Our New Family July 2010

Our New Family July 2010
Our New Family

About our family...

Our family started on June 2, 2000. We have been married 10 years. We have three boys (Drake 5, Warner 4, & Henry). Michael is the Executive Director of Utah Shared Access Alliance (USA-ALL) and a state lobbyist. I am a registered nurse, and a third-year law student at BYU. Drake is starting Kindergarten in the fall, and Warner is getting ready to start pre-school in the fall. Henry arrived July 7, 2010. Henry was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) and passed away, after 32 hours, on July 9, 2010. This blog provided updates on what was going on with Henry, and gives a little insight into our thoughts through the challenges we faced during his birth and death.







Be sure to read "The day we found out our baby has HLHS," under must read blogs, and if you want more info about HLHS there is a link in the right column that is a brochure from Mayo Clinic about HLHS.







Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Readmitted

As I was being discharged on Sunday my blood pressure started to creep up a little. I did have post-partum preeclampsia with Drake, but my blood pressure shot up within one hour of delivering him by C-section. On Sunday I did have a bit of edema in my legs and feet, but my physician thought that my body would diurese this fluid naturally and there wouldn’t be any problems. Yesterday, I had a pulsing/pounding headache and a little anterior pain just below my right ribs. These are classic signs of high blood pressure. I thought maybe I should go to the ER, but I talked myself out of it. Meanwhile, my legs feet and the rest of my body keep getting bigger with fluid retention. I weigh like 180+ pounds; that’s more than when I was admitted to the hospital before my C-section with Henry.

Finally, I gave in to my instincts and called the doctor and went to the BYU Health Center to have my blood pressure taken (can’t find my own blood pressure cuff). My blood pressure was 148/100. Michael drove me to University of Utah Hospital and we were taken to an observation area in the Labor & Delivery Department. After monitoring my blood pressure and doing some labs the chief resident decided to admit me.

As the admission process was taking place, Michael and I informed the physician that Henry’s graveside service is taking place at 11:00 a.m. the next day July 14th. She informed us that they never administer magnesium sulfate IV therapy for less than 24 hours. Of course, Michael threatened to yank me out of the hospital right then, but there is a real serious risk of stroke or seizures with preeclampsia (yes, most people are not aware that a woman can get post-partum preeclampsia). The physician compromised with us and said that in the morning they would evaluate my blood pressure and status during rounds and determine if they could let me attend the service. Michael had his own plan the entire time, and I bet you can guess that it was to drag me out of the hospital in the morning whether the physicians gave their o.k. or not. They call that AMA – leaving against medical advice; usually not a good thing.

The night was miserable; magnesium sulfate makes the patient really sick and really weak. On top of the magnesium sulfate they gave me some compazine, which made me crazy. Thankfully, after a miserable night the physicians did decide that they were going to release me. Michael was there right at 8:00 a.m. and we had just finished the discharge paperwork and I was getting dressed. We sped out of the hospital and into the car and home so that I could get ready for Henry’s graveside service.

Before leaving the hospital the physicians warned me of the risk that I was taking by leaving the hospital early and by not finishing 24 hours of magnesium sulfate. The risk is a 20% chance of stroke or seizures. I knew that I could not miss Henry’s service, and it would be terrible to move the date, and impossible to notify everyone who was planning on attending Henry’s service. I had to have faith that Heavenly Father would help me keep calm and my blood pressure would continue to go down as it had during the night at the hospital. One real positive thing that happened at the hospital is I diuresed over 4 Liters of fluid. I bet I weigh at least 12 lbs. lighter today than I did yesterday.

2 comments:

  1. I'm so glad that you were able to make it to the service. Are you feeling any better now?

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  2. WOW, it's not bad enough that you were dealing with everything else, but that too. Sometimes it's just not fair in catching a break.
    You must of had Heavenly Angels attending to you because you seemed very calm at the Funeral.
    I am glad that you are doing so much better. . .WOW 12lbs is a lot!
    (HUGS)
    Carolyn

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