From momo's to parents!

Wednesday evening, Ana and I went to eat some momo's at Everest on Grand. It was a beautiful night eating outside and we talked about our upcoming trip to Seattle and all of the places we were going to stay...

At 1 AM on Thursday, Ana awoke with a slight discomfort in her chest. She told me that she was going to try to sleep on the couch because she was unable to get back to sleep in bed. After listening to Ana rummage around the house I went out to see if I could help. I gave her a back rub and it seemed to relieve her shoulder pain a little.

Soon after, Ana returned to the bedroom. She had taken her blood pressure and it was 175/115 mmHg. After a short discussion we hopped into the new Subaru to go to the emergency room. In the back of my mind I thought, this is good practice for when our baby arrives. Little did I know.

We arrived at the ER in Methodist Hospital at 3:00 AM. The nice lady at the check-in desk told us we should go to the Family Birth Center. Our tour of the Family Birth Center was scheduled for September 20th, so we had no idea where to go. After navigating the long hallways we arrived at the Family Birth Center and we were given a room. The first nurse stopped by and Ana described her pain. They collected a urine sample to check for protein and ordered some blood work. I mean while was reading a competing risk statistical methods paper in the corner for a meeting in the morning. Little did I know.

After three hours of waiting and one GI cocktail, the attending OBGYN stopped by to give us the news. The good news was Ana didn't have protein in her urine. The bad news was her platelet count was low and her liver enzymes were really high. Based on her blood pressure, her platelet count, and her liver enzymes, she was classified as having severe pre-eclampsia. The doctor informed us that they would transfer us to Abbot-Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis because Ana was only 29 weeks and 3 days pregnant. Abbott is connected to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis and is renowned for their care. What we thought was going to be a meeting to let us go home turned into a very somber moment.

They gave Ana a steroid shot right away to try to help the babies lungs develop further. They also started her on magnesium-sulfate to prevent seizures. Soon the paramedics arrived and I ran to the Subaru a crying mess.

Somehow I managed to make it to Abbott without getting a speeding ticket. I parked the car, wiped the tears and ran to the 6th floor. The paramedics weren't there yet.

I found out where Ana would be admitted and waited nearby. Soon Ana and the paramedics arrived and the nurses at Abbott jumped into action. They ordered more blood work and made Ana as comfortable as they could. I continued to make phone calls to family and friends. Our parents were on their way to Abbott and I was hoping for the best. It all seemed so surreal.

When the results of the blood work came back from the lab, we were informed by the doctor that they had not stabilized like they had hoped. The doctor told us that Ana had HELLP. According to Wikipedia:

HELLP syndrome is a life-threatening obstetric complication usually considered to be a variant of pre-eclampsia. Both conditions usually occur during the later stages of pregnancy, or sometimes after childbirth.

HELLP is an abbreviation of the main findings:^[1]

• Hemolytic anemia
• Elevated Liver enzymes and
• Low Platelet count

Now I was really in shock. The doctor also informed us that the only known cure for HELLP is delivery and that they wanted to perform a c-section as soon as possible. Without delivery, Ana was at risk for seizures, liver failure, and other complications. As the doctor at Methodist told us, our birth plan was about to change.

Ideally, the doctors would have liked to wait at least 48 hours to deliver so the steroids can help the babies lungs develop, but we were out of time. After some preparatory work, Ana was taken into the surgical room. I soon followed and we both waited together on the less intense side of the curtain. We held hands and shortly little Baby Menk was heard crying as she was whisked away to the adjacent room. They took care of her right away.

After they had completed what they needed to complete on little Baby Menk, I was invited into the other room and took some photos and smiled as I saw our wee little daughter. I think I felt shock, stress, awe, and complete amazement in one moment. I was now a Dad and here was my little girl, all of 2.9 lbs.

She was wearing a little stocking cap like she was getting ready to ski, or maybe it was because her Mom skied one of the coldest Korteloppets when she was the size of a peanut. I got to help hold her hand as they trimmed the umbilical cord and attempted to insert a catheter into her umbilical vein. After being with my daughter for a while, I went to check on Mom.

Mom was in the recovery room doing well. She was starting to regain the feeling in her legs and was anxious to see her baby daughter. After a little wait she finally arrived. It was heartbreaking to watch our daughter in a little incubator and not be able to hold her. She stayed for a little while and then the NICU nurses took her to Children's.

I followed as Ana waited in the recovery room. We navigated the tunnels to Children's and soon arrived at Baby Menk's room. The nurses were wonderful and explained all of the things that were going to happen in the next 24 hours.  I used Ana's phone to take some pictures and headed back after a little while to check on Ana.

Ana was doing well. She was still on magnesium-sulfate and would remain on magnesium-sulfate for 24 hours after delivery. For those of you who do not know, magnesium-sulfate makes you feel very hot and also made Ana's head feel like slush. I shared photos and visited with our parents. In all of the chaos, Ana and I hadn't settled on a name yet and one of the grandparents was getting impatient. Ana and I had a team meeting and discussed our plans. We had settle on two girl names long ago, but hadn't had a chance to discuss them after Baby Menk arrived. After a short meeting, I went to meet our parents for dinner while Ana rested. During dinner I announced the name.

Naomi Marie Menk was our daughter's name. We both thought Naomi was a beautiful name and we wanted her middle name to honor two of the strongest women we know, Grandma Mary and Grandma MaryEtta.

After dinner, I took Uncle Ben and Uncle Adam to meet their newest niece. After they left, I returned to Ana's room shortly after Pastor Jen left. Ana said she said a lovely prayer.

As the evening went along, the nurses continued to monitor Ana's blood pressure. If it was low enough, they would let her visit Naomi. At 10 PM, Ana was declared fit for travel. I don't think you could have stopped her anyway. Two nurses helped move her to a cart and we were on our way through the tunnels.

A little after 10 PM, Ana and Naomi were reunited again!

After a wonderful visit to see our daughter we headed back to Abbott to get some much needed rest. I also want to say thank you to all of our family and friends for their thoughts and prayers. It means so much to us as we wander through life.