8/7/18.

August 7th was a pretty typical Tuesday. First official week back at work with teachers and students. I had a couple of meetings, a bunch of paperwork, and lots of emails to answer, but nothing too stressful. I was anxious to get to my OBGYN appointment that afternoon so I could hear the progress on my pregnancy and the baby.

For the most part, I’ve considered myself lucky. My first pregnancy had turned out to be smooth. No morning sickness, minimal weight gain, and I was able to work all summer with no complications. It wasn’t until the last month that I was starting to get some severe back pain and I was up and down with my blood pressure readings. Still, I figured, it just comes with the territory.

Little did I know, I was a walking time bomb.

When I arrived for my appointment, the nurse took my blood pressure. Usually, we have a little chit chat, but when she got my reading, she was deathly silently. “It’s high?” I asked. She shook her head yes and said, “I’m going to take it again”. She gave it a few minutes and did it again. 185/98. Now, I’m not a doctor and I’ve never been concerned with blood pressure, so I didn’t know how severe it was, but I knew it was not good.

I was immediately sent to lay down and the nurses took my blood pressure two more times. Finally, the doctor let me know that I would have go to the emergency room. My husband was out of town for training, but luckily my mother lived 15 minutes away.

She picked me up and we headed to the hospital. I checked in and the staff began working on getting my blood pressure down. I had an IV here, a pill there, a blood pressure reading every 10 minutes. Still in my mind I was going to go home as soon as they could get it down. The worst case scenario is that I would have to be on bed rest and I could live it with that.

I guess God was laughing at my plans that day.

Doctor comes in and long story short, says the baby has to come out. It’s too dangerous for me and him to let the pregnancy progress any further. On top of that, I would need to have a C-section and be put to sleep, because enducing labor could be fatal. So much for having a normal delivery with my husband by my side telling me to “push”. So much for the short recovery time so I can spend most of my days bonding with my baby.

Instead, I was rushed to a birthing room with no time to think. And in 45 minutes my life would change.

When I woke up, I was a mom. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to embrace baby Palmer because he was rushed to NICU. 3 lbs, 11ozs. We both were still fighting for our lives and couldn’t see each other until the next day. It was the longest day of my life. But when I finally saw him, nothing else mattered.

I think we all have this perfect picture painted for ourselves involving at least one scenario. Whether its planning a dream wedding, landing the perfect job, or outlining plans for a family, we all have a vision. I didn’t know exactly how this pregnancy would go, but believe me, I didn’t come close to thinking it would unfold the way it did. However, the outcome is the same.

Jayden Ronald Palmer is here. 8/7/18. 10:36 pm. And his arrival was anything but boring.