The beginning

March 2nd I found out I was pregnant. We were trying for one more baby. We were really excited. We thought maybe this time a boy.

My pregnancy was progressing along nicely so I thought… My 4th month u/s showed my placenta was forming over my cervix. I was put on “light” bed rest. I could do a few things like those drated dishes. But, no heavy lifting or lots of standing. Well, I did what I was told.

I was having u/s’s weekly. I found out that I had complete placenta previa. So, I went on strict bed rest. This meant only up to go to the bathroom. Yeah, right, I have four kids, one of them a toddler. I rested as much as I could.

School started August 23rd, I started bleeding the early morning of August 24th. I went straight to the hospital. They kept me for a few hours, and then sent me home. I went home and took a nap. I woke up bleeding again. Back I went to the hospital. This time, they kept me.

I was to find out in the morning what they had in store for me. They decided to send me to another hospital. One that was better equipped to handle my “situation.” I was so scared, I handle everything with humor, the more scared I get, the more jokes I start spewing from my mouth. The doctor that was on call of the 3 that I saw had no sense of humor. Absolutely none. I don’t think he even knew how to smile much less laugh.
So, I am joking and cracking jokes and he is trying to explain how serious my condition is. I think I mouthed something like, oh yeah, trying to get rid of me are you? That isn’t a very nice thing to do. Think of all the money you’ll be out. The whole time I am trying to figure out what to do with my kids. I was Booster President at their school, oh my God, help me. How are they going to get to school? When will I see them? I am going so far away. Oh God, please help me. These thoughts were going through my head so fast I was literally getting dizzy. But, I gave myself a mental smack and got myself together enough to hear something about Care-flight. I started to come undone again, but, I stopped myself. I told Dr. Dude that under no circumstances were they putting me in a helicopter. That would cause me to have a heart attack and that would NOT be good for anyone. So, they decided that an ambulance was a better decision
Waiting on that ambulance was pure hell. I was trying to love on my almost 2 year old Mikayla with everything I had. She had never been w/o me, and I had no clue how long I was going to be in the hospital. They were talking months. I still had almost 4 months to go. They finally got there and I wished that they would’ve taken longer. Like maybe 4 months longer. That wasn’t going to happen. They transferred me over to the stretcher, and I am not going to lie, I am a big girl and well, skinny people trying to lift me scare me. They got me over there with no accidents or spillage and I was still holding on to Mikayla with all that I had. I didn’t want to let go. My other children were in school and were going to get a rude awakening when they got home and found out that mommy was not going to be there. I finally let Mikayla go and while choking back tears because I didn’t want her to see me crying because I wanted her to know that everything was going to be alright I started my journey. I had to go to a hospital 40 minutes away. The ride took forever. The whole time they are checking all of my vitals and the babies and I am looking out of the back window amazed at how everything looks weird and different when you are looking backwards. And I also kept telling the ambulance driver which way to go and how to drive. I think either I was comic relief or, they were ecstatic when they finally unloaded me. I’ll never know but, they got me there safely and in one piece and for that I am eternally grateful.
When they got me up to the room, I was really scared. They started getting every minute detail out of me. A lot of it I didn’t know and they had to run more tests. And I had absolutely no one there that I knew. No family, nothing. I was alone. So, I prayed. I asked God to get me through this and to save my baby and keep him in until he thought that he was ready to come. God knows the right time. He knows what he is doing after all HE created all. I put all of my faith and trust in that. After all of the evaluations and the blood test. Oh yeah, did I mention I faint at the sight of blood and blood test? Yep, I sure do and they did numerous blood tests on me. I could count on the fact that at 4 am every morning my little vampire lady would be there ready to get more out of me.
But, back to what I was saying. After all the tests they put me on strict bed rest which meant a catheter. And a liquid diet. Did I mention I am a big girl? They took my food. Well, I was going through this roller coaster of emotions. It was one of the scariest moments in my life going through this. I mean, you read about things and you think oh yeah, in the hospital. I can get some rest and away from these kids. But, you never take into account the emotions and that you go to and the worry and the reason you would have to be in there. Well, it hit me with full force. I won’t bore you with all details, but, I kept getting moved back and forth from the intensive care unit to a regular room. The last time. I was asleep and woke up to a lot of bleeding I called the nurse in and I wasn’t really scared at first because during my stay I had had a lot of bleeding going on and they said that it was ok. The norm was they were able to stop it. This time, they couldn’t. I got scared when I heard emergency c-section within the next ½ hour or we aren’t saving either of them. That is the precise moment I freaked. It was 9:17pm. I had no idea who to call or how I could get someone up there in time I called my Sister in law. My nephew answered the phone and I do believe I yelled at the poor boy. I don’t remember it but, I talked to her and they were up there in a matter of minutes. My husband pulled in to the parking garage at the moment that Johnathan was born. We kept the ticket. Talk about making good time.
Johnathan Thomas Michael Poling was born at 9:44 p.m. Weighing in at a whopping 1lb 15 1\2 oz. and 13 ¼ inches long. He was the length of a Barbie doll to give you some perspective on how little he was.