Update on Liz & Jonah Part 2

12 days ago Liz was admitted to the hospital, 4 days ago she gave birth to Jonah Rule Dobson. She was diagnosed with preeclampsia and as the doctor's watched her lab work values and platelet count drop, they decided an induced labor was necessary; otherwise we'd wait until it was too late and the only option to get baby Jonah out safely & quickly would be an emergency c-section. So we induced labor on Monday, and by Thursday, October 13th at 12:13am, little Jonah was born at only 28 weeks and 2 days gestation. He was 13 inches long and tipped the scale at 1 lb & 14.1 ounces. 


Jonah is being cared for in a level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and being watched like a hawk around the clock. He suffers from respiratory distress syndrome and his new home is a nice warm, quiet plastic incubator. He has help breathing through a ventilator and is treated with oxygen. He also has jaundice and is being treated with phototherapy, so he constantly bathes under the brightest blue lights to help get his bilirubin levels back down to normal. Left untreated, jaundice can really take a toll on a babies brain. The light is very bright so he wears a little mask over his eyes so he can rest. The doctors are also watching Jonah's tummy closely, as it appears to be distended - although soft. We are hoping it is just gas and his nurse tried to help move along any blockage today with a little sliver of glycerin suppository. This was the first time mommy saw Jonah cry and it broke her heart. Luckily this helped produce a poopy diaper & Jonah probably quietly celebrated. 


Every morning Liz and Jordan are invited to attend morning rounds and listen to an amazing team of doctors and medical staff discuss Jonah's care and treatment plan for the day. Jonah has been known to be "feisty" and a "fighter", traits his mommy thinks are perfect to help him get along in life, and especially during these first two months where every day gets him closer to coming home. 


Liz was discharged as a patient from the hospital on Sunday, but is still recovering slowly from preeclampsia. The hospital is allowing her to stay for boarding as long as there is room so she can continue to visit with Jonah as often as possible. She can't wait for the day he isn't hooked up to so many monitors and machines so she can hold him for the very first time. Every day is a good day, and we feel blessed to have him being taken care of by an amazing group of medical providers. Today we turned off the bright lights over Jonah and underneath the shades was a tiny baby boy that looked just like his father.

Update on Liz & Jonah Part 1

They ran bloodwork today at 6am, then re-ran them at 12pm. I guess my platelet counts are lower than they'd like, but it just goes along with preeclampsia - and so far nothing too worrisome with my labwork. BP is still up and down, with mostly higher numbers, so they're still adjusting medications.

They're monitoring Jonah twice daily with a non-stress test, hooking up a monitor to my belly & watching his heartrate. They did that the entire 48 hours when we first got here. He is doing absolutely great and shows no signs of stress. He's been moving around a lot and giving me little punches and kicks. :)

So right now I'm on labetalol 400 mg three times daily and nifedipine xl 30 mg twice daily. They draw blood and run labs about 6am every morning, and then run the two non-stress tests on Jonah each day. I'm still on bedrest with no dietary restrictions. They're monitoring how much fluid I consume and how much I urinate. Still protein in my urine and that's not expected to go away (nor the swelling) until Jonah is born. I've gained about 15-20 lbs since Wednesday due to water retention.

The docs are hoping they're watching things closely enough that they'll know ahead of time when it's time for induction (pitocin IV drip to start labor) & I can try for a normal birth. But if my body all of a sudden gets hit hard with preeclampsia symptoms I may just have a c-section.

So, just taking it day by day, hoping he can stay in and grow bigger, but willing to do whatever is the best for both of us, and trusting in the doctors here.

Let me know if you think of any questions I should ask the doctors, they are usually in to visit with me twice a day after shift changes.

Tomorrow, Jordan and I will meet with a group of pediatricians to talk about immediate care of Jonah after he is born and what to expect in the weeks & months afterwards.

Writing this retro-actively...

So, in the middle of August I had decided a hospital birth was just not for me.  I began seeing a very compassionate and experienced midwife, Susan Sherwood, at The Birthing Inn and we hired a fantastic doula, Emmy, who would also teach our birthing classes.  Susan was my primary doctor for my pregnancy, and Emmy was our birth educator and birth coach - both would be present at my natural birth in a quiet comfy room at The Birthing Inn, with NO unnecessary medical interventions.

At the end of August, my mom and I flew to Thailand to visit family with my midwife's okay.  During the very long flight there my ankles and calves began swelling and I had to take off my shoes and socks and walk around as often as possible.  Once we landed in Thailand and during our 2 week stay there, the swelling progressivley got worse and I chalked it up to the humidity and all the walking around we were doing.  None of my shoes were fitting and any time we had some down-time I spent it icing my feet and calves and keeping them elevated.

We came home from Thailand and I saw my midwife - we agreed, I was having a lot of pregnancy swelling!  She suggested I do mineral salt bath soaks and keep my feet elevated as much as possible, but I continued working 40+ hours a week and thought I was just swelling from standing so much.  One day, I took a picture of my swollen feet and texted it to my best friend - who immediately freaked out and told me to demand to see my doctor.  I called my midwife on Monday and she ordered lab work for later that day.  My results came back the next day and she called and gave me the bad news, I had severe preeclampsia, and if I didn't get into the hospital right away, I could have seizures, or even worse, lose the baby.  Within the hour I was admitted to the hospital - who later realized I was only 27 weeks along in my pregnancy and they weren't equipped to deal with a premature baby, but the NICU in our town was booked solid so they transferred me by ambulance to the best NICU in our region in Seattle...

