Witten Matthew Terlisner

I am pleased to announce the birth of Witten Matthew Terlisner.

He was born last night at 28 weeks and 5 days by C-Section at 9:32. He weighs 2 lbs 9 oz., 16.5" long. He's already tall, just like his mommy...hm...don't laugh. Maybe he gets a little of it from him dad.

The story to this early arrival:

Witten was due on July 31. With the high blood pressure, it was pretty apparent that he wouldn't make it to term, but I was thinking that meant something more along the lines of 36-38 weeks.

Yesterday, I went in for a 2 hour glucose test. That's the only hour I failed in my 3 hour last week, so the doctor had me eat breakfast and come in at 10 to get my blood drawn. I was also supposed to have a short check up with the doctor right after my blood work. I arrived at the Mansfield office where I was told my doctor would be that day. That was perfect because it's about 20 minutes closer to home than the Arlington office is. I got there at 9:45, and gave blood at 10:10. Then I waited...and waited...annnnd waited. At 11:00, I went up to the front desk to find out why my appointment was already an hour late, and how much longer they thought I would be. She said that the lady who scheduled my appointment had me giving blood in the Arlington office at 10, and seeing the doctor in the Mansfield office at 11. I started getting really worked up at this point, and by the time the nurse came to get me, I was in tears. She took me back to the office to get weighed and have my bp taken. According to this scale, I had gained 6lbs in a week even though I was eating pretty small and healthy meals. That was the first red flag. When she took my bp, it was 185/118. She got the doctor immediately and he sent me back to the hospital.

I was warned that this would probably turn in to an overnight stay, but I didn't think anything of it. My bp had been high before, and I figured this was just going to be the new norm for me.

Soon, they checked me in. That's when they started talking possible delivery and all the bad things that could start happening to my organs if they couldn't get my bp down. They ordered an immediate IV, took more blood, and stuck me with steroids in my butt. The butt shot hurt pretty bad, and the IV is full of magnesium to keep me from having seizures due to how high my bp got. Magnesium can make you feel quite bad, so I was also put on a clear liquids diet which was upsetting because I was starving by this point having not eaten since 8am when I had a slice of peanut butter toast and a glass of milk.

I was told sometime during this process that I would not be leaving the hospital pregnant, but we didn't have any idea at the time how long we could keep Witten in. This was of course upsetting news as he was only 28 weeks and 5 days. The doctor ordered that Witten be monitored continuously as long as I was on the magnesium, which was really hard because he was still quite small, and had plenty of room to swim around in my belly. The nurses pretty much took shifts holding the monitor on me from 1-6pm. This stressed me out because there were constantly people in the room.

Finally, the high risk pregnancy doctor came in and said they were taking the baby tonight, and he spent a good deal of time explaining why. He was very surprised that I only had one of the many symptoms that would make them take a baby this early, but due to the severity of my bp, he said that there was no other choice. My mom (who had been with me the whole time) and I began making phone calls. She got a hold of Mitch who was at home gathering things to bring up, and told him to stop what he was doing and get to the hospital immediately. They promised to wait until he got here to deliver me.

I was really nervous. Terrified even. I couldn't imagine getting cut open and having a baby taken out of my body while being awake. The thought of it was too upsetting! They finally wheeled me in around 9pm, and began prepping me. It started with the shot in the back. That hurt worse than the steroid shot did, but as he put two more numbing shots in my back, they began to take effect, and I didn't even feel the spinal that I was so nervous about. I also didn't feel any part of the surgery other than the pushing which just felt like him swimming around inside my belly like he likes to do at night anyway.

When they got him out, I could hear him cry, and I started to cry to. It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. I never thought that I'd be emotional about something like that, but it really was so wonderful.

The doctor said that I would get to see him before he left the room to go to NICU, but I guess they forgot. They took Witten and Mitch out of the room without showing him to me, and I still have not seen him. I don't even know how to describe what it feels like to deliver your baby and not see what he looks like. I know he is doing fine. Mitch has been in there a few times with him, and has taken pictures for me. I'm just really ready for when I finally get to meet him.