still having contractions 4 minutes apart.
The next day, we decide to move forward with an amniocentesis to test the amniotic fluid for bacteria that may be causing the contractions. Once again, that test also comes back negative.
Doctors are stumped. They don’t know what is wrong, and we don’t know what is wrong. As every blood test result showed a lower white blood cell count, my contractions started to slow. This was enough evidence for doctors to figure that I caught some nasty virus possibly. Two days later and 10 additional blood tests, my levels were back to normal, my contractions subsided and we were on our way home with NO diagnosis.
I truly believe that certain things happen to certain people because they can handle it. I am not sure why God had put me through three days of rough contractions without an epidural at 32 weeks, but it is all in his plan.
Fast forward 8 more weeks, and multiple ultrasounds indicate baby is floating in a lot of fluid, which is very dangerous for baby if my water breaks. They mentioned that I would never go into labor on my own due to the baby not progressing in the birth canal.
However at 39 weeks and 4 days, I laid down at 9:00PM and felt my first contraction. Wow, were we shocked! Stay tuned for my next update and the entire story of the birth of our daughter, Mava Lis!
In the meantime, enjoy these first precious pictures I took of Mava in the first 24 hours.
