Clover and I would like to thank everyone for the countless prayers that were offered on our behalf. We have had a very long week and have a long several months ahead of us. We know that the prayers that we have had on our side have blessed our family so much and we ask that you continue to pray for our little Paisley. We have seen over the last several days that she is a fighter and that she will not let anything get in her way of growing and coming home to Clover, Blake and I.
We wanted to share our experience with you all so that you can really know the blessings that we have received from this experience. We owe so much to so many, but most of all we owe everything to our Heavenly Father. He has blessed us with a beautiful baby girl that although she will face some challenges she is so strong and we know that she will fight.
This whole experience really began several months ago when Clover went for a check up and the doctor told her that her blood pressure was high and that she needed to take things easy and try to lower he BP. She was as able to do so and things seemed to be normal. Then the week before Christmas, Clover got a bladder infection and was able to treat it early. She then traveled to Emery County and prepared for Christmas, where she most likely over did it and exhausted herself. Several days before Christmas as she was spending time at her grandma Reba's house she was talking to her cousin Becky whose sister-in-law was diagnosed with preeclampsia and ultimately lost her baby to the disease. It is a disease that not only places the baby in harm but equally puts the mother in harm. I won't go into much detail about the disease, but if anyone wants to learn about it all you have to do is google it and you will have all the info you need. Becky had begun to worry because she saw several symptoms of the disease in Clover and wanted to let her know of her concern. Ultimately Clover wondered why anyone would tell a pregnant woman a story of another woman losing her baby, but we knew she was only concerned for Clover. We checked Clover's BP Christmas and the day after Christmas and it never really went down. It actually spiked at 190/135 and that is when we decided to go into the hospital in Price to have them check her. At this point we still didn't know whether we were dealing with preeclampsia. They did a blood test and a urine test and they hooked her up to a monitor to keep and eye on her blood pressure and the baby's heart rate. After that we just waited. The Doctor finally came and announced that she indeed had preeclampsia and that it was at an advanced stage. And then he hit us with a ton of bricks, He said that what they were going to need to do was Life flight her up to the U of U hospital and that she may deliver the baby as soon as we arrived. When we had a second to ourselves the first thing Clover said to me was "we owe Becky so much." Becky's sister-in-law was with her when she found out about Clover, and she said the neatest thing to her. She told Becky that she felt like they lost their baby to save her life, but after hearing about Clovers experience, and Becky recognizing signs of preecplamsia, she felt like she not only saved her life but also was able to save Clover and Paisley's life as well.
Although it was a shock, we knew that we had caught it early and that our chances were very good. They then hooked Clover up to something called Magnesium Sulfate which helps to prevent seizures and also helps lower BP. It also makes you feel like crap but that means that it is working. We then proceeded to wait for the plane to leave from Salt Lake and fly to Price. Originally the plane was supposed to be there at 9:30 pm but it didn't end up showing up until around 4:00 am. We arrived in SLC at about 5:00 am after what Clover described as a calming plane ride. In fact she said that the plane ride was the most relaxing and restful time she had. She was comforted and well taken care of by a nurse who's name is Bart. Another neat experience involving Bart was that the day after Paisley was born, as we walked into the NBICU to see her, we saw a familiar face standing next to Paisley's incubator. Not only is Bart an Air med nurse he also works in the NBICU. Clover and I couldn't help but get a little emotional, and we were able to thank him again for the great care and comfort that he gave to Clover.
Once we arrived in at the U of U hospital, they were able to do an ultrasound and see just how many weeks along Paisley was. She measured at 24 weeks so they decided that as long as Clover was able to stay stable they would continue to give Clover steroid shots to help Paisley's lungs develop more rapidly, and monitor her BP and try to buy Paisley a little more time. Clover was able to stay stable for several more days and she tried her best to keep her BP down to give Paisley a better chance. Early in the morning on December 30th Clover's BP went back up so they put her back on the Mag as they call it and sort of let us know that she was most likely going to have to deliver very soon. They did some more blood work and when they came back the protein in her blood had doubled so they prepared her for surgery and our little Paisley Ann Dunn was born at 11:57 am on December 30th, 2008. She weighed 1 pound 10 ounces and measured 13 inches long. The doctor mentioned that she cried right away, which was a good sign.
She has had some good days and some bad days, but mostly good. Again we want to thank everyone for the love and support that you have shown our family over the last little while. Most of all we want to again thank you for your prayers. I think Paisley and Clover where on the prayer roll in every Temple in Utah and then some. Thanks again and we will post updates whenever possible. We ask that you continue to pray for Paisley and we know she will fight a little harder.
