Happy Birthday, Daniel!!

Today marks 10 years that my son, Daniel has been a part of this world. It is amazing how time can go by so quick. It just seems like last week that he was going off to Kindergarten and now he's in the 4th grade.

I look back to what I was doing 10 years ago from tonight.....My due date was November 19th and I had been to the Dr. for my check up just a few days before that and she said that it didn't look like he was coming anytime soon. I was miserable, I couldn't put on my shoes because I was so swollen and I had been put on partial bedrest because my blood pressure was elevated. I was ready to be done with that pregnancy. Meghan was only 22 months old at the time, so I was busy with her and that was a challenge having to be on bedrest and take care of a toddler. Michael was working 11 hour shifts for a local trailer hitch company, so Meghan and I spent alot of time with out Daddy.

So on November 19th, which was a Friday night, we went to bed and decided that we were gonna go Christmas shopping the next day, since obviously this baby wasn't gonna be coming anytime soon and Kohl's was having some really good sales the next day and I wanted to get the early bird specials!!

Well all those plans changed when I woke up at about 1am and had a horrible pain in my upper abdomen. It was almost like a very bad case of heartburn. I couldn't hardly stand it, so I called the Dr. and he said to get in the shower and see if the warm water would help it subside. Well, it was getting worse and I was at the point where I could hardly move because the pain was unbearable and I called the doctor back and he said to go ahead and come into the hospital to be checked out to make sure the baby was okay. So we got Meghan up and drove her to my mom's house and then we were off to the hospital. That drive had to be longest of my life! We were about 25 minutes from the hospital and it felt like eternity till we got there. Once we got there, they sent me right to the triage in the OB unit to be checked out. They put a monitor around my belly and had me pee in a cup. Sure enough, they found protein in my urine and my blood pressure was through the roof. It was official, I had what is called Preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia is something that is developed from having high blood pressure during a pregnancy. This means that my liver was sick and my body was literately attacking it's self and the only way to help it, is to eliminate the source which was the pregnancy. So that meant they needed to get the baby out of me or I and the baby could die.

So they started an IV and gave me something to start my labor but nothing was happening. Then they put something inside of me to help me to start softening and start dilating. Let me just tell ya, this was a very long and exhausting day. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was pretty much dying and I sure felt like I was. Finally the contractions got intense and that just made it all the more fun....NOT!!!

Then sometime after 9pm I was fully dilated and was able to start pushing, the only problem was that I was so exhausted and had no strength to push. I had been given an oxygen mask to wear because I had trouble breathing during the labor. I was told that I only pushed for about 10 minutes and Daniel was out, but I don't remember much about that day. I felt like I was kind of in a fog through the whole thing. So at 9:40pm on November 20th 1999 we had a 6lb 5oz baby boy! Everything was okay with him and he was health!!

As for mom, I wasn't so hot. I wasn't out of danger yet. My blood count was so low and I had lost so much blood during the labor, I had to be watched for almost a week. I was even the recipient of a platelet transfusion, due to a low platelet count. I was finally released the day before Thanksgiving and was given strict rules about my activities. I basically was told that I couldn't leave the house and had to stay in my pj's for about 3 weeks. Apparently women that have had this problem will go home and have a relapse and end up back in the hospital or even die.

So we went home that Wednesday afternoon and Michael went to work as usual and my wonderful sister was great, she came over to help with Meghan and she cooked dinner so I could rest.

I didn't realize how bad it really was until after it was all done, but I almost died. I guess the Lord wanted to keep me here for a reason and I am thankful He did, because I have been able to enjoy 10 birthdays with my little guy, and hopefully a whole lot more to come.

Happy Birthday, Daniel, I love you!!