Mexican Baby

Okie Doke.  I have attempted to write a blog a few times...but it never comes out right.  Or I try to write too much at once.  Or I get upset.  Etc.  Etc.  Etc.  So here it is:

For those of you who don't know, I ended up having my baby girl two months early while in Mexico (see previous post about the Mexico trip).  That is her above -  Maddalyn Vera.  We arrived in Mexico on 7/29.  I had her on 7/31 (still in Mexico).  On 8/8, we came back to the states on a private med flight jet - two pilots, three person neonatal team, Maddie, Joe, and me, flying into Atlanta.  Upon arrival, we went to what is probably the best children's hospital in Atlanta, where Maddie is currently.  She is doing well - very stable.  Basically, we're just waiting for her to grow a bit more and for her little body to mature enough to sustain itself away from a hospital.  Getting closer and closer.  And how did we get here....

By that  first evening in Mexico (Friday, 7/29) I had a lot of cramping.  Late that night and into the wee hours of the next morning, that "cramping" started to occur at regular intervals.  Like just a couple minutes apart.  Up to that point I'd been thinking I was just a bit dehydrated and had been lying on my left side and drinking a ton of water.  The final straw was having a little bit of bleeding.  I told Joe it was time to go to the hospital, and after a brief pow wow with the resort night manager and the resort doctor (who thought I had GI issues that were triggering some uterine activity - uh no), we were on our way to a private Mexican hospital, Hospiten.

During the car ride, I never dreamed I would soon be having my baby.  I guess I didn't really know what to think.  More than anything, I was just scared that Maddie wasn't okay.  Luckily at one point our driver decided to pull up a picture of an alligator he'd seen a few weeks prior on the road we were driving on.  He pulled the pic up on his cell phone....while driving...at night...in Mexico.  That in itself was kind of scary, but I think it adds to the flavor of the story, no?  And for just a second it took our minds off the issue at hand.

After we arrived to Hospiten, we got set up in the ER (the resort doc had let them know we'd be coming).  The ER doc, who was good looking and thankfully spoke English, confirmed that I was having contractions.  I got hooked up to monitors to check me and the baby, and we spent a restless night in the ER with intermittent sleep and trying to get our insurance worked out.  The hospital didn't take Tricare, but it took one of Tricare's sister insurance programs, International SOS.  Luckily, they agreed to cover us, so we didn't have to switch hospitals, but it took Joe multiple phone calls and until well after sun up to get all that worked out.  Once it was squared away, I was admitted to the hospital.

While I waited for my room to be ready, I met the gynecologist...who didn't speak English, and I really don't remember what all he said (via translation).  Something about how I'd be checked later and have ultrasounds.  Just before I was to go up to my room, I got wheeled to the bathroom by a nurse named Sergio so I could pee.  And that's when the mega bleeding started.  From my underwear to the toilet, I was near hysterical at the sight. I remember ripping open the bathroom door, pulling Sergio in and through near sobs, showing him everything.  In his broken English, he kept telling me everything was okay.  I got back into my wheel chair, and while I cried, Sergio pushed me up to my room, Joe by my side trying to suppress his own fear.


[It's late, so I need to stop here for the night.  Joe's taking the computer back to Columbus tomorrow (he has to go back to work), so I'm not sure when I'll get to resume our little story.  I'll be staying here in Atlanta...hopefully to be heading home SOON.]