About Me

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My name is Elisha, and I am 24. I am a SAHM to 5 year old Mr. Elijah Thomas and his sister RaeLynne that was born on November 14, 2008. I am happily married to Casey, since April 6, 2008. Elijah is a great kid and he has not only been diagnosed with Down Syndrome prenatally, but he also is deaf, and has a heart defect that required surgical repair at 5 months of age. He is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, and I love watching him grow!! He is the most AWESOME brother---the best there is!!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Our incredible last few days

Hello from my new home for the next 6-10 weeks! Shocked First, thank you all SO much for the prayers for us. I am so scared right now, it's unbelievable.

Ok, so, thanks Laura for updating!! I FINALLY have my computer here and the internet just finally got fixed. So, I should be able to keep you all up to date now.

So, here's what happened...and it may be WAY long, sorry. I have a lot of time on my hands now Sad

Tuesday morning I went for my regular OB checkup. They were doing a cervix length check, just because of my history of preterm labor. My cervix, that should have been at least 3 cm, was 1.9cm. It had began to funnel, meaning it was getting prepared to open. So, my dr. called OSU and told them that he wanted them to evaluate me by next week, and they said NO, I had to be there in the morning. So, I had an appt scheduled for 9 am the next morning. Needless to say, our baby girl had ENTIRELY different plans. I took Eli to his preschool transisition meeting, and an hour later, I began having very strong, painful contractions. I called my dr. and the nurse told me to get to the Labor and Delivery immediately. It was almost time for Eli to go to Jon's...so I got his stuff thrown together and took him with us. My aunt picked him up as we got to the hospital and kept him until it was time for him to get picked up by Jon.

So anyways, they took me up to labor and delivery...and they checked my cervix again and measured her, my cervix length was 1.5cm and I was 1 cm dialated and she was 1 lb 3 oz. They gave her a 3% chance of survival at this point. They told me that it was very possible that I would have my tiny, baby girl by the end of the night and prepare myself and family to lose her. Crying or Very sad Crying or Very sad Crying or Very sad They began me on a strong med to slow down the contractions that were at that point closer than 5 minutes apart. They gave me the first dose of the steroid injection, started me on antibiotics. They told me that she would probably not make it at this point and asked me what I wanted to do. They said that they could keep me there, let me deliver, and hope she would be ok...or they could transfer me to OSU and give her a better shot. They asked me about signing a DNR...which NO I couldn't do...I told them that I would like to do all we could TO KEEP HER IN, but if that failed, we wanted to give her the best shot. 2 hours later, I was in the ambulance on my way to OSU. When I got here at about 11 or so, they checked me again and I was 2 cm dialated and my cervix was now 1.2cm. At 3 am, the dr checked me once more, and I only had 9 mm of cervix left, and I was still 2 cm. By 5 am, the contractions pretty much stopped.

The next day, they moved me to the maternity floor and I had to take 10 doses of the contraction meds. They gave me the second steroid shot at 8 pm and her chance of survival in the next 24 hours went up to approximately 50%. They said had she been born the first night, her lungs would not have been able to expand on their own. Now they should at least be able to.

So, here's the plan...I'm here til delivery!! Shocked Crying or Very sad I'm so freaking scared. I know that I am in the very best place for this but I have another baby back home ya know? I can't very well afford to transport to see me regularly and I am so afraid that he's gonna freak out. I don't want him to think that any of this is his fault and he's being punished not being allowed to see his mommy. Crying or Very sad They told me (my dr called me) that they decided that they want me here for at least 6-10 weeks. I had kinda figured that from the beginning, but now it's real.

Ugh. This sucks.

Casey's boss made him take 2 days off that we couldn't really afford. He's only gonna be able to come up when he is off on the weekends, cause there is no way that I can afford $50 a trip for him to come up. They did give us an extended stay pass for the garage so that our parking is only $2 a day instead of $15.

Again, thank you go much for all your prayers. Little RaeLynne still needs them, she is NOT ready to come out just yet. It was so weird going for over 24 hours without feeling her move (the meds do that) but she has been moving a little today...

I would LOVE to go at least another 5 weeks. That would be great even though 10 or more would be ideal for her.

Just keep our little girl in your prayers...love ya guys!!

1 comment:

datri said...

Hey Elisha, I haven't been on Downsyn in a week or so, so I'm so glad you are back to posting on your blog -- although I'm sorry you have to stay on bedrest in the hospital for so long. Keeping RaeLynne in my thoughts and prayers.