Ryann's Journey Begins - (Day 1 - 5)

Hi Family and Friends!

Wow has life been crazy here in the Johnson world.  As most of you have heard by now we had the baby, a beautiful little girl named Ryann Rose on Thursday February 28^th at 10:39pm.  Weighing in at 3lbs 5 oz, 7 oz’s smaller that her big sister Lucille and 16 1/4 inches.  With all of that being said, let me start from the beginning. 

 It kinda of all started on Saturday night the 23^rd.  This whole time I have been considered high risk because of how I delivered Lucy and they have been monitoring my blood pressure closely with this pregnancy and I had been having to take it 3 times a day with a monitor at home.  On Saturday the 24^th I took my pressure and it was really high, I laid down for bed and took it once in the night and then again when I woke up, and it was still high, reading about 155/95…  I called the hospital and they said that I should come in and get monitored.  We went to the hospital and they kept me for about 2 hours and said that I was a-ok to go home, since I had a doc apt. the following day, but was to be put on bed rest and at this point no more working for me.  On Monday we went to the doctor and had been already going twice a week at this point for fetal heart and blood pressure monitoring…  the baby wasn’t really cooperating during the heart monitoring, it kept moving around a lot, so the doctor took us back and did a sonogram, where he determined that the fluid levels and baby’s heartbeat were looking good, so he sent us home again, (me on bed rest) until our appointment on Wednesday.  When we went to the appt on Wednesday, my pressure was pretty high again and he did an ultrasound and since they were being overly cautious with me he said that he was going to admit me to the hospital for 24 hour observation.  We got to the hospital around 430pm on Wednesday the 27th and they got me set up with all of the monitoring devices and my grandparents and mom headed down from charlotte while the rest of the family was on stand by.  The night was pretty long, I wasn’t really able to get any sleep, they had my cuff going off sometimes every half hour, then every hour, checking my blood pressure…  plus all of the cords around my belly to monitor the baby..  so it was a long night..  Once morning came, I was also collecting urine to see about protein levels..  at this point they had officially diagnosed me as pre-clamptic (which was the exact reason why I had delivered Lucy emergency c-section, but at least this time I was given the diagnosis in advance and could be super monitored in order to prevent such an emergency situation from happening again).  So, they took a bunch of blood work because with being pre-clamptic it effects a lot of things starting with the mothers organ functions, luckily everything was looking good there and by mid afternoon, we thought that I might be able to go home if my protein levels in my pee looked good, then the doc came in and did another ultrasound, a more detailed one, where he determined that even though I was 34 weeks, the baby was only measuring at 31 weeks and at that point things started to get more serious and I was a mess….  There initial plan was to wait for the morning where a specialist was going to come in and do some fetal monitoring and additional testing, but there was some sudden drops in the babies heartbeat that were making them very concerned and after many back and forths and numerous breakdowns on my end they finally determined that the baby needed to be delivered.  So finally at around  8pm on thursday they started prepping me for surgery.  At least this time, I would be awake (eveyone was speaking English) and Nick would be with me.  I thought that being awake would be so much better, but my nerves were all over the place and I was so anxious my legs wouldn’t stop shaking….  The spinal tap didn’t hurt at all, but there was so many weird sensations, feeling the numbness in my spine and then it shot down through my butt and legs…  I was so nervous that I was going to feel the c-section and I barely felt any pressure at all, only about 5 seconds which was when I think they pulled the baby out and said its 2 N’s.  that was the joke in the OR, would it be 1 N or 2.  I completely believe that I had convinced myself that it was a boy so I was (we were) shocked that it was another little girl!!!  She came out screaming which was such an awesome moment for Nick and I to share together! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also go to see her for a minute before they took her back to the NICU.  It was a success, so that was Thursday night at 11pm.  I was wheeled back to my room and they continued me on the Magnesium drip through the IV which was horrible.   http://www.webmd.boots.com/pregnancy/pre-eclampsia-magnesium-sulphate-for-treating-severe-pre-eclampsia-or-eclampsia

The side effects were horrible; it made my whole body feel literally like 1 million degrees, made me totally out of it, horrible headache and just overall the worst ever!  I had to be on that for 24hrs, so I was completely out of it until Saturday around 2 am, when they unplugged me and I was able to be transferred to the post-partum unit.  I was finally taken off of all of the IV’s and catheter and at 2 am on Saturday morning, it was awesome! And Saturday morning I was finally able to shower!  I came out singing!  It was so overwhelming to have the support of family and friends so close this time around.  We are one super blessed family. 

