Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Cholestasis and God's Grace

Monday I updated the status on my Facebook page to say, "God's grace is not sufficient. God's grace is overly and abundantly awesome! Dave and I will be meeting our baby boy in just a week!"

On Thurs. Nov. 29, I got a major surprise.  After the Thanksgiving Weekend of Horrible-ness, I woke up in the middle of Sunday night/Monday morning with the palms of my hands itching.  I contributed it to an adverse reaction to the Bug, until the itching spread.  Head to toe.  I felt like a drug addict going through withdrawls, and probably looked like it too considering the circles under my eyes.  I was waking Dave up in the middle of the night with my scratching.  But there wasn't any rash.  Since I had a Drs. appt. that Thurs. I just decided to wait it out until then.  So when I told my Dr. about the itching, she said that it sounded like cholestasis, they were bumping my induction from Dec. 31 to Dec. 17 and I would be seeing a specialist the next morning.  Wow.  That was a lot to process in just a few short minutes.  I know I had a shocked look on my face because she said something to the effect of, "Look at me, I'm not excited.  Not excited is good, this isn't anything bad."  I was shocked because all of a sudden, there were two weeks that I thought I had to prepare for our little Dumplin' that I no longer had!  And on top of that, I really haven't nested.  So since then I've been nesting out of necessity.  On top of finishing Christmas stuff.  Hallelujah for online shopping! 

So to explain the cholestasis in what little terms I know.  I knew the word from Med Tech school and knew it had something to do with either my gallbladder or liver.  Couldn't remember which one.  But I had also been told by my Dr. not to go looking it up because I'd find a ton of things that would just scare me to death.  I looked it up a little just to refresh my memory because it would drive me crazy otherwise.  From what I understand, my pregnancy hormones are keeping my gallbladder from moving bile like it should and that's causing bile acids to build up in my body which is what is making me itch like crazy.  There's about 1 in 1000 cases in pregnant women, and it ususally isn't a big deal, until after 37 weeks.  Then the bile acids can start causing problems for the baby. 

This was all discovered at 35 weeks.  So now I've seen the specialist 3 times and will see them one more time before I'm induced.  Once for lab work, an ultrasound to make sure Josiah's growing right and to put me on some medicine to bind the bile acids up (helped the itching tremendously!).  Found out then that Punkin' Head already weighed 6 lbs 5 oz then.  Big babies run in both our families.  Once for another ultrasound.  Once for a non stress test in which Josiah got the "Good Baby of the Day" award.  He kicked so hard a couple of times that the heart rate monitor got knocked out of place and lost his heartbeat for a bit before he settled back down.  And the last appt. will probably be for another ultrasound.  I'll know Friday from my regular Dr. whether or not I'll need to go to the hospital Sunday night or Monday morning. 

I have hit the jackpot!

We ran into some trouble with our insurance.  We have a high deductible, but anything after our deductible is covered 100%.  At least this past year.  So we put our deductible away in an FSA because we knew we'd have to be paid up before the end of the year on our baby.  Except the Drs. office can't file the insurance claim until Josiah actually gets here, and the FSA won't pay us back until the claim is filed.  If he came after the end of the year, we would lose all that money in the FSA.  Plus after the end of the year, our insurance benefits are going down thanks to the Affordable Heathcare Act (I do agree that something needs to be done about the costs of healthcare, but I don't think this is the way to do it, that's another story...).  So even if Josiah got here before the end of the year, if we were still in the hospital after the beginning of next year, we'd still have a good chunk of change to pay out.  Dave did the math and it would be the difference between paying no more than what we already have this year, or paying $11,000 next year. 

Plus you saw that at 35 weeks he was weighing in at about 6lbs 5 oz.  After doing some extrapolating, he would weigh between 9.5 and 10 lbs if he came at 40 weeks.  I know women have big babies like that all the time, but that doesn't mean they want to.  And, I'm kinda on the small side. 

That's where God's Grace took over.

I always knew he'd take care of us.  If we had to pay the money, he'd provide a way.  Things might be tight, but He'd get us through.  If I had to have a 10 pounder, He'd help me through it.  If I had to miss Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, He'd make next year's that much more special.  But I never imagined He would do what He did for us.

Now that I'm being induced on the 17th of Dec, as long as things are normal (even if I need a C-section), we'll be out of the hospital several days before Christmas.  Which means I'll get to do at least some Christmas festivities.  And which means we'll be home before the end of the year!  We shouldn't have to pay anymore than what we already have.  And extrapolating again, Josiah should only be between 7 and 8 lbs.  And then, on top of all that, He provided for us in a way that we hadn't even really asked or worried about.  Dave got more fire fighting money this year than he though he would.  And with a new baby, more money is always a useful thing. 

Sufficient to me means enough.  Just enough.  A sufficient Christmas present for my 4 year old little cousin is a Hello Kitty t-shirt.  And she would love that.  But I want to give her over and above that.  A Hello Kitty game, coloring book, hairbows.  If we had the money, everything Hello Kitty I could get my hands on.  I can imagine the delight in her eyes, and even though she won't love me less for not giving her the whole Sanrio store, I can imagine the hug that she would give me if I did.  I think that's the way God is.  I think that even though we ask for small things, He delights in giving us over and above what we ask for.  More than we can imagine He would do for us.  And because He's God, He can give us the whole Sanrio store. 

So by God's Grace, I have a pregnancy complication that is making my baby come 3 weeks early.  And I'm not even worried about any health issues either Josiah or I might have.  God has taken such great care of me so far, why would He do anything less in the days to come?   

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