On December 22 we went in for my typical 20 week prenatal appointment. We were so excited to see our baby girl during the ultrasound. My pregnancy had been such a great pregnancy and it was only 20 more weeks before we would meet our baby girl-Kenley. During the ultrasound they noticed I had a condition in which I had a shortened cervix. They said it was still on the safe side but wanted to take measures to insure that it didn't get any worse so they immediately started me on progesterone in hopes that it would help the condition. The doctor told me to “enjoy” the next two weeks and follow up with him after the two weeks to check the progress of the progesterone.
January 5, Thursday, marked the two weeks and we went to see the Doctor hoping for good news. The Doctor was shocked to see that the progesterone had made my cervix grow, this was not a typical result. My cervix now measured 3.1 cm versus 2.5 cm in the prior weeks and was now well within normal ranges. He advise me to remain on the progesterone to be safe.
January 6, Friday, I woke up and was having sharp pains every so often. I had no idea what was going on. I called the nurse hotline to get some answers and/or advise. The pains were beginning to come more and more frequent so the nurse advised me to go to the clinic right away. Once at the clinic an ultrasound revealed my cervix was fully effaced and dilated to about 2cm. The cord was prolapsed and part of the amniotic sac had already passed through the cervix. I was rushed to Fairview Riverside hospital in ambulance and when I arrived my contractions were every six minutes. They gave me medicine to slow down contractions hoping to stop the labor. At this point it appeared delivery was imminent and we began considering our options. We met with neonatal team, the NICU team and deliver doctors to come up with a plan on how we were going to proceed. At this point we were told Kenley had about a 5% survival rate. With our decisions we had to weigh out all the different outcomes such as lung development, brain damage, and various other degrees of complications. The only chance would be with a steroid shot that came in 2 doses over the next 48 hours so we prayed Kenley would stay in that long. They stopped monitoring the babies vitals because if she were to be born in the next 48 hours the risks of severe complications was so high that they would not resuscitate her or do any "hero" procedures. She would be born naturally and we would have our time with her before she passed. By that night contractions had slowed down to about 1 per hour.
The next 48 hours I layed in bed trying to keep as still as possible in hopes I would not go into full labor. The nurses and Doctors checked on me every few hours with an did periodic ultrasounds. There was about 1/3 of the water around the baby and the rest was now past the cervix much like a water balloon. Kenley was transverse (laying side to side rather than head up or down) making it impossible to safely deliver her naturally. They found that she measured smaller than her gestational age so they were concerned if she was born a breathing tube would not fit. It was also determined that if the bag would rupture before or during labor they may not have enough time for an emergency C-section without cutting off her oxygen supply due to prolapsed umbilical cord.
January 6, Saturday, the amniotic sac had leaked. Thankfully the whole bag didn't rupture and there was enough fluid in the bag to keep pressure off of the umbilical cord. The babies condition was still stable and hourly contractions continued into Sunday.
January 8, Sunday, Doctors told me the medicine to stop contractions would no longer help and we needed to make some decisions. Doctors were worried that if I went into labor that Kenley would not survive a natural delivery. We decided it would be best to do a C-Section and take all the risks that may come along. Doctors brought me back at noon for the C-Section however there was a miscommunication between primary doctor and anesthesiologist. The primary Doctor didn't want me to go under anesthesia, for the reason that Kenley may not survive and she wanted me to be awake to spend the last few minutes with her. It was hard to wrap our minds around all of this and what we had been through the last few days. Emotions were high and we were so sad and scared. They decided to reschedule the C-Section for 4pm. In the meantime I started having contractions more often and her heartbeat was dropping while having them because the cord was being pinched and cutting off Kenley’s oxygen. The heartbeat was dropping so often they decided they couldn't risk having another contraction so we chose to do the C-Section immediately. I had a spinal epidural (numbs me from waist down so I could be fully awake. The procedure went well and lasted about 45 mins. So on January 8, 2017 at 22 weeks and 3 days our beautiful babygirl Kenley Rebecca Martinez was born at 4:01PM. She weighed a petite 14.5 ounces, and measured 9.5 inches long . Kenley’s breathing tube was inserted quickly without difficulty, and her heartbeat was strong throughout the entire procedure! We spend our days and nights at the hospital by Kenley’s side. She has been in critical but stable condition. We are praying and fighting every second of every day.
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