Things were going really well for the most part. I had the morning sickness but felt fine throughout my pregnancy other than that. I was emergency hired during this last semester of student teaching. I took over a 6th grade Language Arts class at O'Leary Middle School and was so excited with the way things were working out. Between getting everything done for my classroom and everything done for ISU, it was pretty hectic but was pulling together nicely. I told Chase that everything was too perfect and something big was going to happen. Little did I know it would be sooner than later.
We had an ultrasound for our gender set up originally for the 17th of October. However, due to having parent teacher conferences I had to move it to the 26th of October. Little did I know this was a blessing in disguise. The doctor later told us if we had come in on the 17th they probably wouldn't have caught what they did. We went in for our gender ultrasound on the 26th and were beyond excited to find out what we would be having. During the ultrasound they do a full anatomy scan of baby and check me out too. When we heard boy, Chase threw up his arms and yelled, TOUCHDOWN! I laughed and we were both so beyond happy to have a little boy joining our family. The ultrasound tech continued to check things out when she told me that she would be back and needed to get the doctor. That was the moment I knew something was really wrong.
Our doctor came in, confirmed, and told us that my cervix was open and I was dilated 1.5 cm. Everything after that was pretty much a blur. We had literally gone from the happiest moment in our lives to a dreaded moment. So many emotions began to appear between the both of us. They wheeled us into labor and delivery where they put me on lots of monitors. I kept getting asked over and over if I felt any contractions. I told them over and over that I was not and felt fine. The doctor came in and told us that as long as I didn't have any contractions in the next twenty-four hours they would be flying me to Boise to meet with the high-risk doctors. During that time we were calling family and updating everyone on what was going on. My grandpa Gale Lim had happened to be in Twin Falls that day and was able to come over and help Chase give me a blessing. I was so thankful and blessed he happened to be in Twin and it was such a comfort to have him there to help us and bless us.
The next day they loaded me up in the helicopter and sent me to Boise. Chase wasn't allowed to ride with me and had to drive the two hours to Boise by himself. The helicopter ride wasn't too horrible. It was more of being strapped down and in a tight space that bothered me. When I got to Boise they set us up in the antepartum department and I waited by myself until Chase showed up. We were so scared and so unsure of what to expect. The high risk doctor, Dr. Blea, came in to give us our options and talk with us about what would happen now. The first three options all guaranteed that we would lose our baby. The final option gave us a 50/50 chance of saving our son. There is nothing more terrifying and overwhelming knowing that as a parent we could lose our child. We opted for the surgery of course to give him the best fighting chance. With this surgery the doctor would go in and push up the baby with a balloon-like catheter, he would then do a cerclage stitch and sew up my cervix. During the surgery there was a chance that he could break the water sac and send me into labor and we'd have our baby during the surgery. There were major risks but there was also hope.
The next day I was up early and prepped for surgery. The night before my mom had shown up and also our brother Ben. They were both amazing comfort to have for Chase and me. As they prepped me for surgery, they told me I would be awake during the surgery, and that's when I lost it. How could I be awake and listen to these doctors during this surgery? Knowing at any moment things could go wrong and I would birth our 21-week old baby. My mom asked if I could listen to music and they allowed it. I was now prepped and ready to go. Chase headed to the waiting room with my mom and Ben, and I headed into the OR. I listened to my mom's playlist during the surgery, it was full of Bon Jovi, Boston, Poison, and others of the same. Her music definitely kept my mind off of what was going on. I cried during the entire procedure, I"m not afraid to admit it, I've never felt so scared in my life. The anesthesiologist was so sweet and kept patting my shoulder and wiping away my tears. The surgery took about a half hour, but in no time my legs were lowered and I was being wheeled into recovery. The doctor came to talk to Chase and I and told us that we were a 9/10 on the difficulty level. He was able to get only one stitch in but was confident it would at least give us a few more weeks of keeping our baby in and cooking.
We spent another two days in the hospital recovering. By the time they released us we were definitely ready to head home. I was told that I would be on bed rest, as to not put any added pressure on my cervix. I would also be seeing our doctor in Twin once a week to make sure the stitch was holding and everything was checking out fine. Unfortunately, this meant that I would be getting a long-term substitute for my classroom I had only been teaching in for a month. Bed rest was not going to be fun, but it would be worth it to keep our son growing. During bed rest I had lots of visitors and phone calls to keep me from going crazy. I also stayed busy doing weeks of sub plans and grading papers from home. Chase, of course, was amazing in helping me. He would come home at lunch to check on me and take out the dog. He would do all the chores and help me in any way he could. He was so fantastic and I honestly don't know what I would do without him. I was able to get out of the house here and there as long as I was taking it easy. During bed rest we had another trial when Chase lost his mom on Thanksgiving. We were definitely dealing with our fair share of trials. We were learning so much about ourselves and each other. We were becoming closer and relying on our Heavenly Father to help carry us through all of this. After Thanksgiving and funerals and such, things were going really well. We were so blessed the cerclage was holding and our baby was growing. We knew things could change at any moment, but we definitely weren't ready for how fast it all did change.
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