Surprise, She's HERE!

Helen Grace Toohig

May 25, 2009, 9:21 p.m.

5 pounds, 3 ounces, 18.25 inches long

As many of you know, I have been going crazy with heartburn over the last few days, and it was only getting worse and worse. Over the holiday weekend, I pretty much didn't do anything but move from the bed to the recliner to the couch, groaning and searching for a comfortable spot. Pepcid and Prilosec didn't help very much, and with the back pain getting out of control, I was contemplating going to the hospital. After the puking started Monday afternoon, I quickly made my decision- we were going in and staying until something gave!

When we got to Labor & Delivery Monday around 5:00 p.m. and explained all my symptoms to the nurses, I felt a little stupid- heartburn, high back ache, nausea, nose bleeds, slight swelling of the feet...all the typical stuff- but then I noticed that all kinds of nurses and doctors kept hovering around us. And then the anesthesiologist appeared..."just to ask a few questions." I looked at John with a mixture of terror (as in 'is this really going to happen today?') and excitement (as in 'is this pain is going to stop soon and we'll get to meet our baby girl?'). Doing my blood work for a second time proved that I had HELLP Syndrome which translates to extremely high liver enzymes, very low platelets, less blood clotting, etc. And the only treatment of HELLP Syndrome...immediate delivery. At 36 weeks and 4 days, the doctors and nurses weren't very worried about my delivering, but without much notice, I was a little nervous! They couldn't do an epidural because they couldn't risk blood getting into my spinal column and not clotting, so I had to go completely under and John couldn't come with me. Within 30 minutes, I was in the Operating Room getting platelets and having a C-section, and John was soon introducing Helen Grace to our friends and family in the waiting room! She is absolutely beautiful, if I can say so myself, and she has a head full of tufts of strawberry blonde hair. She is pretty easy going and must know that her mama and daddy need all the help they can get in this situation!

I was in the ICU overnight Monday and for most of Tuesday getting a blood transfusion, and they wanted to watch my levels improve. Unfortunately, this wasn't a quck process. John got a room with Helen Grace on the L&D floor, and he could bring her in to see me every now and then but I was basically getting through the hours with an IV of fluids and magnesium (which made me crazy), a lovely catheter, a morphine pump, pressure boots on my legs to keep blood clots from forming, and an arm pressure band on my arm to check every so many minutes.

Around dinnertime on Tuesday, I was able to "graduate" from ICU and into a room on the L&D floor but had to wait a few more hours until I was able to join HG and John on the 4th floor. I passed all my tests about midnight. Of course, I couldn't get moved up to the room where John had been camped out, but for some reason, I was moved to a room on another wing. So John had to move all of our stuff to a new room at midnight while he was half asleep. The poor guy deserves a gold star!!!

We were able to grab a few hours of sleep in between nurses coming in to check everything on God's green earth, and we have enjoyed our first day of being a family- all in one room at last! I am now unplugged from everything and am finally walking to the bathroom on my own- huge progress! Looks like my doctor still wants to watch my levels for one more day, and we think we will be cleared to leave on Friday morning. Keep your fingers crossed. We have been hugely blessed by so many friends and family members- thank you so much for loving us and our new baby girl! Pics to come as soon as we get some sleep!