Happy Birthday, Mom!

My Mom has been a huge blessing in my life. I remember her having an incredible patience with all of us kids. If I had known as a child what I know now about the sacrifice and trials she went through to bring us into this world, I hope that I would have behaved differently. She had severe difficulties in getting each of us here, and still had FOUR of us! I think I would have quit sooner. Thank goodness she didn't give up, despite her doctor telling her she should stop having children after me. My Mom and Dad changed doctors at that point. I will let the one person that was by my mom's side, throughout this journey, share these experiences. I asked my Dad to send me a rough description of what Mom went through, and he tells it well:

Jimmy (my older brother) had complications, but minor, compared to the next three. Mom sensitized (developed antibodies to his blood) before he was born (that was the reason the Rhogam didn’t work). Jimmy had to spend some time under the bilirubin lights because he was jaundiced. After Jimmy, our doctors did not warn us that our next pregnancy would be high risk. We only found this out after Mom attended her first doctor appointment, after she became pregnant. Soon, Dr. Frances started doing amniocentesis procedures. It was at that time that I figured out that this was a job for a specialist. While doing the procedure, he broke out in a sweat. Our search led to the U of U where we met Dr. Scott, head OB. He was then doing research into spontaneous sensitization, which was what happened to Mom (blood was passed between Mom and Jimmy before he was born). Dr. Scott had contributed to research that resulted in mothers receiving the Rhogam shot before the baby is born.
Jenny -- We were living in Provo while I finished writing my Masters Thesis. We began going up to the U every week to do the amniocentesis with doctors there. We always went out to eat at Whataburger in SLC while we were there. (I think this is why I love eating at Whataburger now.) During those visits, the doctors figured out that Mom had a condition they called Vena Cava Syndrome. During the amnio, the syndrome caused mom to become faint. One thing that helped her is if I would fan her during the amnio. (She had to lay very still throughout the procedure. I think she told me that she prayed during this time, too, and it helped) The doctors figured out that they needed to wait until everything was ready to do the amnio before they had her lay on her back. Otherwise, her blood flow was restricted and she would pass out. When the results from the amnios suggested it was time to deliver, they scheduled us to come in for Mom to be induced. That was about 3 weeks before the actual due date, I believe. The labor was more difficult than the prior labor with Jimmy. As soon as Jenny came out, she was taken away and I followed. Mom didn’t get to see Jenny at that time. I reported back to Mom later that Jenny had Kim’s fingers – nice and long. The doctor that did most of the amnios for Jenny was ready, right after Jenny was born to schedule me for a vasectomy. He seemed to think it was automatic. Obviously, we had to think and pray hard to make a decision like what was suggested. Mom was not quite 24 years old at the time of Jenny’s birth.
(One miscarriage and SEVEN years later, my Mom was expecting another little girl.) We lived in Midland when Jamie was born in 1985 and Mom had just turned 31 years old. When Mom conceived, we started our research to find out where to go. We concluded that Texas Tech was the place; the hospital was in Lubbock. Now, the trips for the amnios were longer. We had to travel about 120 miles each time. Jamie was scheduled to be delivered early also. From the outset, we explained that they would have to deal with the Vena Cava Syndrome. Mom had to have Jamie both ways (normal and C-section), almost. Mom was induced when the time came but one of the nurses noticed that with each contraction, the baby’s heart rate decreased. After the doctors consulted, they decided that it would be too stressful on the baby to have her naturally, and they began to prepare for a C-section. They didn’t know what the problem was. When she was delivered, however, they figured out that something went wrong with the placenta and Jamie’s blood had been almost completely drained out. (I remember that Jimmy, and I were yellow babies, and Jamie was called the "white" baby.)
Johnny – This was the pregnancy where Mom suffered the most. The doctors that would be required to help Johnny were 500 miles away, in Houston. Texas Children's Hospital was the only facility in the whole US that was doing intrauterine transfusions. Because of the increasing problems with each child, the blood would have to be transfused before he was born. It was a tricky procedure then. I don’t know how common it is now. Mom had severe water retention with Johnny – she gained 40 pounds. Our doctor in Midland was consulting with the Houston doctors regularly and on our last visit to him, after he saw the results, they agreed that we need to get to Houston immediately (this was at approximately 29 weeks gestation). Grandad (my Dad's Dad, who is an airplane pilot) was allowed to borrow Roger Canter’s bonanza and we took off for Houston within just an hour or two. It was a hard ride for Mom. The air was very bumpy, she was swollen from the water retention, and she was frightened about what was next. The intrauterine transfusions have a tendency to cause moms to start labor. This was the case with Mom. They kept giving her drugs to stop the contractions but they were losing the battle. We were in the hospital about 10 days before delivery. Mom had to spend most of the time in bed. She got pneumonia during this time. Some of the drugs caused her legs to shake uncontrollably. The doctors were still trying to stop the labor and prolong Johnny’s stay in the uterus. It was about 3:00 am on the 17th of December that the doctors were preparing Mom for another transfusion when the baby’s heart stopped. She was not properly sedated for surgery but the doctors performed an emergency C-section. I estimated that from the time the baby’s heart stopped until he was delivered was about 45 seconds. Interestingly, the surgical scar from that C-section is crooked. The doctors were concentrating on performance, not esthetics, at that time. (If I'm remembering right, Johnny got the "blue baby" title).

Today, all four of us are still here and turned out just peachy (in color, that is). Aside from my and Johnny's hearing loss, we have pretty much lead normal lives (although our friends and loved ones might disagree). Since then, the family has grown a little. I am so grateful for my Mom's faith that she could do it, and that she needed to have each of us, despite the difficulties she and Dad went through.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I love you!

Happy Birthday, Dear Mom...

Mom was a good sport about putting on the Birthday Hat.

I had to throw this one in... Do you think any of this French Silk Pie got in his mouth?