June 23rd, 2008 A Night to Remember!!!

Hello Everyone!

What is a another night without drama in the Freeman household. Please make sure you are secure in your seat when you start to read this. If you have rollers on your chair, make sure their locked and if you are reading this from your cell phone while driving, please pull over right away or you are bound to rear end the car in front of you.

The whole day was going great yesterday up until 7:00. I (Adam) had an appointment with a buyer all day and afterwards, I took the dogs over to parents house because I was planning to stay a few nights in the hospital with Aimee. Not even 10 minutes after I got to the hospital, Aimee started complaining of chest pain and that her heart was beating out of her chest. Earlier that day, her blood pressure was a little elevated and soon after Aimee complained to the nurse, they took her blood pressure again. The numbers showed she was even higher than before. The nurse at that time was convinced it had to do with the medicine she started taking yesterday morning. I was not satisfied with that answer because anyone with common sense would know that medicine you took yesterday morning doesn't hit you a day and a half later. After a few hours of pain and suffering, the blood pressure was pulled again for the third time. 196/111 and the nurse finally called the doctor. Unfortunately the Doctor was in a C-section, so poor Aimee had to put up with the pain a little longer even after some pain medicine was given.

The Doctor finally came in about 45 minutes later and decided to take Aimee down to labor and delivery to monitor her and take some blood for testing. After we moved in to the suite downstairs, they put Aimee on some Magnesium to help bring her heart rate down and it helped. They hooked her up on a catheter which had to be the most uncomfortable thing I have ever seen and wires were going every which way. It just hurt my heart to see her this way, but the Doctor and nurses were unbelievable down there and they made us feel so much better. They got us to a point where we were settled it and trying to get some shut eye before the lab brings the results back from the blood work. And then our worst fears were about to come true.

It was now 2:30 in the morning, and the Doctor woke us up which felt like two minutes after I fell asleep and said they have to take the baby by emergency C-section. Her blood came back showing a severe case of pre-eclampsia and there is no cure, but to get the baby out or this could fatally harm Aimee. Aimee was rushed in to get a spinal block and I was sent to a room to get changed in to my scrubs. I was breathing so hard that the mask kept pushing the hot air in to my glasses, fogging them up. We were a wreck because all we kept thinking was that her lungs are not developed enough. We spent the last 10 weeks hoping and praying that she would make it to a viable state. The ironic thing is the other Doctors didn't want to keep Aimee on bedrest and they didn't want to give Aimee the steroid shots yet. The one and only Doctor that happened to be on call last night read through our chart the other day and over written the other Doctors on both decisions, and it was done for this single reason. What else is crazy is that the steroid shot is best when used 24-48 hours before delivery. Aimee received the first steroid shot about 48 hours prior to this moment and the second, about 20 hours.

A Nurse came in to grab me and take me in to the OR. Aimee was laying down while the Doctors were already making their incisions. It was a scene from a movie as there were 5 NICU Doctors over to the left, two anesthesiologist to my right, and three other assistances working on different things. It was a packed house!!! I won't get in to the gory details of the tugging and pulling of the C-Section, but all I could do was rub Aimee's head, hold her hand and tell her I love her. She was shaking and nervous as I was too, just waiting for the moment when they would pull little Kayleigh out. All of a sudden, the Doctor reaches deep inside as the other assistance back up a little and pulls little Kayleigh in to this world. I have never seen anything more beautiful in my life and goodness gracious she is "tiny"! With a deep breath and no exhale, they rushed her over to the NICU table as several Doctors were scrambling to clear her passageways and get a tube in to her throat. All we could think about what her size and if they could fit a tube small enough in that tiny little throat of hers. I tried and tried to listen to see if I could hear anything they were saying, but they were all whispering behind their masks. Just then, the Doctor came over and told us they were able to get a tube small enough in and they have stabilized her. WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt really bad that Aimee couldn't see anything at all, but as they were taking the incubator out of the room and down to the NICU level, you could see this oversized pink beanie on this cute, 1 pound - 1 ounce (470gram) little baby girl. You could see her little hands waving up in the air (which were the size of my finger nail) when she passed by, as if she was waving to Mommy.

For the next couple months, she is going to be living at the NICU. The photo that is attached is when I was able to visit her at 6:30 this morning. She was on a breathing respirator, but showed signs of breathing on her own so they have taken her tube out already. Can you believe that? They say that the first couple days are great, but then things will get really bumpy along the way. All we ask is that you don't stop praying because we are a long way out of the woods. She has many hurdles to go, but we already know she is a fighter and will make it through anything.

Thank you all again for all your thoughts and prayers. Keep praying because there is no doubt that I have seen the work of God through this experience.

We will update you all on the progress and more pictures soon.

Love, Adam and Aimee