Anne and Thom (by guest blogger Errol Lord)

When we last left off in our hospital drama, Anne was waiting for her health to deteriorate. That began last Thursday. Her labs started to get worse ( i.e. her liver enzymes were elevated and her platelet count started to decrease). Her pressures also started to go up. Things stabilized a bit over the weekend, and we figured maybe a week more or so. This morning we had another growth ultrasound (they can only do them every three weeks because the ultrasound has a two week margin of error). If the baby made interval growth ( i.e. if the baby had three weeks of growth in three weeks) then we were going to stay pregnant for a bit longer. Unfortunately, the ultrasound indicated that the baby had not gotten any bigger! That was the main decision making factor–along with the fact that her pressures were very high the last 12 hours. Also, the blood flow in the umbilical cord was getting worse. So, around 9.00 am this morning we found out that we were having the c-section at 12.30. When they got her spinal in, the baby’s heart rate dropped a bit. Thus, they took the baby out really quickly. He is very tiny. His birth weight was only 2 pounds! He was 14 3/4 inches long. His name is Thomsen Fitzgerald Lord. Although his weight is really low–that of about a 27 week old–he is acting very mature. He has been breathing on his own the whole time. He has also been crying and moving around a lot. That is all really good. He will be in the NICU for 6-12 weeks. The worst news about his health is that he has a deformed left hand. He has a very small thumb, a very, very small pinky, and no other fingers. Luckily, he does have all the bones in the hand and he has the first knuckles. They do not think that his hand has anything to do with being pre-mature. Most likely, some of the tissue that builds up in the amniotic fluid got wrapped around his fingers, cutting off circulation and essentially killing the finger growth. Of all the things that could have gone wrong, that is very minor. He is really doing great in the NICU, and they have the highest of hopes for him.

Anne is doing quite well. She is a bit sore, and is having a hard time moving around on the bed. She is still on magnesium sulfate, which is used to prevent the preeeclampsia from become eclampsia (which consists solely in her having seizures). The mag sulfate is 99% effective is preventing eclampsia. She is also now on BP medication. So far, her BP has been really normal post-surgery. This is really great. Most of the time it does go back up after the surgery drugs wear off. She will probably be discharged in 3-6 days. That is pretty much all of the news. Thom will be in the NICU for a good while. They will focus on getting him bigger and making sure he develops normally. So far, he looks great. I will post pictures of the little guy tomorrow when I get a new USB cable.