I guess it only takes 6 months to get the 6th child’s birth story written! Baby Gwendolyn’s birth was scary and traumatic, but also full of God’s power and love. There are things I never want to forget about that day and the day before. We saw God’s hand in so many ways and Gwendolyn is truly a miracle.
{her 6 month picture today. ahhh she’s so sweet}
Early on, at 16 weeks pregnant, I had an issue where most likely my amniotic sac leaked, and then sealed back up. That in itself was a miracle. I was on modified bedrest for the remainder of the pregnancy and was followed closely by both my OB-GYN and a maternal fetal medicine doctor (MFM). I had at least weekly visits and ultrasounds every other week. Each one was a little anxiety-causing because it seemed there was almost something a little off with my ultrasound- her kidney size, my fluid levels (both low and high at different times in the pregnancy), something was off with the placenta, etc. I was also taking insulin multiple times a day for gestational diabetes. It was not a super fun pregnancy. 😉
At around 3 am Wednesday morning, Feb 20, at 35 weeks and 5 days pregnant, I woke up to go the bathroom. I immediately almost passed out and had the most terrible feeling pass over me. I literally thought “I’m about to die.” It was an extremely scary feeling. We wouldn’t find out until the next day what was causing it, but it was the most pain and anguish I have ever been in. The feeling passed, though, in about 20 minutes. I tried to go back to sleep but had to get up multiple times to go to the bathroom. I began feeling contractions around 4 am, but they were only every 20-25 minutes at that time. I had the “death” feeling another time and it freaked me out.
Ben called my OB’s office around 6 am and the nurse on call told me to lay down as much as possible and to call back when the office opened at 8 am. Ben called again- I could barely stay awake and each time I got up I had to lay back down immediately feeling like I was going to pass out. My doctor told me, via her nurse, it sounded like I had a stomach virus and that I was dehydrated. I love my OB but my first thought was, “This is NOT a stomach virus.” Dehydration can cause contractions, though, so it was a possibility.
We called back multiple times and the nurse told me around noon to go ahead and head in to the assessment center at my hospital. Shortly before we got in the car, my contractions began coming every 5 minutes. I have had all c-sections and only had a few contractions before, but these contractions were what everyone describes- taking my breath away, not able to talk, intense pain. The hospital is thankfully only a 15 minute drive. By the time I was hooked up to monitors, my contractions were basically on top of each other at about 2 minutes apart.
The nurses were so sweet and took really good care of me. They explained that they would give me fluids for hydration to see if we could stop the contractions, and they also gave me a medication to slow down labor. I was also given a steroid shot to boost baby’s lungs, just in case labor couldn’t be stopped. Gwennie’s heart rate stayed stable the whole time, but that was about the only good thing. The medication slowed my contractions down- to about every 5 minutes. It went on like that all day long. I wasn’t dilated though so they were still hopeful labor could be stopped. At one point the nurse told me that I would most likely spend a few days in the ante-natal floor then be released on strict bedrest until baby came.
At some point, maybe 6 pm, I was moved to a room. At this point I had not eaten since the night before. I wasn’t really feeling hungry but also didn’t want baby to suffer. I was told I would be having an ultrasound and that I might could have a little food after that. They were keeping me NPO in case I needed to have a c-section that night.
Around 9 pm, the ultrasound tech came in to do a biophysical profile (BPP), which tests how baby is doing on breathing, heart rate, and movement. Crazily enough, she had done ultrasounds on our son Landon (to check up on his liver disease) multiple years in a row at a different facility. We chatted a little bit. I’m guessing because she was familiar with us she was a little less “poker faced” than other ultrasound techs we’ve had. She said a few times, “What’s that?” and “That’s not normal.” Talk about freaking us out! The baby failed the BPP because she wouldn’t move and wouldn’t practice breathe. I wasn’t too worried about the movement- she had been moving all day up until that time- but the lack of practice breathing scared me because she had been doing that in previous u/s.
{Ben taking care of me as always- rubbing my feet while I’m laboring}
The nurse came in afterwards and told me I could have something small to eat, so I ordered a ham sandwich. I laid down and tried to sleep- it was one of the most miserable nights of my life. I had to get up to go to the bathroom multiple times, was having contractions every 5 minutes (almost for 24 hours straight at this point) and was scared to death. I spent most of the night staring at the monitor to be sure baby’s heart rate was okay.
