Monday, October 01, 2007

A short recap...

After we heard today that Anita is going to be fine, it might be the right time for a short recap of what happened last weekend…

Wednesday night, Anita was having a lot of pain in he chest and was feeling very bad. The next day (Thursday) she had an earlier scheduled appointment with the doctor who decided to keep her in the hospital for observation because of higher liver enzyme values in the blood he drew from her that day. The next day (Friday), blood results were looking fine again and as Anita was feeling well, she was allowed to leave the hospital and go home.

Saturday morning Anita woke up with a lot of pain in her chest and back again. As the pain was really bad she called for her doctor who advised her to go see him in the hospital, where we arrived at around 11:30 AM. As earlier taken urine samples showed no reasons for concern regarding blood poisoning, our doctor asked another specialist for a second opinion and drew more blood from Anita in the meantime. Also, Anita received drugs to help her deal with her pain.

The other specialist was pretty clear in his diagnosis: Anita’s complaints were most probably caused by HELLP syndrome. When you google HELLP, you will see that this not very common syndrome is a form of blood poisoning that can cause serious risks for mother and child.

In the meantime the results of the blood samples arrived and showed increased liver enzyme values again. It was decided that Anita should stay in the hospital for further observation. More blood was drawn for further testing.

When the new blood test results, showing further increased enzyme values, arrived at the beginning of the evening, things started to go really fast. The doctor was called back to the hospital and Anita was prepared for an early delivery of the baby. This delivery was necessary in order to save mother and child.

At 21:55 our Nina was born in an operation room. 2 months early.

Unfortunately, Anita was not able to enjoy her newborn daughter as her blood continued to deteriorate. The combination of a high blood pressure and worsening conditions of her blood were causing serious risks for complications which could be life threatening.

On Sunday afternoon Anita’s blood values deteriorated so much that it was decided to give her a blood transfusion. Sunday evening we heard that the transfusion was successful and had a positive effect on Anita’s blood quality.

After the transfusion Anita’s blood continued to improve and today (Monday), the doctor told us that the critical phase was over and that Anita should be fine again.

Nina will have to stay in the hospital for at least another 4 weeks to grow and get stronger. Looking back on the last 72 hours, this seems like a small offer.

This morning, Anita was able to see and hold our Nina for the first time…

It is an understatement to say that I'm the happiest man on this planet.









4 comments:

Unknown said...

Lieve Stas & Anita,

Wat een schrik toen we (Jeroen) er via de hyves per toeval achter kwamen dat jullie dochter al geboren was. Uiteraard een mooie en bijzondere gebeurtenis maar veel te vroeg en met een groot gevaar voor Anita! Maar ondanks deze start, van harte gefeliciteerd.
Ik heb van Marysia begrepen dat Anita weer ok is en naar huis mag!
We hebben net de foto's bekeken. Van alles komt er weer naar boven want wat zijn de foto's herkenbaar. Ik hoop dat jullie genieten van de momenten dat jullie bij haar zijn. Geniet ook van het buidelen, want dat is zo prettig en ontspannen (wij hadden een hele relaxte tuinstoel die in de ligstand kon). Veel sterkte en kracht toegewenst.
Ook nog van harte gefeliciteerd met jullie kers-verse nichtje!!

Heel veel liefs van,
Jeroen, Saskia en Thomas

Yoon said...

Goed om te horen dat het allemaal al weer wat beter gaat!!

En dan grijp ik bij deze ook de kans om jullie te feliciteren met de geboorte van Sophie! Hoe meer familie C, hoe beter... ;-)

Veel sterkte en ik bel later deze week nog wel even!

Groet,
Yoon

Iza&Marcin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Iza&Marcin said...

Witajcie Kochani! Kilka slow po Polsku... Znalazlam w koncu adres Waszego blogga... Przyjmijcie nasze serdeczne gratulacje!!! Ja tez urodzilam sie 29 wrzesnia, wiec tym bardziej sie ciesze!!! Nina jest cudowna!!! Zyczymy Wam zdrowka i samych radosci. Moc buziakow dla Calej "3".