About two and a half weeks ago, Ansley got really sick. She was coughing, congested, had a weird rash on her entire body, and her fever reached 103.8, which totally freaked me out. The next day I took her to the doctor and was told that she had strep throat. About the same time, I also started feeling very strange with cramps, contractions and severe back and body pain. I was 38 weeks pregnant, so I knew that the baby could come at any time. The contractions started coming every 3-5 minutes and I had Jeff take me to the doctor's office to be checked out. I was put on a monitor and then checked and it was determined that I was 3 cm and 50%. All I knew was that I was starting to feel really bad and I thought I may have a fever. It was checked and was 101, which was causing the contractions and Heidi's heartrate to increase. So, I was given medicine and kept on the monitor until my fever decreased and her heartrate did too.
A few days went by with me trying to help Ansley get well and I ignored how terrible I was beginning to feel. I was having painful contractions every day. Early Sunday morning I woke up drenched in sweat once and then another time shivering and unable to get warm. I got up at 4:30 because the only thing I could think of to warm myself was a hot shower. When I got out and still felt terrible, I decided to wake Jeff and have him take me to the hospital. In the car, my contractions were again 3-5 minutes apart and I just knew I was in labor. At the hospital, I was checked and told I was a 4 and 80%. My temperature was 102 and Heidi's heartrate was again very high because of the stress she was under due to my fever. But after a couple of hours, my body was making no progress. I have never in my life felt so sick as I did that morning. I had chills and was sweating, my back was killing me, and I was so worried about my baby. My doctor happened to be the on-call doctor at the hospital that morning and she ordered tests to be done to determine what was going on with me. She thought there was even a chance that I had pneumonia, so she sent me down to have x-rays of my lungs. Finally, it was discovered that I had the flu despite having the vaccine in the fall and I was given a prescription for Tamiflu. After six hours and three bags of fluids in the hospital, I was sent home.
So, a couple of days later I had my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment and was still about the same that I was in the hospital. My doctor warned Jeff and me that if he were in Houston when I went into labor, there was a good chance he wouldn't make it to the hospital in time because she felt that I would have a short labor. She suggested I be induced since I had already progressed so much. So, after talking about it, we decided this would be a good decision for us and the doctor scheduled us to come in early Tuesday, April 19.
Tuesday morning we made it to the hospital by 6:30. I was asked questions, put on the monitor, and given the IV. At 8:00 my doctor came in to break my water and hard contractions seemed to start immediately. What seemed like only minutes later, I was told I was a six, then checked again soon and told I was a 9 1/2 and the nurse hurried off to call the doctor back to the hospital. At 10:09 Heidi Reese was born, weighing in at 7 lbs 2 oz. She is absolutely beautiful and we're so in love with our second daughter!
