It all started on the night of September 3rd. I was 37 weeks pregnant and started having heart palpitations. I was relaxing in bed, trying to fall asleep but I had to pee every 10 minutes, of course. I got up to use the bathroom and noticed that the door at the bottom of the stairs was still open so I shut it and went back to bed. When I got back into bed I noticed that my heart was pounding out of my chest as if I just ran up and down the stairs 5 times. I thought that it was a bit weird, but just assumed that it was a weird pregnancy thing and some how passed out. I woke up a few times throughout the night still feeling a bit odd and noticing that my heard felt a bit irregular. I figured I would be okay by morning so tried to ignore it and get some sleep.
Morning came and my heart was still acting funny. I took my blood pressure on the home machine that we have. It was normal but my heart rate was reading 130-140 which is WAY high. About 5 minutes later I started to make breakfast and noticed that everything suddenly felt fine and my heart was behaving like it should.
Wednesday rolls around and I had an appointment with my OB. I told her about my experience and she immediately tells me to go see my primary doctor and get an EKG done to check my heart. Since my doctor no longer practices there I saw a new doctor who I ended up really liking. She checked everything, asked me a bunch of questions and told me that if it happened again to go straight to the hospital. Well, it did.
The following Saturday, almost EXACTLY one weeks after the first episode, I am lying in bed and the same exact thing happened. I was just about to drift off to sleep, but my heart had something else in mind. This time it was super irregular feeling and I started to freak. I used the BP machine about 100 times and kept getting irregular readings. My heart was all over the place. Anywhere from 90 BPM to 150. Insane. I waited about 2 hours and then woke up Matt to tell him it was time to go to the hospital. This was definitely not cool.
I got to Greenwich Hospital around 1:30 am and they immediately admitted me. Since I was pregnant they didn't want to take any risks and treat me the most common way. Since I was going through Atrial Fibrillation(irregular heartbeat) they treated me with fluids and then medication instead of shock therapy. I finally saw a cardiologist and one of my OBs and they thought it was necessary to move me to Columbia New York Presbyterian Hospital which has one of the best Cardiac Care Units in the country. They were concerned about having an early birth as well as monitoring and testing my heart for any underlying problems. They thought that the pregnancy could have brought out something that may have been there all along. Of course this was very scary and stressful, but I was relieved that I would be in good hands.
They called for a mobile ICU unit (A really high-tech ambulance) to come get me and by 10 o'clock or so I was on the move. When the paramedics showed up I told them that I get severely car sick, especially when I ride backwards which I knew I was going to be doing. I also had a very empty stomach which always makes me very sick. The move from the bed to the stretcher instantly induced horrible retching (Sorry, TMI). As I am getting sick in the garbage can, one of the paramedics goes "She may break it herself!" Well he was right, my heart kicked back into a sinus(regular) rhythm and I instantly felt like a 100 bucks. Not to mention the Zofran that they gave me in my IV for anti-nausea.
So long story short, I get to Columbia in a normal rhythm and I remain that way from Sunday 09/11 to when the release me on Tuesday 09/13. I had about 54 doctors, was stuck in the most uncomfortable bed, and was forced to eat the worst hospital food EVER. Finally after the cardiologists communicating with the OBs and then all of the NYC doctors communicated to the Greenwich doctors, they decided to let me have my C-Section in Greenwich on the scheduled date of 09/20. I finally got to go home and see my son and sleep in my bed. It was time to get ready to have this baby in 5 days, so I thought.
Then next day we went for a followup with our OB. She informed us that our case was reviewed in a meeting that morning and we were having a baby THE NEXT DAY. Wait, WHAT? We had 5 days! Now we have 24 hours!?? They considered my condition to be a fluke pregnancy problem because my heart was totally healthy otherwise so they thought that getting the baby out ASAP would avoid another episode. They had me on medication to keep my heart slowed so they wouldn't even know if I went A-Fib again.
After we got over the shock aspect, Matt and I made a million phone calls and frantically started to prepare for the next week or so. Matt had to work for a few hours, Jed went to his grandparents and I did laundry, cleaned, and organized baby stuff.
Before we know it, we were on our way to Greenwich Hospital the next day, ready to meet our little one.
We had to go in earlier than usual so they could double check everything with my heart and prepare me for surgery. Everything went very smooth except for the EXTREME nausea afterwards. Recovery was hard at first but I bounced back quickly, eager to spend time with our baby girl! Zooey Marie was born on 09/15/11 and was 6lbs 14 oz and 19in long. She was born at 1:29pm and was absolutely perfect. It was love at first sight!
Unfortunately Jed had bumped into me in the hall when they were wheeling me to our room and got pretty upset to see Mommy so beat up. He kept crying "Mommy, get up! Mommy, get up!" I asked my Mom to take him home because I was very ill for the time being and felt better that he didn't see me like that. I wasn't able to sooth him at the moment so I figured that would make it worse. My poor baby. :( He easily got distracted by Gwammy and had a great time at her house for a few days. When he came back on Saturday to meet Zooey he was as proud as he could be for his baby sister and was very happy that his Mama was all better now. He loved hanging in bed with me and the baby, he even took her out of my mom's hands and gave her back to me. He was an overprotective big brother from the second he met her, protecting her like he should. That's my boy.
Since we have come home and settled, both of my children couldn't be more awesome. Zooey eats, sleeps, and poops all day and Jed has been great. No jealousy issues, just normal 2 year old emotions. We try to keep him busy as much as we can, and my recovery is better every day.
Being a family of 4 just feels right. We feel complete now and I know for sure that that is it. I am not interested in pregnancy anymore, and I am ready to move on. We couldn't be happier! :)
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