The Arrival of Adison: Part 1

It was so hard to give individual updates to everyone in those first days that we got to the hospital and things all happened so fast, it was hard to keep up. This will give our full story and be great documentation for me. This time was so much different than the usual labor and delivery. No cute pictures, baby with mommy, daddy, grandmas, etc. No doubt though...we will never forget it!

Friday Oct 12th
My mom, aunt and I had been working so hard on my sister's surprise 30th birthday party. It was only one day before and we still had so much to do! The cardinal playoff game was on at 7pm and we went to my aunts to finish decorating, icing cupcakes, etc. I was mad we couldn't get the game on because there are so many damn remotes we didn't know how to work anything! At this point, I'm still suppose to be on "REST" however you would describe what I was doing? This day wasn't very restful and by 8 or 9pm I was feeling it. I knew I did too many steps and I was just tired. I also was having contractions. Not frequent, but not often enough to feel them. Not strong, but just strong enough that I would stop for a moment. Finally at 10pm I was tired, a little concerned and pissed I was missing the game, so I went home.
I laid in bed thinking we lost and being crabby. Jason kept yelling as we started to come back. I kept contracting and saying..."oh god...this is making me have contractions, I don't know if I should watch it!" As you know...we won! After the excitement we turned the tv off. Not even 15 min later did I feel a "gush" "Crap" I knew exactly what it was! Blood!
I got up, put on a pad and thought...Okay...I'm going to give this some time. Maybe it will stop on its own or not be enough that we have to go to the hospital? Its midnight, I don't want to wake anyone to stay with the kids. I'll give it a few hours and see how it is. I didn't sleep much. At 3am I went in and checked. I had filled a nightime maxi-pad. At 4am I decided I should go to the hospital. After all...the sooner I get there, the sooner they will tell me I can go home! :) Hahah..I laugh at that thought now.
Jason wanted to take me, but I made him wait a while to call his parents to come from an hour away to watch our kids and I wanted the head start at the hospital. I drove myself to Mercy. He arrived about 1 hour later. It wasn't long before we got there that the first resident or nurse (can't remember) said the words "24 hours of observation" that made me absolutely flip out! I think every labor and delivery nurse on the floor and the 4-5 residents all knew by that next afternoon that it was my sister's 30th birthday party and I was going to miss it. They knew not to say a word because every time they did I started to cry! I knew deep down that I shouldn't be leaving. I knew they were right that the bleeding would happen again and we were looking at a serious situation, but it was so hard to face at the moment. The first big decision they made was to give me the series of 2 steroid shots that would boost the babies lung development and give her a better chance in the chance they would have to deliver her. The shots must be done 24 hours apart. I had my first one at 6am on Sat the 13th and would get the second at 6am the 14th.
I had a couple more ultrasounds to look at the placenta. I did have a complete previa.

You can see how the bleeding occurs from the placenta. The gravity is pulling it down and anything that disturbs the placenta can cause it to bleed. We heard over and over how contractions cause bleeding and bleeding causes contractions. Both are irritants to the uterus and are a continuous cycle like laboring.

The remainder of Saturday was a little depressing, but we made it through. I got text messages and pictures constantly from my family and friends at the party. The party was a huge success and everyone had a great time.
I think it was 2am when I got my last text and the party didn't end until 4am!
Needless to say, the next morning was pretty quiet! I thought my family was dead. I didn't hear from any of them until about noon! Good thing there was no change up until that point. Most of Sunday was pretty un-eventful. My dad who had come from Austin, TX to surprise my sister at the party got to visit me in the hospital for a while on Sunday. That was good.