Miracles

I sit here writing to you today and reflecting on the many changes that 2016 wrought in my life in so many ways.  Those who have been following my blog know that last year I was faced with some of the most difficult challenges of my life to date.  The year started out like any other full of bright prospects.  My husband had been accepted to a program to train as a hospital chaplain and we were looking forward to moving to San Antonio, Texas in the summer.  We were blessed to go on a wonderful vacation with my parents and our four children to Hawaii at the end of January and were happy to find out we were expecting number five when we returned home from our trip.  Thats when things started going awry.  We all came down with the flu and had a few miserable weeks in our house.  Even after we recovered I still didn’t feel right and unfortunately, I miscarried on March 1st, 2016.  It was a terrible time for my husband and I and neither one of us were really prepared when at the beginning of April I found out I was pregnant again

That week also found Jason heading down range to a training deployment for a month and me working to get ready for our move at the end of May.  Those two months flew by, I was able to see OB prior to our departure and due to my advanced maternal age status they recommended a new screening test for genetic disorders called NIPT. The bonus was that you also found out the baby’s sex with it so I said sure, really hoping for another girl…  The day of our move arrived and I still hadn’t heard the results so I stopped by the OB’s office as we were driving out of town.  Bummed that everyone was out to lunch and I couldn’t get the results, we headed out on our next adventure.

My husband loves to travel and so he takes every opportunity to see as much as he can during our moves with the military.  He had planned out a six day trip from Fort Campell, KY to Fort Sam Houston, TX.  The first day we stopped at Loretta Lynn’s ranch as my parents are huge fans.  At the end of the tour I received a call that I will never forget.  My test was back and it was abnormal.  According to the OB the test was borderline for Down syndrome or Trisomy 21.  She had never seen a result like this before.  I spent the next several days trying to get more information as we traveled the back roads of Tennessee with very little cell phone reception.  Our visit to Graceland was a blur as was really most of the trip.

The we arrived in Texas, we checked into a hotel and started looking for a house.  All told we lived in a hotel room for six weeks between the trip and house hunting.  Have you ever lived in a hotel room with four kids under age 6 for six weeks before.  Let me tell you, its not an experience that I want to repeat.  I was also having difficulty getting my new Texas Medical license so that I could start work in July so we decided that I would fly back to Tennessee to do some work for my previous employer.  I am thankful that I had that opportunity and took it because I’m not sure how the rest of the year would have turned out otherwise.

I was finally able to get into the OB clinic here and referred to a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist who specializes in high risk pregnancies in July.  My first appointment we had our anatomy scan and everything with Rachel looked great.  She had no markers of Down Syndrome.  However, I had a complete placenta previa which is where the placenta overlies the cervix and mine was also lying over the scar from my previous c-section.  You can see my last post if you want more information about it here.  That visit set the tone for the next few months of overwhelming stress.  I developed a Placenta Percreta and testing showed that the placenta had grown through my uterus and was invading the bladder.  I was having intermittent spotting as well as blood in my urine and my blood counts continued to drop even with iron infusions.  By the end of September, I was hospitalized and scared.  I had four beautiful children at home, a loving husband and an amazingly supportive family.  I was looking at a 7-10% mortality rate even if my physicians did everything right and I was seeing a different physician almost every time I went in and getting different information, none of it good.  I wrote a post about that fear and how I was keeping my faith in God to get me through this horrible reality in which I was living.  I worked hard to turn everything over to him and was put out of work to try to get me to my scheduled C section date at the end of October.  I tried to enjoy that time at home with the kids but even now am still not sure how successful I was in that endeavor.  Our six year old in particular was very scared during the end of my pregnancy which was worsened every time I was hospitalized unexpectedly.  My parents came and lived with us so that I would not have to worry about what would happen if I started bleeding while home alone with the kids.

Thankfully, our God is indeed miraculous and for some reason in his infinite very he chose to bless me greatly.  The week after my last post my bleeding started slowing down and the blood in my urine completely stopped.  I also stopped having the pain that I had been wrestling with and I made it to the Sunday before my surgery was scheduled.  I had been put in the hospital that week to rule out a blood clot and start steroids prior to my surgery.  I got the first dose of steroids Sunday morning and Jason brought our two oldest children to attend Mass with me at the hospital.  During Mass, I went into preterm labor and so when we got back up to the floor I was moved to the monitored unit and they attempted to stop my contractions without success.  My team was finally called in that evening and every one of them stood at my bedside while my husband prayed over us.  Let me tell you the room was  packed full, as they were prepared for the worst case scenario, but it was silent and somber as we asked for the Lord to watch over us all through the upcoming surgery  I am so thankful to my mother for having the presence of mind to video it on her phone.  even though I have not watched it yet I know that one day I will need to re-live those special moments with the Lord.

Shortly thereafter, I was taken to the main OR and Rachel Pauline Dechenne was born on October 23, 2016 at 11:59 pm.  I was able to hear her first cry and then the real work began.  Rachel was initially placed on CPAP as her lungs were not fully mature and she was having some difficulty breathing.  She was given surfactant the next day which made significant improvement and she was weaned off all oxygen a few days later.  I was put under general anesthesia and had a hysterectomy.  Thankfully, a miracle had indeed occurred and according to my OB there was a thin membrane which looked like a piece of saran wrap separating my placenta from the bladder though it had completely invaded through the uterine wall.  I was in surgery a total of four hours to remove the uterus, part of the cervix which had been invaded and my right fallopian tube but thankfully kept both my ovaries.  I had been told prior to the procedure that I would likely remain intubated and wake up in the ICU and so was surprised to wake up shortly thereafter in the post-op recovery room instead.  I did not need a transfusion during surgery but did require one a few days later as my blood counts continued to drop.  I was able to see Rachel the next day and at that time she was being evaluated by the geneticist.  He felt that she did indeed have some clinical signs of Down Syndrome and so she underwent a variety of tests over the next few weeks to look for the extra chromosome.  He blood testing came back negative but a buccal swab confirmed what we suspected.  16% of her mucosal cells contained an extra copy of Chromosome 21 and Rachel was officially diagnosed with Mosaic Down Syndrome.

Rachel spent a total of five and a half weeks in the NICU and was home in time for Christmas.  Jason was able to take some time off to spend with us around the holidays before heading to D.C. for a few weeks to start his Doctor of Ministry and I was able to return to work on schedule.  I am so thankful for such a miraculous blessing and look forward to a bright year with 2017.  The year is already starting out with a bang!  I have realized that I need to spend more time finding the joy in my life and embracing it fully.  So stay tuned for some of the exciting changes that I am making this year!