Surprise! | Northwest Arkansas Lifestyle Photographer

Wow. So much has happened in the last few weeks. Where to start? Well, my maternity leave was supposed to start on the first of November, but I still had a few loose ends to tie up. In fact, I even had a session on the 4th that I squeezed in for a wonderful senior girl at the last minute. (I'll be showing her sneak peek later today. :) ) I remember her asking about the pregnancy and I joked about how ready I was for the baby to be born. Typical banter for a pregnant momma at 35 weeks, right? It's not the most comfortable of situations by that point, but if I would have realized how close I was to not being pregnant anymore, I'm not so sure I would have been joking about it!

The next day I had a routine appointment with my doctor as well as an ultrasound to check on the baby's growth one last time before the home stretch to delivery. I have to have c-sections and my doctor likes to make sure that my babies are all looking good since they are taken at 39 weeks. I'm so glad that he does this!  The ultrasound showed that my amniotic fluid levels were really low.  Also, we discovered my blood pressure was very high and still climbing.  I was starting to show signs of preeclampsia.  Again.   I suffered through that with my first pregnancy and ended up having major complications as well. I knew how serious this could be, but I was only 35 weeks!  Towards the end of the pregnancy when I started to get really swollen, I told John at one point that I felt like I was starting to look like I did when I was pregnant with my son.   The thought that I might end up with preeclampsia again was a vague concern for me, but never did I think that I might end up with a preemie because of it.

I was sent to the hospital to be monitored and was told that it wasn't known yet if a delivery would be that day, the next, or the following week, but there was no way I was going full term. After many hours on the monitor (all on my left side, too, ouch!!) it was decided that I'd have another ultrasound the next morning to check the fluid levels. If they were high enough, I would be sent home on strict bed rest to try and make it to 37 weeks. If they were not adequate, we would be having a baby that day. This plan, by the way, was formed about five that evening and I was starving!! See, I woke up late that morning and didn't have a chance to eat breakfast before my morning doctor's appointment. Since there was a chance that I would have to go into surgery, they wouldn't let me eat anything all day until a game plan was established. Oh, it was a long, hungry day. I've never been so happy to see food!

The next morning the ultrasound showed that my fluid levels had actually dropped in the night. I was having a baby that day. Five weeks early. It was pretty shocking. I tried not to think about the bad things that could occur with an early baby. Besides, 35 weeks was a lot better than 30 weeks! Things could always be worse, right?

Aryah (Uh-rye-uh) was born on the 6th on November and weighed four pounds and thirteen ounces. She was able to breathe on her own and never required help to maintain her temperature. We were so lucky. She did have some problems with eating the first few days. She would get tired very quickly and wasn't getting enough calories, so she had to have an NG tube, but even that obstacle was taken care of within days. I admitted into the hospital on a Thursday, discharged on the following Monday, but stayed in the hospital with Aryah until her discharge on that Wednesday. They let us take her home weighing only four pounds and nine ounces. She was soo itty bitty.

She is now two weeks old and weighs a whopping five pounds! Still itty bitty. Still very precious. Here is a snapshot that her daddy took of her while we were in the hospital.



We are taking her official portraits tomorrow since John has the weekend off and can help out. :)