At some point in the very early morning, it’s a little hazy, the nurse told us that the radiologist had read the u/s report and saw something abnormal, but he never explained anything fully. I don’t want to go into it to much, but this is the part of the story that upsets me the most because at that point, someone should have been asking more questions. What exactly was abnormal? Why didn’t he give a better report? Why didn’t the on call OB follow up? Did I need another u/s right away? Was the baby okay?
{My last ultrasound ever. All that dark stuff? Blood.}
They mentioned seeing blood in my uterus but couldn’t say exactly where it came from. They seemed overall upbeat but a little reserved to say too much. A few minutes later, I was taken back to my room. The nurse came in and said, “Good news! You can order breakfast. It seems everything might be okay for a while.”
About 30 seconds later, Ben picked up the phone to order my food and the nurse rushed back in and said, “Don’t eat! You’re having the baby now!”
My eyes filled with tears and we both were in shock. What had happened in the last 30 seconds to go from “Things are ok” to “things are very much not okay and you’re delivering your baby 5 weeks early?”
My MFM had seen the ultrasound and it looked as though there was a blood clot wrapped around her umbilical cord. This is NOT a good situation and can cause stillbirth if it wraps too tightly. She immediately called my OB to come deliver the baby NOW.
We called our friend Stephanie, who had our other 5 kids. They had already been getting ready to come see us but Ben told them to hurry as fast as they could so we could see them before I went in to surgery. We also called my mom to start heading to Houston and other friends to start praying. I have never been so scared in my life. Within 15-20 minutes, my doctor was in my room, also looking a bit scared. She said at this point, the baby was much safer out of the womb than in, so it was time to go to the OR. I was shaking and crying and hugging my other kids who had just arrived. I asked the doctor if I could have something to calm me down but she wisely didn’t want to give me anything until baby was out. My friends Linda and Fabia also came right away to help with the kids so Ben could go to the OR with me.
I had moments of intense sadness knowing this would be my last time to be pregnant, and that it was ending before we expected.
Ben rubbed me down in lavender oil and prayed over me, hoping to calm me down a bit. They wheeled me out alone and I knew that within the hour I’d be meeting my little girl, but not sure what else would happen. She was going to be premature so they warned us that I would hopefully get to kiss her, then they would whisk here away for the NICU team to assess her.
As soon as I entered the OR, I felt this overwhelming peace come over me. There is no other explanation but that God was telling me that he was with me and my baby and that whatever happened, he was in control. I went from crying and shaking to feeling complete calm. I was even able to smile and get very excited to meet my little baby! By the time Ben came in I was a different person than had left the hospital room.
The OR was NOT in complete calm- most of my other c-sections were scheduled so everyone was ready and waiting for me. This time, there were no less than 20 people scurrying about preparing the room. Everyone was cheerful though, and checking on me.
The nurse anethesist took such good care of me. She asked if I wanted a certain kind of music on so I requested worship music. She constantly asked if I was okay. Within about 10 minutes of entering the room, they brought Ben in and my dr came in. The medical professionals began the surgery, all chatting amongst themselves as they always do.
Right after I was cut open, it got extremely quiet in the room. Ben said everyone gasped at what they saw. My placenta had been pulling away from my uterus and I had been internally bleeding for who knows how long. My uterus was completely filled with blood. I remember them calling out a number, which I found out later was the estimated number of CCs of blood I had lost. (it was a lot. more on that later.)
It was strange though, I felt like they were talking about someone else and I wasn’t really concerned at this point. But that is why I was feeling so awful the few days before- my blood was pooling in my uterus rather than going to the rest of my body. My blood volume in the rest of my body was so low so every time I stood up
A few minutes later, Gwendolyn Elaine Hays made her appearance. OH my goodness was she beautiful. As you can imagine, she was completely covered in blood and that looked so scary, but she was still so precious. I got to give her a super quick look then she was gone. {We have this on video and it’s so sad. She seemed to be having a bit of trouble breathing and my look was literally about .5 seconds.} Ben was in a quandary not knowing whether to stay with me or go with her, so he went back and forth while they finished with me.
{A shot with the NICU team after much of the blood had been cleaned up.}
He said the neonatologist who was assessing her said over and over, “Put in her notes that the blood she swallowed is mom’s, not hers.” She knew that Gwendolyn would be throwing up/pooping out blood for a day or so and didn’t want the NICU to worry that it was her own blood.
{So this is already well over 2000 words so I’ll finish up soon- check back tomorrow!}
About Kelli Hays
