The Pregnancy
On December 4, 2008 I discussed with Kenny, over his birthday dinner, having our first baby. We have been married almost 6 years and I thought it was time. Kenny was excited and we planned to start trying to have a baby in August 2009. Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned. When we arrived home from a wonderful trip to Europe, we found out… WE’RE PREGNANT!!!! It was June 10, 2009! We went to the Dr. when I should have been 6 weeks pregnant, very excited to see our little bundle! Unfortunately, we saw nothing but a sac and we were measuring two weeks behind. I was so upset. I went to the Dr. every other day for blood work and at the end of the week we had another ultrasound. YEAH!!!! We saw a little heartbeat! It was so exciting! We continued with our regular OB visits every 4 weeks, but continually measured small. After weeks of not really knowing how far along I was we finally had a due date of February 21, 2010. At 12 weeks we had a routine screening called a Nuchal Translucency test. About a week later I got a call from Valley Hospital congratulating me, the test results were wonderful! The measurements were great and I had a 1:3,981 risk of having a baby with Down Syndrome (DS). She congratulated me and said that it is better than a 20 year old! About 4 weeks later I had another routine screening called an AFP. I had no idea what it was for, but obliged as they wanted to take my blood AGAIN! Two weeks later I went to the Dr. for a concern I had and the Dr. asked if anyone had called me regarding my AFP result… I said “No”. He then showed me the results and explained to me that I now had a 1:20 risk of having a child with Down Syndrome. (That would be worse than a 40 year old!!!) I was shocked and wondered how I could possibly have such a huge discrepancy in my results of those screenings. The Dr. sent me to Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) for an early anatomy scan to see if we had any markers for DS. Turns out we had 3… We continued to go back to MFM every 3-4 weeks to check on the baby’s size and those markers. We also went to Mt. Siani for two fetal echocardiograms to see if the baby had a heart defect. After the tests we were told that the baby’s heart was fine and everything was within normal range. Of course, there were a few things that they would not be able to tell until the baby was born. We left relieved. Until the next ultrasound when we found out the kidneys were enlarged. Now we go to MFM every 3-4 weeks for growth scans and to check on the kidneys. Each time we went to MFM the baby seemed to grow less and less… from the 40th percentile, to the 20th , 15th, then the 3rd! When the baby reached the 3rd percentile we were 29 weeks. They sent me to the hospital to get a steroid shot to help develop the baby’s lungs in case we had to deliver early. I also had some elevated blood pressure. I went to the hospital, got the shot and had to return in 24 hours for another shot. When I returned my blood pressure was so high that the Dr. wouldn’t let me leave. He told me “You are going to be here until you have this baby.” Fortunately, I only stayed for two weeks and was sent home on bed rest because my blood pressures returned to normal. For the next 6 weeks we went to MFM two times a week for tests along with going to my OB once a week for regular check ups. Every visit we were on edge as we never knew if this could be the day we were going to have this baby. Finally, Friday January 29, 2009 MFM called and told me that we would have our baby on Monday February 1, 2010. We were so excited! I was 37 weeks. We went to the hospital on Sunday night to begin getting induced.
The Delivery:
They gave me something called “Cervidil” to “ripen my cervix”… It was an experience I wish not to ever go through again. The next morning they started me on Pitocin. They checked my cervix every two hours and after 2 ½ hours of contractions they told me that I had not progressed and that we were going to do a C-Section. I was all for it! Until I got into the OR… I suddenly had this panic feeling… I didn’t want to do it, I wanted to go back and push, but unfortunately that wasn’t possible. It took a long time for the anesthesiologist to perform my spinal block. He was the best in the building, but still had a hard time. Finally, he did it and I was scared out of mind. I didn’t really enjoy any of the process, but he took fantastic pictures for me and Kenny to remember this special day. When they pulled the baby out of my belly I was shocked to learn that she was a girl!!! I would have put money on her being a boy! I kept saying “It’s a girl? It’s a GIRL??” Her name was Allyson London Kistler. The Dr. pulled her out and showed her to me and I began to cry, I knew my baby girl had Down Syndrome. Kenny saw it too, but we were hopeful that we were wrong. A few hours later Dr. Mangenello, one of the neonatologists, came to see me and he asked if I had seen my baby? I said “yes.” He asked me “Well, what do you think?” I thought it was an odd question, but I answered “I think she is beautiful.” I then looked at my mother and said, “I guess I should just say it… I think she has Down Syndrome.” And the Dr. said, “I think you’re right.” It was so hard to hear. Kenny and I went through so many emotions over the next few days. To top it all off I suffered from a terrible spinal headache and needed to get a blood patch, another procedure I hope to never have again.
Thursday evening around 9:30pm I received a phone call for the NICU nurse telling me that the cardiologist was reviewing Ally’s echocardiogram and wanted to speak to us, so we should not go to sleep. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. I had hardly even seen my baby due to my headache and now we were going to get the terrible news about her heart. The Dr. came in and explained Ally’s heart condition to us completely and told us she was going to be OK. We felt scared of course, but glad that Ally’s condition is very common and can be fixed with medicine and/or surgery.
Our Hospital Stay:
It has been 3 weeks now and Ally is still in the NICU. She continues to have trouble eating and has a feeding tube. We have tried various bottles and nipples and she continues to struggle. They continue to run tests to check her heart and some other things that can be a problem with Down Syndrome to find out why she is having such difficulty eating. She is now on two heart medications and Zantac. We continue to wait to see if these meds will help Ally eat better. We most likely have at least two more weeks at the hospital. We can’t wait to just take Ally home and enjoy her! She is cute as a button!
