It has been a few months since my last post. I apologize. A lot has changed in our family.
In November we found out that our little bundle of joy was in fact a girl! Shane and I decided on the name Conner Rose Coffman. Conner was my (great grandma) Nana Bessie's maiden name. She was very special to me. She passed away just a month before my accident. Rose is another family type name: My Gimma's name is Rosa, My Aunt's middle name is Rose (Myrtle Rose), but most importantly Conner's Auntie Amanda's (my sister) middle name is Rose.
The week before Christmas Shane was laid off from Terminix. Thanks to our good buddy Patrick he quickly got a job offer from Great Lakes Dredge and Dock. There was an upside and a downside to this job. The upside was that it was a great paying job with great benefits. The downside he would be traveling a lot. We weighed the options and talked it out with my parents (who graciously agreed to take on not only more responsibility with me, but also took on the responsibility of my 3 chihuahuas!) and in 4 short days he was off to his job. Location: Miami :(
This now brings us to January. Everything is going great with my pregnancy and Conner and I are getting great reports from the doctors. I then get a call from one of my doctors and in a round about way told me that New Hanover wasn't comfortable with handling my delivery due to my injury - Thank God it was nothing related to Conner! The doctor then told me that I would be delivering at Chapel Hill. This is the first time my whole pregnancy I was scared.
The doctors were scared about labor and delivery causing Autonomic Disreflexia (AD). AD is a condition that occurs in spinal cord injury patients when there is some sort of adverse stimuli below the level of injury. This causes a number of symptoms including the onset of severe high blood pressure, throbbing headaches, profuse sweating, nasal stuffiness, flushing of the skin above the level of the lesion, slow heart rate, anxiety, and sometimes by cognitive impairment. All of this happens within a matter of seconds to minutes and if not treated immediately can lead to a stroke or death for me and/or Conner.
I am now grateful that the doctors refered me to UNC with the least doubt on their part. So with that and lots of prayer the appointment at UNC was made for February3.
Now we are up to this past weekend! It was a big weekend for the Cofffmans: 3D/4D Ultrasound, Conner's 1st Baby Shower, & The appointment at Chapel Hill.
◆The 3D/4D Ultrasound was amazing an amazing experience. We got to see her facial details so vivid. We got a recording of her heart beat and a video of the entire ultrasound! I am so glad I got to experience this with my family.
◆The Shower was hosted by the women of Tar Heel Baptist Church and was simply amazing! Conner is stocked and ready to go. A big thank you goes out to everyone who helped and bought a gift!
◆The appointment at Chapel Hill was very informative. I had my mind made up going into this appointment that I wanted to be put to sleep and have a C-section. My reasoning behind this was I had movement in my lower body and didn't want to jeopardize that with an epidural. After meeting with the doctor I learned that what I wanted was the riskiest for Conner and myself. If they put me to sleep that also means putting Conner to sleep and she would have to immediately go to the NICU for support. After speaking with an anesthesiologist and the head of anesthesiology at UNC Women's Hospital I feel like the risk of further paralysis from an epidural is no where near the risk of being put to sleep. So I will have an epidural an have a baby like everyone else :). ALSO ... for precautionary measures I have been scheduled to be induced at 8 am on Monday, April 14th, 2014.
Please keep us all in your prayers!
