Luke said it well that we couldn’t be happier to meet our little peanut but I’d be lying if i said this last week hasn’t also been a bit of a test in flexibility and grace for this A-type planner 😉

To give a little background – about a week prior to delivery I started having really bad middle back pain and numbness in my right hand.  I called the nurse and this was normal, baby could be sitting on a nerve, etc.  It continued throughout the week but i got some relief with a visit to the chiropractor (I am now hooked ha).  Luke and I then traveled on Friday to Virginia for my cousin’s wedding with the rest of my family.  I had been having a very normal, healthy pregnancy and was cleared by doctor to go – why sit at home with FOMO over just back pain?

I continued to not feel/sleep well in Virginia, and started to get intense abdominal pain as well.  I called my clinic on Saturday before the wedding just to re-confirm this was normal.  They said it was tough to diagnose pain over the phone but sounded like a nerve/disc issue.  This ultimately ended-up being the best thing for us, if they would have sent us to the ER we would probably still be in VA!

I got to enjoy my cousin’s (beautiful) wedding and flew home on Sunday.  I went to the chiropractor again on Monday hoping for some relief again, and headed to my normal OB appointment.

I had Luke drive me and come with me, since the back pain made it hard to drive and I knew something wasn’t quite right.  My blood pressure was high, I had protein in my urine, and I was pretty swollen by this point so my doctor sent us immediately (in a cheery yet pointed voice) to the hospital.

From there things start to get hazy, but labs showed I had severe preeclampsia and HELLP, so essentially my blood pressure was crazy and my liver was not functioning well.  All combined with crazy platelet counts caused a need for an emergency c-section at 34 weeks 1 day within a couple hours of my appointment.

Despite the eviction notice from my body baby is doing very well (actually she is a rockstar) just needs to grow and get basic (and normal) things like breathing/eating on her own down in the NICU for a few weeks.  We channeled my inner Scandinavian roots and named her Anika Elizabeth (Elizabeth after my and Luke’s grandma).  She is perfect.  Note her name is pronounced Ah-nick-a, we googled how to best spell and got multiple answers so just settled on one N, if it is wrong I’m blaming the magnesium IV i was on when i wrote it down 🙂

Luke and i are now home from the hospital and as I sit here pumping (guess this is the new normal right moms?!) I am feeling extremely grateful.

I can’t thank everyone enough for the calls, texts, thoughts, prayers, visits, everything.  And especially my mom/sister who just knew what I needed when i didn’t, and for taking care of our fur baby 🙂

And Luke has been my rock – I’ve felt a bit helpless in my own recovery and he has taken care of everything, even buying nursing stuff at target for me 🙂  Anika and I are lucky to have him.

Overall this has been a very humbling experience and i can’t thank everyone enough for surrounding us and little Anika with support!