10-17 to 10-23 Cerclage

When Kenzie's water broke it was obvious that her amniotic sack had been infected. After her delivery the Dr's. clamped her cord and left her placenta intact. Removing her placenta would have put me into labor. We were very fearful about the infection and I was given two new IV antibiotics. It was a very difficult time for me. It was very hard to grieve for Kenzie when there was a constant influx of Dr's. and nurses. It was also a painful time for Shawn as his family was very distant. I fought hard to stay positive for Pat and Abby. It was particularly painful when family, friends, and even staff began to refer to Pat and Abby as twins. But I do have a few good memories from that week. My Grandfather came to visit me the day after we lost Kenzie. Because he was traveling he didn't learn of Kenzie's death until he arrived. His coming was a surprise for me. I think he got the bigger surprise. He didn't say much but I know he understands. He lost a son at birth, he would never talk about it. But I find comfort in his knowing. Right after he arrived I was visited by my Aunt K and cousins J and A. While we were visiting the ultrasound arrived. They would bring the whole machine to my room as I was still in bed on my head. The ultrasound technician was great and let my family stay to watch. So my dear Grandfather who had never seen an ultrasound before got to see Pat and Abby in action. She was fantastic she still called Abby baby B and Patrick baby C. Aunt K and my cousins were amazed to see Pat and Abby interact with each other. I only wish they had seen all three. Abby loved to jump on Kenzie. Poor little Kenzie always had her hands up above her like she was trying to push them away. Pat was always pretty quiet, as if to say here they go again. I wonder if they would have been like that outside of the womb. I like to picture Abby picking on Kenzie with Patrick off to the side rolling his eyes. At that same ultrasound we could see Abby's head bouncing up and down. For a moment we thought she had the hiccups. But she had her head resting on my aorta and her head was bouncing in tune with my heart beat. It was the only time we ever saw her hold still during an ultrasound. I like to think that my heart beat calmed her. The majority of the week was spent watching and waiting for the infection to spread. Dr. M finally decided that if I wasn't showing any sings of infection by Thursday the 23rd that they would clean Kenzie's remaining cord push it back through my cervix and put in a cerclage. Well the 23rd arrived with my blood counts looking great. So I had the cerclage that afternoon. They tried to keep me awake for the surgery but I was feeling way to much. So after I woke up they told me that Kenzie's cord had retracted sometime before the surgery. Which was worrisome because it could have taken bacteria into my uterus. With the cerclage in place I was allowed to lay flat. Its hard enough eating while laying down but laying flat really helps. That night I began to have some contractions. They stopped the contractions quickly with Terbutiline. I was told the contractions were a reaction to the cerclage. Little did we know that it was really the beginning of the end.