My name is Sarah; I am a single mother of four of the most beautiful little boys I have ever seen. And if you think its tough being a single mom of four, it was even harder getting them here!
It starts with Jaxson Gordon; born 12/11/07 at 36 wks and 2 days yet still only 4 lbs and 0.5 oz. at Madigan Army Medical Center. At 2 months I found out he had a single-umbilical artery which they knew would cause growth restriction, but then at 5 months I was diagnosed with an extreme case of pre-eclampsia. My blood pressure had been creeping up all along, (which was odd as I never had high BP before) but I went into pre-term labor this time and was hospitalized. After 24 hr urine they found my protein counts well over 500. They bumped up my blood pressure meds and started doing weekly ultrasounds and after 3 of them told me I needed to have an amino done because they feared Jaxson may have trisomy 18 otherwise known as Edwards Syndrome. Very Scary, and painful I might add! Thank god the tests came back negative, however Jaxson wasn’t growing as he should and my blood pressure kept going up as well as my protein counts. I was put on bed rest, at 32 weeks and hospital bed rest at 34 weeks.
December 10th I started getting really sick, I had horrible headaches that wouldn’t go away, I was seeing spots, and to dizzy to stand up alone. They decided to induce me and 17 hrs later I hadn’t really progressed at all and my blood pressure kept getting higher and higher. I felt like I was in a state of shock (later diagnosed as on-set eclampsia) and suddenly Jaxson dropped his heart rate to 50! They flipped me over on all fours immediately and ran me to the O.R. for a c-section. They knocked me out and took Jaxson. When he came out he was blue and wasn’t breathing-I praise God I was out for that because even the thought of him like that makes me sick. When I woke up from surgery all I wanted to do was see him, and they said I needed to try and get up and walk down there. I got up, went numb, turned white and passed out. Upon awaking from that, they kept insisting I try again but I was in so much pain it hurt to breathe! Meanwhile I’m gushing blood and still nobody will inform me of how Jax was doing! (My husband was in Iraq-I was 3000 miles from home and all alone). They were convinced my pain wasn’t that bad and made me get up again. Again I passed out. They ran tests and I had bled out- WAY too much! I received several blood transfusions and finally 2 days after he was born I felt well enough to go down and see my son. (God forbid they roll the bed down there for me to see him!) He was doing fantastic! Such a little fighter! It was love at first sight! He only spent 2 weeks in the NICU but that was long enough for me! Now my little man is 3, and very advanced for his age! He is so impressively smart everyone who meets him is amazed!
Next comes Joaquin Richard born 6/8/10 at 30 wks and 4 days at 3 lbs 10 oz at Aurora Bay Care Medical Center. With Joaquin I was 2 months along when I started seeing a specialist for early onset pre-e. I felt lousy, always with pounding headaches, seeing spots, and my vision started to go as well, I couldn’t see 10 feet in front of me without squinting really hard and even then it was tough. I was on a ton of BP meds and he just slowly increased them about every two weeks. They started weekly ultrasounds at 20 weeks as well as weekly HELLP labs and 24hr urines. June 1st I went in for my checkup and my blood pressure was 182/116 and I was hospitalized immediately. My protein levels again were very high, and I just kept getting worse and worse. June 8th my brain started to swell and I was at stroke/seizure level, so again another emergency c-section. Joaquin made no noise upon arrival which terrified me, but I did hear him cry finally as they were about to take him to the NICU. I don’t think I have ever been so scared in my life than having my son at 30 wks! Joaquin was so little-he spent time on oxygen, c-pap, canula, he had bad apnea, trouble with feedings and issues with his eyes. After 50 days in the NICU we got to bring him home! He had his issues yet and until about 5 months old didn’t seem like he had it “all together”. His eyes seem fine now, but the cups in the back of his eyes are extremely large which is a sign of glaucoma but so far so good he has passed all his tests! Joaquin is now 10 months old and mama’s “chunky monkey”! He is 19.4 lbs! Doing very well!
And last but certainly not least are my twins, Cole Philip 3 lbs 3 oz and Wyatt Christopher 3 lbs 6 oz born 2/22/11 at 31 wks and 6 days also at Aurora. This pregnancy was NOT planned and NOT expected! So much for birth control! LOL! And then finding out it was twins was even a bigger shock! Where to even start with this story…I went into a follow up appt with my specialist 12 weeks after Joaquin was born, knowing I was already pregnant. Before I told him, he told me not to have any more children and if I did to wait at least three years because my body “doesn’t like being pregnant” and I needed a great amount of healing time. Then I dropped the bomb! He put me on a baby aspirin a day (to prevent my blood from coagulating) and back on a higher dose of blood pressure pills as I hadn’t fully come off the one’s from Joaquin. I started 24 hr urines and HELLP labs every other Monday and got ultrasounds then too. Needless to say it was 2 weeks later I found out about the twins. Dr. Hayes had the biggest look of worry on him. He told me right off the bat I would probably only make it till early January (23-24 wks) at the latest and that’s if they even lived that long. I got really sick at 3 months with early on-set pre-e. I know shocker! I was put on partial bed rest and took enough pills to knock out a horse! Real fun when you have an infant and a 3 yr old at home! As time went on I lost vision almost entirely and my headaches were so painful I would throw up 3-4 times a day. At 5 months I was to be on 90% bed rest and not lift anything. I had weekly labs done and ultrasounds 2 times a week. One of those just being a Doppler to check the cord blood, because the boys weren’t growing enough and when they did I didn’t so the cords were getting kinked by them. At this point he didn’t hold out a lot of hope for them, and said it may come down to me or them. I did my best to stay strong-I was in an abusive relationship and I finally left and went to my mom’s with the kids. That took a lot of stress off of me and helped a great deal. My protein levels kept going up though and on Valentine’s Day I was hospitalized again. This was a good thing though, because nobody thought I’d make it that far! Plus my body was slowly shutting down on me and I needed to be there. February 22nd rolled around and my brain had swollen again, I was in so much pain all over and I couldn’t see. So they rushed me back and my twins were born. They also didn’t cry and I was worried, I couldn’t think, see, and I was alone again. There was so much going on and so many people in there for one NICU baby let alone two! Geesh! In a state of utter confusion I just laid there with total loss of control. Back in my room I struggled to do anything, I was totally out of it I couldn’t focus on what was going on around me and I couldn’t speak a full sentence. I ended up having a small seizure. So again I wait to hear how my babies are. When there Dr. came to talk to me she had the hugest smile on her face. They were anticipating the boys to be very sick because I was so sick. But they only needed a tiny bit of oxygen then went on to c-pap and canula. They were doing so well! I was overjoyed! Cole had a very small brain bleed that cleared itself up and beyond that I can’t complain. So 30 days later my twins came home. Since then they have been doing fantastic and I pray they stay that way.
We want to thank Sarah for sharing her amazing story with us and allowing it to be shared with all of you.
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