Pictures!

Tommy is Born and more!!!

Yikes! On Christmas day, Tricia had a follow up appointment. When she got there, her blood pressure was very high again. The Dr. monitored her and the baby and decided that Tommy was starting to be in stress and Tricia's condition was serious enough that he needed to get the baby out now.

Well, that started a whirlwind that was just crazy! Tricia had an emergency c-section and baby Tommy weighed in at 2 pounds, 11 ounces and was born at 2:01 pm Christmas day.

About 3 hours later, Tommy was airlifted to Oklahoma City for his care, and Tricia had to stay in Lawton to recover from the surgery.

Tricia's Struggle
After giving birth, Tricia was whisked away to the recovery room, and I got to go see Tommy. He is so tiny you can hardly believe it. Tricia got to touch Tommy before he was flown away, so that was good, but with her blood pressure problems, all she could see was a blury vision of him. In fact, her vision is still messed up a bit--one eye is good and the other is fair. Both are supposed to clear up over time--just a result of the temporary damage done by her blood pressure. In her recovery, her kidneys were not cooperating and were not working at full capacity. Late on Thursday night, her lab results finally showed progress in her kidneys, so things were looking up. After a long and very scary struggle, Tricia was discharged from the hospital on Friday afternoon and got to go visit Tommy that night.

Tommy's progress
Tommy has been a trooper. He now weighs about 2 pounds,9 ounces. He is still on the ventelator but is now breathing normal air with no added oxygen. The ventelator is also only providing him 15 breaths per minute and he is breathing over the ventelator at about 50 breaths per minute. That means he should be comming off the ventelator in the next few days. He started out at about 50% oxygen and 50 breaths per minute by the ventelator, so in just 4 days, he has come a long way!! Once he gets off the ventelator, we will be able to hold him, so we are anxiously awating that day!

The other Kids
The kids were with me when Tricia had her C-section. They got to look at Tommy through a window there in Lawton, but couldn't see him at all in the city due to no windows combined with no rules prohibiting kids in the ICU. So, after we saw Tommy and we got to see Tricia in the recovery room, we headed back to Altus, packed up some stuff and headed to Oklahoma City to see the Tommy. We arrived to the hospital at 11pm, and the kids were just exhausted after their early morning opening presents (in which Tricia got to partake). They put their best foot forward and marched up to the ICU and waited in the waiting room while I saw Tommy. We got to the hotel that our friends, the Bookers, reserved for us around 12am. Brent Booker and family was visiting his mom in OKC, so they took the kids while I spent the next two days caring for Tommy. I picked the kids up just before dinner on Wednesday and we headed back to Lawton to visit Tricia (with pictures of Tommy in hand!). We got back to the hotel at about 11pm again! Wednesday, i dropped the kids back at the booker's in the morning and looked after Tommy again.
My mom came in on Wednesday afternoon--a great help! We spent the whole day in OKC while several friends visitied Tricia in Lawton. Then, Thursday, we headed back to Lawton to see Tricia and continued back home to Altus. I packed all my stuff and Tricia's stuff she needed while my mom took care of the kids. I headed back to Lawton on Friday, picked up Tricia and we are now in OKC while my mom holds down the fort at Altus. CRAZY!!

Once Tricia gets back to feeling well, I'll head back to Altus to relieve my mom and Tricia will take care of Tommy in the city. We have many post-delivery follow up appts in Lawton, so Tricia and i are planning on spending next Tuesday night (2 Jan) back home for a quick visit before we head back to OKC on Wednesday.

I can't tell you how much support all of our friends have given us--it is incredible, and the way things have worked out, you can't explain it except that God is in control. HE has met every single need even before it was required, and HE has given me peace and strength during this time as I help Tricia get well. We are so thankful for all the things people have done and can't believe the amount of support we have gotten. It is just mind-blowing. All we can say is THANK YOU!!!

December 22, 2006...Kaitlyn's 7th Birthday!

Well, I got as good of sleep as expected in a hospital last night and my BP stayed at an acceptable, stable range. Now, I just had to finish my 24 hour urine test and get my next Celestone shot before going home.
Tommy had another NST and looked much better today. Bedrest is really helping him.
As you can imagine a Friday night discharge, I thought I'd be out around dinner time...instead OB came to discharge me just after 7pm and before I knew it, I was leaving at 8:30pm.
My OB told me I'll have to have the NST twice a week and a BPP ultrasound once a week until I deliver. He also informed me to not bother with newborn diapers/clothes and to just grab some preemie diapers and clothes! He's so matter of fact and it's actually a good thing to help me/us prepare for the reality of our 4th baby to be preterm...after 3 FULL-TERM babies, who'd ever have guessed?? He said if I can make it to 34wks, I'll be able to deliver with him in Lawton (an hour away)....otherwise I will get to ride in an ambulance to Oklahoma City (2 1/2 hours away) to deliver. Right now my immediate goal is Jan 3rd, which will be 30wks, then my next goal will be Jan 17th, 32wks....anything after that will be just perfect!!
9:45pm...Home Sweet Home!!! I will return for another NST on Christmas afternoon.

At the hospital...28wks 1day along

December 21, 2006 -
So, I'm at the hospital for a NST (non-stress test) on Tommy and to closely monitor my BP. They also did some bloodwork on me. Tommy's NST didn't look as good as OB had hoped for, so we were sent for a BPP (Bio-physical profile ultrasound). They score the baby and Tommy got an 8 out of 8 score. All is well. Tommy weighs 2 lbs 11ozs!
Back in my hospital room, while waiting on blood results the nurse said it looked like I'd go home in an hour or so.
That would be until my BP skyrocketed again! My nurse left to phone the OB... she came back in with a shot and news I'd be spending the night at least.
The shot was of Celestone, a steriod to help mature Tommy's lungs in case he has to be delivered soon. This was a hard point for me...to realize, Tommy may seriously be joining our family WAY too soon!!

Lets back track...

So on December 5th, 2006 I went in for routine OB appointment. My BP was elevated and I gained a lot of water weight from swelling.

December 18, 2006 -I went to L&D worried my water was leaking...I was wrong and just got panicked...all is well. I didn't realize this was the beginning of a chaotic few weeks.

I noticed severe swelling on Tuesday evening...when I woke up on Wednesday my eyelids were very swollen so I called my OB's office. They had me come in the next day.

December 21st -I go in for a quick check up, so I thought. I gained 8lbs in 16 days and my BP was 180/??. They found protein in my urine and my reflexes were very brisk...all tell-tale signs of pre-eclampsia. I was admitted to the hosital right away.