So as of this point, Ryann was doing really well in the NICU and we were just enjoying our time and I was getting anxious to get out of the hospital. 

 

Sunday everyone came back to the hospital to see me (Lucy and Grandpa were practicing their funny faces!) and I had the best news ever, I was going to get discharged, while they started this process, we went into see Ryann and they had told us that she had taken a turn backwards (she was struggling to breath and they were going to have to put her on a ventilator) and they were waiting on a transport team to get her stable and take her to the children’s hospital that was about 3 miles down the street.  It was so overwhelming in the NICU to see all of the equipment and chaos, Nick and I both broke down...  We felt like we had gotten hit by a bus!  We were a mess, going from being so excited about getting discharged, to not knowing what was happening to Ryann…..

I was then dischagred and we had to wait a few hours to call the new hospital's NICU, which is a level 3 NICU, http://www.georgiahealth.edu/pediatrics/neonatology/index.html , to make sure that she had gotten there and that she was stable, so that was about 4 hours later (longest 4 hours of our lives) when we called and they told us that they had gotten her stable and she was resting, and that we were to come in today at 10 am when the lead doctor was doing his rounds to get a full update on Ryann’s status.

So that brings us to today, Phew!  I wasn’t lying when I said that it has been a long 7 days…

We went to the hospital today and right when we saw Ryann she even looked better to us, we learned that they hadn’t had to put her onto a ventilator and that she had continued to breathe on her own, which was a huge relief off our shoulders.   Nick and I both got to hold her.    We got to speak to the doctor and they said that Ryann is little, but in preemie terms she is a big, strong, healthy and a feisty girl! Which is exactly the news that were had been super praying for!  They did determine that Ryann was jaundice today and they put her under the lights while we were there.  http://www.preemiebabies101.com/2009/04/jaundice-the-facts/  Today at some point they will put a more permanent port (IV, catheter) into Ryann so that they don’t have to prick her so much and it can be used as a way to feed her larger portions of fats and calories.  She is too little right now to understand all of the steps that go into drinking from a bottle, so they start this 10 day process of feeding her through this tube, and then once she gains a little weight and her brain matures more they will start trying to bottle feed her.  

 

 

 

 

 

So as of today, we are extremely blessed, Ryann is healthy (and we continue to pray that she stays that way) we will take one day at a time and Lucy is the best big sister ever.   Usually, preemies stay in the NICU unitil her thier due date, which would be April 8th.  So as of right now, that is the hope, that she will be able to come home then!

 As far as Lucy goes, so much going on we cant forget out big sister!!, we are still working on potty training, it is going well, but we  have a lot of work to do.  I have felt so bad for her, her world was turned upside down this past week and now Nick and I are just making sure that we give her extra love and attention.  Her little sister did buy her a fish tank, which she LOVES!  She is talking up a storm and is so smart!  We can’t believe the things that come out of her mouth, she corrects us all of the time! 

Thank you for all of your love and support, we have felt every bit of it.  (As far as I go, I am sore and will get about 32 staples out on Friday, and have to remember to take it easy while Nick takes awesome care of me, he is absolutely the best!)

We hope that this blog will help to keep everyone up to date and make everyone feel included and involved in Ryann’s road to coming home! We also cant wait for the first time that Lucy will get to meet her little sister!  Children under the age of 13 are not allowed in the NICU, so it is going to be one exciting homecoming for the sisters!!! Once Ryann is home I plan to start a new blog about the adventures of these diva sisters!!!

 
PS - Please dis-regard all grammatical and spelling errors, I wrote this while on my pain meds, LOL!