Braxton Dewey Beazley! Our son surprised us with an early arrival on February 4, 2011 at 3:14pm. Braxton was 7 weeks early, as he was due March 25th!  Pushing down the scale at 2lbs 11oz and was 15 1/4 inches long.

It’s been nearly6 months since Braxton was born and many people have asked “what happened”? Here is our “Baby Story” (reminds me of the TLC show)!

The day before Braxton was born, I started to experience stomach pressure/pain. Originally I thought I had the flu and hung out with my trusty 1st trimester friends – Ginger Ale and saltine crackers! Once I discovered I could keep food down, I did eat a couple meals. I spent the day sleeping on the couch and in bed, I took a bath and 2 showers, and took Tylenol faithfully. I was supposed to go to my Prenatal Aquafit class that night, but when we were headed I told John that he was welcome to still go work out but I didn’t feel up to swimming. We returned home and watched a movie. I couldn’t get comfortable and I couldn’t sleep once we went to bed (not uncommon for pregnant women).

I assumed I was just having an “off” day that comes with pregnancy. At 1:30am I called HealthLink (a service in Alberta where you can call & talk to an RN), simply to see if they could suggest ideas to reduce my pressure or a stiffer pain medication because all pregnant women are allowed is Tylenol. The nurse took my symptoms and suggested I go to the hospital and get checked out.

I woke up John and by 2:00am Friday morning, we arrived at the Lethbridge hospital. I thought our middle of the night trip was simply to get more potent pain medication and was shocked to be diagnosed with HELLP syndrome (high blood pressure & my liver was shutting down – more details on this diagnosis). Reading about the other symptoms of my diagnosis after having Braxton, I looked back and discovered that I started to experience a few of them a week before he was born. Including bloody nose, dizziness and headaches – however, I had just brushed them off.

[Read more...]