Tuesday, February 19, 2008

My sister Danielle

This is my sweet sister Danielle. She has two darling little girls: Talise (7) and Renee (4). For years now they have been trying to have more children, but for years were unsuccessful. This last Fall they began the journey into the world of IVF. With incredible success (and a little divine intervention!) they were able to get pregnant with their third little girl.

On Saturday Danielle was admitted to the hospital. She began to hemorrhage in the night and didn't know until she stood up the next morning that she had been bleeding. Early on in this pregnancy, she was told that she had a condition known as placenta previa. This means that the placenta is covering a part or all of the cervical opening. In her case, it is a full placenta previa. And, were she to dilate at all, the placenta would tear away from the uterine lining enough to cause heavy bleeding. Knowing this, the plan has been to take the baby via c-section at 37 weeks before her body might go into labor on it's own.

To make a really long story short: Danielle was having some strong Braxton-Hicks contraction this last week--strong enough to start dilating the cervix. She was rushed to the hospital (labor and delivery) where they admitted her, did an ultrasound, and ran several labs. The blood loss wasn't too significant to affect either her or the baby, and the babe is doing well. Unfortunately, because Danielle has already started dilating, she will most likely have to remain in the hospital until the baby is born. Since Danielle is only 23 weeks along, we are hopeful that the baby can wait for at least 8 more weeks. According to the high risk maternity team, 31 weeks gestation is ideally the earliest they would want the baby to come. However, the NICU attending came to speak with Dan and Danielle and told them that the earliest this baby could be born and still have a fighting change would be at 27 weeks. Obviously, we are hoping for more than a fighting chance! This is going to be a long several months for my sister and her family. We feel really blessed that everything is alright with the baby and things outside of the hospital are going smoothly so far. Luckily, My mom lives a few miles away and Dan and Danielle have a wonderful supportive network of friends who have stepped in to help lighten the load.

If you remember, please keep them in your prayers. I'll keep you posted if there are any new updates.

7 comments:

Kristy said...

I am so sorry to hear this! My mom spent 8 weeks in the hospital before having Kylie...not terribly fun, but she survived the boredom (note: the 8 weeks my mom suffered did not make Kylie anymore appreciative of her mother than the average child). Our prayers are with her!

The Dunne Family said...

I hope all goes well with Danielle and her baby. My best wishes to her husband and two little girls. we will be honored to keep her close to our hearts and in our prayers.

Julianne said...

UGGG. Are you serious? That's terrible. I'm so sorry. She will be in my prayers, along with her family.

Catie said...

Jen, I will definitely keep Danielle in my prayers. Now that I'm much more familiar with the world of premies, it is really amazing how strong small babies are, and medical technology has advanced so much, it's amazing. The baby and Danielle are in our prayers.

Jeje said...

I'll pray for her. I hope all is well with the baby!

Linsey de Guzman said...

So sorry to hear this. Danielle and baby are in our prayers!

April said...

Danielle is so sweet. I hope her body and the baby can hang in there for the next several weeks. We will keep her in our prayers. I was relieved to here that after admitting her to the hospital the baby and Danielle were still okay.
Keep us updated.