Poor, Poor Rachel

This experience has been the best one of our lives to this day, but as we all know things tend to go wrong even when miracles like this occur. Yesterday afternoon was when the bad news hit. Rachel has had slightly higher blood pressure since her last trimester started but showed no other signs of a disorder called preeclampsia (protein in the urine, abnormal amounts of swelling, blurred vision, frequent headaches, and dizziness) which can affect both the mother and the unborn child. Once the child is delivered this particular disorder typically disappears. However, in rare cases it can show signs even after the birth of the child. Leave it to my beautiful wife to be one of those rare cases. Rachel was still showing high blood pressure after Tori was born and after being discharged on Wednesday evening, was asked to come into the office for a check-up on Friday. So, in between her two feeding sessions of our beautiful baby girl, Rachel went in for the check-up. She still had high blood pressure but now protein was found in her urine...aka I immediately got a phone call stating that she was being re-admitted into the hospital. They put her on bed rest and gave her magnesium through an IV to prevent seizures that come as a result of this disorder. They ran blood tests every six hours to see when she was out of the red, which did not come until late Saturday morning, and she is now on bed rest at home except for the few times she goes in to feed Tori. Everything else is going well with her and she is now getting more rest and will be going in for another check-up on Tuesday to see if the medication she is on is helping her blood pressure and her protein levels. She is such a trooper and such an amazing person. She has taken all of these problems our little family has faced with determination and a positive attitude and I truly love and admire her for that. Rachel, I just want you to know that I am so proud of you, that I love you with all my heart, and that you are such an amazing wife and will be an even more amazing mother.