Preamble to an early delivery

This is a long post, but I wanted to provide a little background of what we went through to get to this point.  Don't worry, subsequent posts will not be so epic.

Chris and I first learned we were pregnant on October, 4th 2014.  We had gotten up early to hike Camelback Mountain before work.  I sleepily took the pregnancy test and then instantly woke up when I saw the plus sign.  I felt elation, shock, and anxiety all in one swoop.  When I told Chris, he broke into a tearful dance.  We went on our hike talking about all the possibilities of the road that lie ahead of us. When we went in for the 8 week ultrasound we saw our little gummy bear. When we looked up her growth, she was the size of a blueberry.  From then on we started referring to her as Blueberry.

8 week ultrasound- here's blueberry!

We kept the pregnancy quiet until 12 weeks, which coincided with Thanksgiving.  We told most of our family and several friends that day.  The following week, we were scheduled for a nuchal translucency test as a bit of a formality.  We did not expect anything out of the ordinary. Yet when the ultrasound tech became very quiet and left to get the doctor, stating "some concern",we weren't sure what to think.  The perinatalogist came in and abruptly delivered grave news, "your baby has a serious problem".  She had a large cystic hygroma on her neck and fluid surrounding her developing body, called hydrops.  The doctor suspected a genetic abnormality.   We were given a poor prognosis for Blueberry's survival and told that while the choice was ours, it was likely the baby wouldn't make it long.  We were crushed.  We opted for a chorionic-villus-sampling (CVS) test through my belly to get more information.  That was the saddest I have ever been in my life, and Chris and I really had to lean on one another.  About an agonizing week later we received the results: she had tested positive for  Turners's Syndrome, a chromosome abnormality that only affects females.  Blueberry was missing an X chromosome. Most Turner's babies miscarry early in pregnancy, while 1 in 2000 births are Turner's.

After being so overjoyed to share the news with our friends and family, we were soon faced with making a big decision to continue with little chance of survival.  Once we read about Turner's Syndrome, we figured we were not given any bulletproof information that she wouldn't make it.  We took the attitude that our job was to carry her for as long as we could.  Our next test would be a level 2 ultrasound performed in January, nearly 6 weeks later.

The wait was excruciating.  We went through the holidays somewhat awkwardly not knowing how to act.  It was hard to be hopeful, but hard to talk about it with family.  There was nothing anyone could say or do that made things feel better, and while we knew worry wasn't helping anything it was hard to concentrate on anything else.

When we got the level 2 ultrasound we were surprised to learn that she was actually doing really well!  The hygroma was no longer visible and her hydrops had alleviated around the organs.  She had a little fluid around her limbs, but otherwise looked good.  The radiologist, the magical Dr. Finnberg upgraded her prognosis from poor to good!  He figured her lymphatic system had finally kicked in, draining the fluid buildup in her body.  We couldn't have been happier and more relieved.  We began the rounds of calling everyone, thanking them for their prayers and good vibes.

Walking on sunshine with this ultrasound!

Plans started to materialize for all the great first baby moments; nursery, child care, showers, names, etc.  We felt we could finally relax and celebrate the pregnancy.  We had several follow-up visits, one including a pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Chris Lindblade. Turner's syndrome babies usually have a heart defect, and her first echo suggested she had a narrowing of the aorta, called Coarctation.  This would require surgery at Phoenix Children's hospital soon after birth.  We were worried, and the news of her having to require surgery so soon after birth was devastating, but we felt we had been primed to deal with what lies ahead of us based on what we had already been through.  

23 Weeks

March 20th we had an appointment a regular ultrasound at 28 weeks only to find out that I had really low amniotic fluid.  My doc sent me to OB triage at Banner Good Sam hospital to see if my water had ruptured (um wouldn't I have noticed??).  I had several appointments that day at work and was asking the nurse how long the testing and monitoring would take (boy I had no clue).  Once they monitored Blueberry, they noticed "deceleration", or times when her heart beat would plummet to nearly nothing before recovering.  These were worrisome, and they feared I was going into preterm labor.  Without amniotic fluid, there was little cushioning for her if a contraction occurred.  They admitted me to the hospital for more monitoring.

My stay at antetpartum turned from 24 hours to 48, to indefinite.  Blueberry's heart was doing well, but her deceleration randomly continued  The doctor's feared that if they sent me home, I wouldn't know if she had a decel that didn't recover, and she may be stillborn.  That terrified me enough to stop asking when I was going to get to leave.  I was determined to just sit in bed if need be until June! My new goal should was 34 weeks, or April 30th.  Chris brought me all the comforts of home he could pack up, and we made plans to stay for the long haul.

After a few days of monitoring, a doppler ultrasound revealed what seemed to be the problem, ; placental insufficiency.  It appeared that the umbilical chord had restricted flow and not enough blood supply was getting to her.  They also noticed she had stopped growing.  This was a sign that if she was not taken out of the womb soon, she could start starving.  While it was another hard decision to make- take her soon or wait and see, the tipping point was that she was strong, so waiting until she possibly deteriorated didn't seem like a wise decision.  We met with the neonatal doctors and felt comfortable that she would be in the best care possible at Banner's NICU.  We decided to induce on March 27th, her aunt Tabby's birthday. Grandma and Grandpa Bond got on the next flight to Phoenix from St. Louis to try to get to see the delivery.

It was a scary scary moment to think that she was coming so early, when I thought I had 2.5 months left to carry her.  We resolved to do what we could to get her here so the doctors could take care of her heart and little body.