The littlest Lobo

Tuesday August 4,2009 the tiniest little Lobo was born, 18 weeks too soon. We called her Ruth. No, it's not a pretty name I know this but it's now hers for keeps even though that was not our intention. One night while talking about names Willie and I were going through biblical names and he said Ruth and we joked we could call her Baby Ruth like the candy I had sitting there on the bed side table or maybe for Babe Ruth from Willies beloved Yankees. It was just a joke as I really didn't care for the name little did I know that in the end it would be the only name she ever knew. P


From the start this was not a worry free pregnancy. I found out on 4/11/09 that I was expecting. Two weeks later I started to bleed. They called it a sub chorionic hematoma. I was told not to worry it would "resolve" itself. Placing my trust in the doctors I relaxed and waited for the bleeding to stop which took 4 weeks. In the meantime I quit my job, started a new job at an amazing company and started planning a lifetime with my baby to be.


I felt so blessed, everything I wanted was falling into place life could not have been better. I was hardly sick throughout the 1st trimester just very tired. I got through with few complaints and made it to week 19 thinking being pregnant was pretty easy. Then came the call at work on 7/14/09 that one of my test came back and there was a fear now that my little one may have Spinda Bifida. I lost it. They sent me in right away for an Ultrasound to once again tell me all is ok, don't worry...oh and it's a girl. A girl. I wanted a girl. Now I was feeling even MORE blessed. It was girl and she was ok. So I trusted the doctors went to work and went about life as usual.


Then on 7/25/09 I woke up bleeding. I told myself not to panic I bought a Doppler so I could check the heartbeat at home a few weeks before so I knew she was ok. There was no pain not much blood until I got to work. Sitting at my desk I hemorrhaged. I drove myself to the ER where the checked my little girl via ultrasound and said again don't worry she is ok.


I went to perinatologist on Monday. My Birthday.They said my cervix was "funneling" I had no idea what that meant but they were worried. The sent me to Labor and Delivery for monitoring and they next thing I know the doctor is saying that I am contracting, I was in preterm labor. They admitted me and  gave me medication to halt the contractions. I was there totally bed ridden for 2 days. The contractions stopped. The ultrasound on 7/29/09 showed no more funneling, my cervix was closed and I was safe to go home...on bed rest. It was hard for me to stay in bed. By Friday I cheated and I moved around more than I was supposed to. Maybe that's where things went wrong.


Friday night I started to bleed again. Saturday I had contractions but I didn't know that's what they were. I was convinced this was it, I was having a miscarriage. They told me in the hospital that there was little else they could do at this stage to stop any more  contractions as the meds thay gave me can only be given for 48 hours. If I was going to lose her I wanted to be at home. We made it to Monday and my check up with the OB. She said I was contracting again and 1 cm dilated. We went right to the hospital. The perinatologist and US tech waited for me to arrive...they were both supposed to be headed home. The tech started the scan and stopped immediately to call the Dr. in. I knew this was bad. They looked and looked and looked. They said they was blood between the amnion and chorion. These membranes should have fused by week 15 but had not. Was this due to the bleed I had at 8 weeks? To this I still have no answer.


When they were done and explained that I was at risk for infection because my cervix was opening and closing for over a week now so I would need blood levels checked ASAP for elevated white cell count. If I had an infection depending on how bad they would need to treat aggressively which would not be good for Ruth. If they did not treat it I would become septic. What the hell was happening??? I should have known when the tech kissed my check before leaving and said she would say a prayer for me ,that things were much worse than they let on.


My Dr called me later to explain what the perinatologist saw back at her office after examining the pictures from my scan. There was a tear, a small one, on my placenta. I would be in the hospital "awhile" while we hoped this would heal. I was now on mag sulfate for the contractions I couldn't even feel. It made me sick so I sent Willie home. I felt safe because I was in the hospital. I knew that until 24 weeks Ruth did not have a chance of survival outside my womb but I really truly thought we would make it now that I was back in the hospital.


At 12:18 I called Sarah. I was feeling better enough to chat. Just before 1:00 am we hung up because my nurse was due in at 1:00am to take my blood. At 1:05 I stated having cramps. They were painful but I could talk through them. The nurse came at 1:15 and I was in more pain then. I explained where it hurt and she moved the TOCO monitor down as there was no contractions registering on the monitor. Then she saw them, she saw I was in fact contracting about every 2.5 minutes. She took my blood to see if they could up the mag sulfate. I started to vomit the pain too much to bear.


I don't know at what point it got so bad I could no longer talk but it did. I started to sweat and curse in the short time in between. I don't think anyone knew at the time but I was fully in labor.


They finally gave me something for the pain and for a moment I didn't feel the pain but it seemed almost instantly it was back. Then I felt it. I felt the urge to push. I screamed at the nurse before she could even react Ruth was born.


The rest is blurry. My Dr came in they wheeled me to the operating room and told me I was going to sleep. I woke up. Willie was there. Ruth was gone. How could this be?





A few hours later they brought her, Baby Ruth, to Willie and I. All wrapped up swaddled just so. She was perfect. Her hands her lips her ears her chin her feet her strong looking arms. All so teeny tiny and perfect she looked just like a Lobo. We then had to say goodbye to our little girl before we even got to say hello.