AvaBaby's Story of a Micro Preemie Part 3

Thankfully they never had to evacuate because they managed to hault the fire about 2 miles from the hospital. The smoke continued to hang over the hospital and surrounding area for days. We settled back in for the wait, but contractions continued, nothing could stop them.

On occasion my daughter’s doctor would do an ultra sound to see how our little Ava was looking. On this particular morning her doctor was very concerned with what he was seeing. Ava was still looking great, by my daughter's cervix had thinned out dramatically in just 2 days. She was told not to get out of bed except to use the restroom, not for anything else. Anxiety was growing as Ava was just at a little over 26 weeks.

Then I got the call one morning at about 9:00 AM.........It was my daughter and I could hear the panic in her voice. She was hemorrhaging severely and the nurse who was very concerned had paged my daughter's doctor on the PA system STAT!! He had already been in when my daughter called, and she could hear the stress in his voice. By this time our family had forged a real personal relationship with this man. He often spent free time just hanging out with us in my daughter's room.

I jumped into my car and headed for the hospital only to find the freeways were backed up bumper to bumper due to morning rush hour traffic. I felt in a panic at this point and tried to head down the coast which was nearly as slow. My husband who was closer headed to the hospital. I think that was the longest drive of my life.

I ran up stairs to find my husband and daughter both looking scared. They were getting ready to move our daughter to the labor and delivery floor. Her doctor came in and yes, he was very concerned, his voice actually shook as he spoke.We were settled into the new room and tests were run to see just where my daughters blood count was, keeping in mind it was already getting pretty low. Her doctor discussed with us the situation as he saw it. We were at a crossroads. Literally every hour that Ava could be kept in was good for her, but we had to now consider what the risks were to her mom and ultimately Ava's survival. Would one more day be worth this risk? We had grown to trust this man to the highest degree and it was decided the decision would be left up to him.

We waited quietly and sometimes laughed as our family often does under pressure. Her doctor stayed with us or very close by for the next 2 hrs while waiting for the results of the most recent blood tests. Then it happened.......as the doctor was sitting on a swivel stool, looking at a computer screen, he spun around and said, "we're going in now, your blood count can't wait".

The whole mood of the room changed in an instant. People started rushing around my daughter readying her for an emergency c-section. We had just moments together as a family in which a prayer was said, asking that our heavenly father look over our daughter and Ava. Please let her survive.

I knew that my daughter was in the best of hands and was going to be fine, my heart and thoughts turned toward our little Ava, her fight was just beginning. Our daughter was whisked away and we went to the waiting room where there was a large group of our friends waiting. At this point things were nothing but a blur both mentally and physically as tears flowed. I vaguely remember talking to people and pacing the floor, watching the clock constantly.

I don't remember how long it took, but the nurse who had been with my daughter in labor and delivery prior to the emergency finally came in. I was sitting in a chair and she kneeled in front of me and took my hands, with tears in her eyes, she said, "Ava's here, they are breathing for her". I could feel the room closing in, the pain was unimaginable.

A little bit longer and from across the room I see my daughter's doctor enter this very large waiting room. When he saw me he walked straight through the large group of people, and the stress on his face was really painful to look at. As he approached I am watching his eyes and every expression of his face trying to read from that what he was feeling.

He said it was the toughest delivery he had ever had. Due to the degree of irritation my daughter's uterus was under when he touched it with the scalpel, it contracted down around Ava in a death grip. He reached into grab Ava and she had been pushed all the way to the top, out of his reach. He could not get his hand around her. He knew though that the placenta had fully abrupted and now Ava was bleeding out and so was her mother.

He made the split second decision to cut my daughter's uterus top to bottom. Fortunately for some reason before he ever even made the first cut, he took some steps that he does not normally do. It turned out that having already taken those steps he saved himself critical seconds at this very crucial moment. He was able to now reach in, grab Ava out, and clamp the cord before she bled out. Now he could stop the bleeding in my girl. And he did, that was the easy part.

He is so sweet, he actually apologized that it did not go better. Like what he had just accomplished wasn't amazing enough. Ava made it to 26.5 weeks, my daughter was stable and he had done it without having to give her a blood transfusion. That was so important to all of us.

He gave me a huge bear hug and said he needed to go see how Ava was doing. He was worried, but her blood gases were amazingly good, better than a lot of full term babies, born under normal circumstances. That was a good sign to him.

Probably within a half hour, I was taken to see Ava. When I saw her for the first time, I feel into a puddle into Ava's daddy's arms...........