Tag archive for "the hospital"

The Pregnancy

Calm Down Casey, It’s Not Time Yet!!

Comments Off on Calm Down Casey, It’s Not Time Yet!! 07 January 2009

Well, I’m writing this blog from a hospital room where Casey and I are settled in for the night. Casey’s blood pressure acted up again today at a regular ob/gyn visit and she had Casey admitted to the hospital so further tests could be run and her blood pressure could be monitored. So far, the blood pressure has calmed down, but while she was here, the contractions she’s been having for a couple of months decided to intensify. Finally, two of the tests that they ran showed an early indicator of pre-eclampsia which, according to Wikipedia is, “a medical condition where hypertension arises in pregnancy (pregnancy-induced hypertension) in association with significant amounts of protein in the urine.” Problem is, pre-eclampsia is a very dangerous condition for Casey and the babies and can only be cured by delivery of the babies.

We don’t know much more than that at the moment. They are monitoring Casey’s contractions as well as her blood pressure and will run another round of tests tomorrow to determine if her pre-eclampsia has progressed beyond where it is now. Our doctor really can’t give us any expectation of what the tests results will be as she has seen the condition run in both directions. And so we wait…and we pray…

We are not ready for these babies to come into the world. Reaching the big milestone of 28 weeks was a huge relief, but our goal all along has been to make it into February to give the babies the best chance of a great start in life. Please pray for Casey’s body to quiet down, at least for a couple of more weeks. Please pray for the health of the babies if they do make their debut sooner than we would like. Please pray for God’s hands at work in the lives of our doctors and nurses who will be faced with so many difficult decisions over the next few days and weeks!

God Bless,
Ethan

The Pregnancy

Update on Casey

6 Comments 18 November 2008

Casey had a great night and the contractions have stopped. Basically, she was experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions, but way too early in the game to be taken lightly. They are sending her home later this morning with instructions for strict bed rest until the babies arrive. The contractions are expected to continue from time to time so we are officially on pins and needles from here on out. When the contractions become noticeably more painful and increase in regularity, we’ll be headed back to the hospital. I imagine this won’t be our last overnight stay before she is admitted long term.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and concern! It really is fascinating to see how people have rallied around Casey in prayer during these times of uncertainty.

God bless,
Ethan

The Pregnancy

Hospital Visit #2

6 Comments 17 November 2008

It’s amazing how quickly things can change. We’ve had a great couple of weeks and a very nice weekend, but got thrown a pretty serious curveball today. Casey and I went this morning for a checkup with her ob/gyn and she ended up in the hospital! Casey had high blood pressure this morning at the doctor’s office so they wanted her to be admitted to the hospital for monitoring. The doctor told us to expect that she might be kept overnight, but we might go home later this evening.

When she got here, all seemed to be going well with the blood pressure, but they found a new complication – she was having contractions. They are relatively mild and pretty sporadic, but they are definitely contractions. Now that she knows how to identify the contractions, she has realized that she has been having them for several weeks, but did not recognize them as contractions. The scary part here is that if she proceeds to early labor, there is nothing that can be done to stop it. If that happens, the babies have very little chance of survival. They have given her a couple of medications that are supposed to calm the uterus, but they won’t do much to prevent pre-term labor if her body decides it’s time for that.

At this point, we have no idea how long Casey will be here or if she’ll be allowed to leave at all (there is a possibility they will decide that she is safer here and that she will have to remain here until the babies are born). I don’t know exactly what the deciding factor is, but for now all we know is that we will be here overnight.

We have several friends taking care of our immediate needs and are very grateful for all of the prayers and encouragement we’ve received. Please continue to pray that Casey’s body will quiet down and those babies keep incubating!!

I’m not sure if I remembered everyone that I should have on this email so please forward this on to other friends and family!

God bless,
Ethan

The Pregnancy

Emergency Room

Comments Off on Emergency Room 22 October 2008

Here was another unexpected day in the life of the Jones’!

9.22.08

Hey guys!

Whew!! What a wild day! First of all, thank you all so much, especially Dean Superstar Yeck, for all of your thoughts, prayers, and support today! Casey has had a wild ride today, but she is feeling much better now. This was déjà vu from 2003 with Casey’s first pregnancy. She called me this morning at about 8:00 to say that she was turning around and coming home because her lower left side (kidney area) was in incredible pain. From our experience in ’03 and from the sonograms we’ve been doing with this pregnancy, we knew that her ovary had twisted and we would likely be in surgery today. I went home, grabbed Casey and we rushed to the ER. To give you an idea of the pain she was in, they shot her up four different times with escalating volumes of morphine and one other pain med, but her pain was still off the charts! They did a sonogram and determined that the ovary was not getting blood flow (meaning it had twisted) and that surgery would be necessary to untwist and drain it. If it was not untwisted, it would die and would get gang green and we would have all kinds of problems. There was also concern that it could rupture which would also cause a multitude of problems. As we were in pre-op, they did a sonogram and came up with a different plan that would keep us from having surgery if it worked. They decided to drain the cysts by poking a needle in her side instead of operating. The hope was that by draining the cysts, the ovary would have room to move again and would untwist on its own. As it stands now, the cysts have been drained, but they are not showing good blood flow to the ovary. The blood flow is better and they are hopeful that it worked, but it is too early to tell. Casey says her pain level is down to a 2 if we are considering her earlier pain to be a 10 so she is feeling much better. This also gives us hope that the procedure worked. They are keeping her overnight so that the ovary can be checked several more times. If all continues to improve, we will be home tomorrow breathing a huge sigh of relief that they did not have to operate. I will update you all as soon as I can.

God bless,
Ethan

Ethan’s update email….
9.23.08

Great news! The sonogram taken this morning showed healthy blood flow to the ovary, the babies are all doing great, and it appears that life can begin to return to normal. Casey had a good night sleep and will be heading home today. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers!!

God bless,
Ethan

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