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I was taken off the Magnesium at 10 a.m. on Friday and the contractions were slowly fading. I couldn't even
feel them at this point so the doctor's were impressed. I was so glad because this meant I could finally eat real
food!! No more chicken broth! Ashley ordered me the best lunch and dinner that night and we sat around
being thankful that things were back in control for the moment. I was told there was no going home until
Parker made her entrance into the world and I was prepared to stay at Duke Medical Center for the next two to
three weeks. The goal was to keep me pregnant until at least 37 weeks! Although my fluid had increased the
doctors felt they had it under control. Saturday came and things were still going great! I was not contracting
at all, blood pressure was great and I was feeling wonderful! Parker was moving around a lot and her heart
rate was great too!
We were all confident that Parker would hang on but were prepared if she didn't. Late Saturday night the
nurse came in to take my vitals and discovered that my blood pressure was really high. They monitored me
for a while, gave me some medicine and nothing seemed to work. The doctors started fearing that I had
Preeclampsia. They came in and took blood and urine and it was later found that I did have preeclampsia but
it was a mild form. They wanted to continue to monitor me and so back on the monitors and IV's. They
explained the severity of the situation and had me sign a C-Section form just in case. The Neonatal Doctors
came by to explain their role as did the Pediatric Surgeons. Everything seemed to still be calm and so we went
to bed with little fear and woke up on Sunday at 5:45 a.m. under the worst of conditions. My preeclampsia had
gotten worse over night. I was having horrible contractions every 1-2 minutes again and started having
headaches that were extremely severe. The doctors made the decision for my health that Parker be born
immediately by Cesarean. They had alerted the rest of the medical team and Ashley and I were prepped for
what was to come.
Parker was born at 9:03 a.m. weighing in at 3 pounds and 12 ounces and 16 inches long and immediately
taken to NICU for her recovery. Ten minutes after being born Parker’s heart stopped beating and she was
resuscitated by one of her doctors, Dr. Cotten. She was stabilized and given an ultrasound to determine the
damage from her CDH. It was found that Parker had a small hole in her good lung, also called Pulmonary
Hypoplasia which was not a good sign. A breathing tube and chest tube were placed in her to help assist with
her breathing. At this point they were not concerned about the CDH just yet because she had other hurdles
she had to overcome first.
| Parker's Story |