Pregnancy has never been easy for me. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, Lupus, at 17 and have struggled with my health ever since. The wear and tear of pregnancy has always upset my Lupus, resulting in weekly growth scans and unlimited doctor visits, blood work and hospital stays. 

This one was no exception. First hospitalized for bleeding at 14 weeks, discovered to be placenta previa and put on restricted bedrest. Eventually it corrected itself around 24 weeks. Mind you 10 weeks on bedrest with a one year old and a 4 year old and a half s and who is active duty army was enough stress for one pregnancy, don't you think?

Fast forward to 35 weeks, hospitalized again for help go blood pressure and a kidney infection. My lupus tends to manifest most in my kidneys, so at this stage of the game it was to be expected. I already knew I was going to be induced at 38 weeks because of my high risk complications. With lupus the closer you get to the full 40 weeks, the rate of still born doubles every three days for the last two weeks so they will induce you at the first signs of your body prepping for labor. My blood pressure evened out, and they gave me fluids and meds for the infection. And set me with an induction date of December 13th. My due date was Christmas Day, so this put me right on track. 

Two important side notes to my story-

1. I tested positive for strep b with all three of my pregnancies.

2. I am allergic to penicillin so they gave me vancomycin with my first two pregnancies for the antibiotics during labor with no issues. My doctor had decided that was the route they would take again. 

Fast forward again to December 13th. 

I was admitted for induction at 5am. I was already 3cm dilated. (I had moved an entire three bedroom house the weekend before, thanks Army!😒)

They started me on pitocin at a 2 to see how I would respond. Then they started my IV of antibiotics. 

I started to be able to feel the contractions I was already having, so I decided to take a nap while I still could, I knew I was going to need the energy. 

My mom drove up to be there with me, and my husband was also there. My other two kids were with my friend back on post. 

I woke up about two hours later to the nurse coming in to check my IVs. She upped the pitocin to a 6(it had been upped while I was sleeping to a 4) and said I had about 20 minutes of the antibiotics left. 

We were all making small talk with the nurse, she *itches my head* asked me about my other *itches again* kids and where we were *itches again* stationed before Drum *itches again*. At which point I notice my head is reallllllly friggen itchy. 

My husband decided he wanted to grab a snack from the cafe before things really started going, kissed me on the forehead and said "don't do anything exciting til I get back".... the ultimate jinx. 

He leaves the room and not five minutes later my mom slips into the hallway. Apparently I have developed hives all over my face and neck I hadn't noticed yet. The nurse comes in, and asks if I want to try to finish the meds(less than 15cc left to go) or if I want to stop them now. I tell her I can wait, I'm just uncomfortable. I got up to go the bathroom, sat down and bam. 

My tongue swells, almost instantly and it's getting rapidly harder to breath. I call for my mom, her and the nurse come running in. They manage to get me to the bed. She unplugs my IV and calls for rapid response in my room. Not 30 seconds later, my room is FILLED with doctors, two surgeons, interns, reapitory therapist l, the whole nine. At this point all I kept asking was where my husband was. I was terrified. I remember him running into the room, trying to talk to the doctor, them asking if they need to choose who to save what my wishes were, and then....black. 

That's as much as I was conscious for. According to the doctor, immediately following me going unconscious I went into full blown anaphylactic shock. I was intubated, and hit with epinephrine to try to counteract the allergic reaction. I was prepped for surgery just in case. 

My husband and my mom were taken out of the room, and the respitory team worked on keeping enough air flow to get to the baby. I was unconscious and breathing with assistance for 18 minutes. 

Thankfully, the epinephrine was enough to reverse the reaction. I was eventually taken off the intubation and all my stats returned to normal. 

I have never been so scared in my life. I have a deadly reaction to bee stings also, so I know how terrifying it is to not be able to breathe. But knowing how close I was to meeting my little peanut and that we both could lose our lives, was a fear I can't put into words. 

Ten hours later, two failed epidurals, and a labor full of every pain imaginable, our beautiful girl took her first breath. 

This was the scariest experience of my life. But I would not change a second of it for the world. Acacia Vi was born at 0120 on December 14th, 7lbs 4oz and 20.5 inches of perfection. 💕💕