Almost halfway through...

...with our pregnancy!!!

So, I have a lot of explaining to do!

About a month after my fibroid removal surgery, Jordan and I set off to Hawaii to enjoy some sunshine.  It was our first visit to the islands, and we enjoyed it, thoroughly!  So much so, that we found out a month after our trip to Oahu, that I was pregnant!!  I took my first test the morning of May 4th, 2011 and it was pretty unbelievable to finally see my first positive result EVER on a pregnancy test.  

And the next day, for good measure, I took one more!

So we went from there, in disbelief.  I was still seeing my fertility specialist, so she performed our first ultrasounds when I was 7 weeks along and 9 weeks along.  I had my 3rd ultrasound at 11 weeks, and it was unbelievable to see how fast our little baby was thriving and growing.

7 weeks:

9 weeks:

11 weeks:

Tomorrow I'll be 20 weeks along, (that's the halfway point!) and this baby has been very good to me.  I've had zero morning sickness, no weird food cravings and very minimal mood swings.  I have been tired after putting in a long day at work, and my naps are very sacred to me.  

I began seeing an ob/gyn that would deliver my baby at nearby Tacoma General Hospital.  She was only available certain days of the weeks for appointments, which also meant she was only available certain days of the week for deliveries!  At our first visit, she told me they had just started group prenatal visits, where I would be seen with a group of other expecting moms by a nurse practitioner.  I really wanted a trusting/bonded relationship with the person who would help me get through the most important day of my life.

Other minor things happened during my first few months that led me looking for other options of care near our home (previous medical records were never transferred or reviewed, I was told I may need a cesarean section, I felt no connection w/the provider). 

I'm going to wrap up this entry for now, I have a lot more to talk about; how the baby is doing, who my new medical provider is, our fears, our hopes, and later this week we'll find out if our little baby is a boy or girl!

Liz's Hysteroscopic Myomectomy

My surgery went well. It was up in Seattle at the main SRM building. We got there an hour early because I was so sure we'd get caught in a traffic jam at 11am, or we'd get lost or not be able to find parking. The area where they prepped me for surgery and had me recover in was freeeeeeezing. They had heated blankets they pulled out of an incubator-like contraption, so I just kept asking for new fresh, steaming-hot ones. Stupid little flimsy gown, I truly do hate those. My nurse tried two veins and couldnt set my IV catheter, and my anesthesiologist tried 3 times!! I was instructed to fast starting the night before, so I was incredibly dehydrated. The anesthesiologist started using lidocaine injections to numb the area before poking around in my arm with catheters, bless his heart. He ended up using my big fat vein in the crease of the inside of my elbow. (which happened to be the vein he had just spent ten minutes explaining to me why they don't like to use it!) I was walked to the surgery room (in my flimsy gown) and the last thing I remember was them repositioning my poor IV arm and watching the mask come towards my face...

The surgery took just about an hour. After recovering from anesthesia, I had horrid cramps that stayed with me during the whole one hour drive home (Jordan drove) through most of the evening. That night my best friends were Vicodin, apple juice and animal crackers.

Doctor G said the fibroid was definitely smack dab in a horrible place. She printed out a beautiful picture of my healthy tumor-free uterus.

We also got all of our results back from our month of labwork, bloodtests, ultrasounds and x-rays...minus the fibroid, our doctor gave us the green light! No meds or any other invasive procedures are necessary at this time.

We are a very happy Liz & Jordan...

Thank you to friends and family who have been so supportive and have continued to pray for us throughout this journey.

Testing, testing, 1 - 2 - 3 ...

So here we are, about one month after we first started seeing our awesome doctor at Seattle Reproductive Medicine.

So far I've had bloodwork done twice, have had two ultrasounds and today I had a procedure done called an HSG (hysterosalpingogram). Labwork has come back all looking great, but today we found out that I have a fibroid in my uterine cavity. During an HSG test, dye is injected into the uterine cavity via a catheter, and you want to see the dye spread all the way out to the fallopian tubes. The first thing we saw was a little round mass that the dye worked it's way around before making it's way out to the ends of each of the Fallopian tubes. When my doctor saw it (via x-ray), she said, aha...I think this is the culprit. It's a 1.5 cm tumor that may be the cause of our infertility, and also explains my abnormal menstrual cycles.

So, I get to have my first surgery (ever) next month to have the fibroid removed and biopsied. I get to go home the same day, so that's good news, but I'll be under general anesthesia and have a breathing tube and be in a little bit of pain for a few days. The procedure to remove it is called a 'hysteroscopic myomectomy".

Our doctor then wants us to continue on with our lives and try naturally to have a baby over the next six months and see if we succeed before trying trying other options (IUI, most likely).

I still have one more round of bloodwork to have done in the next couple of weeks, I get to go in three times to have my progesterone levels measured, and next cycle I'll start back on birth control temporarily to keep my uterine lining as thin as possible for an easier surgery.

Isn't that great? Trying to get pregnant and going on birth control.

Anyway, it's bad news, but also very, very good news. Here's a very good article about fibroids.

Here at the Dobson home, we are very relieved to finally get some answers.

Looking for a little someone to fill these shoes...

Very little of you may know that Jordan and I have been working on making a Seattle Dobson baby for about a year and a half now.  

We thought we'd be laid back, take a couple of vitamins and let things take their course - but that plan hasn't been so kind to us.

Today we bit the bullet and called Seattle Reproductive Medicine to make an appointment (January 10th).  Feel free to check back to follow us on this exciting, nail-biting journey.