Surprise!

Our babies have arrived! Cora Louise Leach, born 5/17/2013 at 12:54 PM. Sutter James Leach, born 5/17/2013 at 12:55 PM. It was definitely a surprise for us that they were delivered at 34 weeks gestation. But they are healthy and growing stronger each day.

Here's what happened...

On Wednesday morning, 5/15, I wasn't feeling right. My swelling was increasing all over my body. It was becoming harder to walk around. I wasn't peeing what I was drinking. I just had a feeling something was wrong. I called the doctor and they had me come in for some blood work around 11 a.m. In the office, my blood pressure was up just a bit. There was some proteins in my urine. Both of those signs had the doctor concerned just enough that they had me take my lab slip over to the OB-Triage next door at the hospital. She also suggested I call Frank.

I was admitted just a few minutes later for monitoring. They put monitors on both babies to see how their heart rates were and they put another sensor on me to count contractions. Another nurse came in and drew some blood for the lab. Frank arrived as he only had to come from Sausalito. The nurse said that we would be there for a few hours, would we like to order some lunch. Of course...we were hungry.

The monitoring of the babies went fine. However, my lab work indicated that my platelets were low - 123,000. Platelets allow your blood to coagulate, which is important - especially during a c-section. This number, combined with the elevated blood pressure and infrequent urination, gave the doctors just enough reason to keep me overnight for monitoring. They decided to give me a shot of steroids just in case they had to deliver the babies. The steroids were to help their lungs be as strong as possible.

I moved upstairs to a labor and delivery room for overnight monitoring. Frank and I were undoubtedly scared and nervous, as it just seemed so early. But we had each other to get through it. We knew nothing was going to happen overnight, so Frank and I agreed he should go sleep at home. That night, I had someone monitoring my vitals - blood pressure and temperature every 2 hours. It was not a restful evening. I was growing more uncomfortable.

Frank arrived just after the sun rose the next morning, in time for the doctor's rounds. They ran a blood test at 5 a.m. so that the doctor could have some results. My blood had dropped to 105,000. They were starting to be concerned, but didn't have enough information to develop a trend line. Since I hadn't been monitored for a full 24 hours I needed to be there at least until 3 p.m. They would run another stat blood test on me around 2, give the final steroid shot and continue to monitor my vitals all morning. I jumped on a scale and had gained another 4 pounds overnight. I was really swelling with out much relief.

The day seemed to whiz by until the next round of blood work that afternoon. I decided to call my boss to let him know about the progress report and think through what needed to be handed off in the case anything did happen. I also informed my parents and sister of the situation. I really didn't think too much about it. There wasn't much that was an indicator at this point that we were going to be delivering.

Results showed that my platelets went up to 122,000. This was a good sign, right? Um..."we're going to just continue to monitor you overnight to be sure." Blood pressure was slightly high and my temperature was starting to drop a bit. According to my doctor, she felt confident that nothing was going to happen anytime soon. So, Frank and I decided it would be good for him to go home and get a good night's rest. No need to get up at the crack of dawn. If there was anything important that was happening, I would call him right away in the morning. A good nurse also gave me an Ambien, so I was also able to get a decent night of sleep, as vitals only needed to be monitored every 4 hours.

I woke to blood work at 5 a.m. on Friday morning. The doctor came by at 7 a.m. to let me know that the platelets had dropped to 90,000, but she needed a second opinion. A doctor from SF Perinatal would be by in an hour or so, and she would decide what would happen. But my doctor didn't feel there was enough information to think that this delivery would happen today. I decided to not call Frank and wake him since she seemed to be casual about it. At that point, I dove into work with my laptop to just move my open items around to others on the team.

Around 10:45 a.m., the doctor from SF Perinatal arrived. She sat on my bed and rubbed my foot. "How are you doing?" which seemed more of a rhetorical question than anything. After the standard, OK response, she followed up with the words that changed everything. "We are going to deliver your babies today. You have a surgery scheduled for 12:15 p.m." She went on to inform me that my platelets were just getting too low for them to take a chance. The anesthesiologist would be in a few minutes along with my surgical nurse. I was stunned, to say the least. I asked for a few moments to take a shower, call my husband, my parents, sister, freak out, cry...

Frank arrived in 25 minutes with packed bags to the hospital. I managed to get in a shower and contact a few people about the upcoming delivery before he arrived. He jumped in his scrubs and I was placed in a wheel chair. And we were off  to the OR.

There were about 20 people in the operating room. A sheet was put up near my neck so we couldn't see what was going on. It seemed like a fairly fast procedure, especially because I couldn't feel anything from my chest down. The epidural kicked in pretty quickly. In no time, they were able to pull out Cora and she cried right away. Look at our little one....

Just a minute later and out came Sutter. We gave birth at CPMC, which is part of the Sutter Health system. Sutter was not named after the hospital, but there was a collective groan and chuckle from the staff after he arrived. "Just don't give him the middle name 'Health'." Such a funny team.

I had one moment with my son before they whisked both babes off to the NICU for their full evaluation. Frank went with them to ensure that everything was going to be OK. I was off to recovery.

I was in recovery for over 24 hours, which is much longer than most people. My blood pressure was rising. My temperature was dropping. I bled too much on the operating table, so they had to put a balloon inside of me to get it to stop. I had a tough recovery period, which was very hazy. I was oblivious to the facts. Frank later told me that the doctors said they didn't know what was wrong with me. I was on morphine for the pain, magnesium for the pre-eclampsia/high blood pressure. I just could rest. I remained in a recovery room without windows until they were able to move me.

I finally felt OK enough to be in a wheelchair to go see the babes. It was a magical moment for us. We were a family. Frank, Lisa, Sutter and Cora. The picture below was my first time holding my babes. I am a Mom.

Those days in the hospital were long, but as I came off the heavy medication, I started to feel better. There were many milestones in those four days following their arrival. I was able to start pumping. I was able to walk down the hall to see them in the main NICU. I took a shower! Sutter was on a respirator for over a day, and then he stabilized. I started eating human food again. The babies were moved to a "well baby NICU" and were out of their isolettes. The well baby NICU was for babies that had stablized. The environment was a bit calmer than the main NICU. And I was able to be with them for as long as I could each day.

I had moments of pure joy and sadness. The expediency of the entire event was overwhelming, as you can imagine. In looking back on this, I saved my life by calling the doctor. I saved my babies lives by calling the doctor. It was hard to see that is what happened, but in reflection I understood the gravity of the situation.

Cora and Sutter are getting the best care possible. The nursing staff has been helpful beyond our expectations. Each nurse provides us more understanding about our tiny little ones. We have learned techniques on feeding, changing, burping, scheduling, and more. Those nurses are a special bunch of people that have provided support, compassion and understanding to us during this time of transition.

Each day, Frank and I visit the hospital. My mom has been here to help us with the transition and my recovery. She has been so helpful to our household. She's been able to drive me back and forth to the hospital, get groceries, help with laundry, dishes, and the bonus is getting to hold the babies. They say that it takes a village, and that's an understatement. We love all the family that will be here to help over the next few weeks, too. It's going to be a wild ride bringing these two home.

Keep us in your thoughts. We love hearing from you.

xo