Katelyn, Conner and Caleb! » April 2006 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Sat, Apr 29, 2006 9:31 PM
Eric was so thoughtful this evening.

He went to play a tournament this afternoon while the kids were in bed. I called him and asked him to pick up a few items at the grocery store for me. He did. But while he was there, he got the idea of making mini pizzas with the kids.

They loved it! We used dinner roll dough for the pizzas (they were small, perfect for the kids) and loaded them up with toppings. They were very yummy. I have the extra rolls that I thawed in the oven right now with garlic and parmesean cheese. They'll be yummy for tomorrow (or later tonight).

No spotting again today! We're thrilled with that.

Conner threw up again. So he's not going to church tomorrow. He's acting fine other then that though. An extra nap this morning was the only sign that he's feeling sick. I went ahead and let Eric take the kids to the park but Conner was bundled up in his winter coat just in case. He was warm but loved it. He threw a mini tantrum when Eric put him back into the house. Conner just wanted to be outside! He's eaten well today, had lots to drink (with lots of vitamin C) and overall is doing well. Sleep will do him well tonight though.

He's now gone to sleep for his nap in his room consistently for the last few days! Today was not fussing at all, I heard some play noises but that was it. I don't mind playing at nap time because the kids end up falling asleep pretty quickly. And we usually pick up toys first thing when they get up.

We just put him to bed for the night (in his room) and I don't hear crying. I think he's getting used to this idea.

Katelyn and Conner's favorite activity today (other then playing outside): watching a pair of nesting Bald Eagles. Turns out that there's an eagle cam with live feed out in British Columbia. There are two eggs very close to hatching. So we've been watching them. The video is sporadic but it's still fun. Katelyn's seen the eggs multiple times and we've seen the parents switch places once. We've missed the other times but can tell that there's been a switch.

I'll put a link under links. I wouldn't reccomend it if you have dial up though. It's slow.

Katelyn has decided that she's glad she's a human. She doesn't want us sitting on her to keep her warm. She'd rather snuggle next to us. We're identifying things about Bald Eagles as we watch. I've decided this is an idea homeschool preschool project for her. Especially since it's one we can do from the couch. She's called her Grandpa with updates on the eagles multiple times today.

Katelyn also got to feel Baby kick multiple times today. We've already had the discussion that it's Ok to kick mommy if you're inside, not OK if you're outside. So Katelyn didn't tell Baby to stop kicking Mom. She did that the last time she felt a kick.

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Fri, Apr 28, 2006 11:44 AM
Friends are wonderful.

Truly wonderful.

With the bleeding that came up the last few days Eric and I have both been nervous about my doing too much too quickly. And since I didn't do very much on Tuesday at all, we really wondered what was too much. Even Wednesday seemed to have been too much and so we were just all around confused.

On Wednesday evening, I got a call from one of the ladies who'd been over last week and who had planned to come this week too. She still wanted to come over and play with the kids. The kids simply adore her too. Even Arthur is quite taken with her. We were so grateful for her offer.

She came over, and I took it easy yesterday. I really did pretty much nothing all morning while the kids went for walks, played at the play ground, did dishes (Katelyn thinks this is a very fun game) and overall had fun. She wore them out so much that they barely at lunch before fallng asleep (in their room again!).

Then Eric took the kids to work in the evening for "Take you child to work day". So even though I did more then I've done in past days, I did much less then Wednesday.

This morning there was no spotting!

Yesterday, I got a call from the lady who was orinally scheduled for today. She still wanted to come too. Wow, what a blessing!

The kids are outside playing with her and just loving it.

I'll be doing the afternoon myself again but it should be naps.

The kids are a little out of sorts though. They appear to have caught some bug. Both threw up last night. (Today's person knew that before she came and she still wanted to come.... did I say yet that she's a blessing?) Today they're just generally grumpy and easily frustrated. Nothing is quite how they want it. Except the idea of going outside... Conner was all over that idea.

We decided just a few minutes ago that if Katelyn has a CEO personality, Conner is very goal oriented. He needs a reason or purpose. When we mentioned that he needed clothes on to go outside, he instantly went from fussing because we were trying to dress him to frustrated because we weren't getting them on quickly enough for him. He just needed a goal.

I should mention that Arthur is doing well with all this even though I can't take him on walks and stuff. I told my neighbor that he was allowed to come over and play with Arthur any time he wanted. Since this little boy doesn't have a dog, it works out perfectly. He came over yesterday, knocked on the door and very politely asked, "Can Arthur come out and play?" Arthur was very happy to oblige and so the two of them played catch for a while.

Arthur also likes to watch the kids play on the swingset. I think he's going to really enjoy this summer and he'll be glad to have Katelyn be old enough to really play outside this winter.

Eric is holding up to the stress very well. It's wearing him out though just through exhaustion. I think his body was very relieved to have the SCH not show up on ultrasound. He came home that evening and slept... it was a well needed nap though and I was glad I could take care of feeding the kids dinner. We ate Chili that a friend had brought over fully prepared so I didn't need to do anything other then put it into bowls. Then I woke Eric up and had him put the kids to bed.

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Wed, Apr 26, 2006 4:27 AM
Amazing.

Both kids went down for their naps *in their room*!

Conner was super sleepy so I woke him enough to get him to go up to his room (with help/ecouragement) and then when he didn't go right back to sleep, I told them that Mommy needed a nap and walked out and shut the door. I knew Katelyn wouldn't open the door and Conner couldn't.

There was no crying. I think because Katelyn was in the room too so Conner wasn't alone in there.

When I checked back on them, Katelyn was asleep on the bed and Conner on the floor. Yay!

Some bleeding this morning. :( Red but dark. And as soon as it was over, the rest of the spotting was brown. Nothing since. So it's worrisome to me but relatively normal, I guess. I'm taking today easy still.

I talked to my midwife today and she suggested taking it easy for at least two weeks. No exercise until then. Basically that's what we were planning anyways but this gives us an idea for a timeline. She did like the idea of going to the pool and just soaking. It's low impact exercise. The only reason it is exercise is that the water pressure works the blood vessels. But otherwise I'm not doing anything. I'm looking forward to doing that.

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Tue, Apr 25, 2006 6:55 PM
Eric and I received what is probably the best news we could have received at this point in the pregnancy. The SCH (subchorionic hematoma) appears to be gone once again.

Thank you so much for your prayers!!!

At this point we're a bit confused. And we're not the only ones. Eric heard the OB in the hallway say, "How does something disappear in two weeks like that?" Answer: with prayer... God does it. :D

We really questioned the OB this time. He said that it is very rare for a SCH to appear after 20 weeks. And he'd never heard of one reoccurring a 3rd time. Since we were told before that it was rare to the point of just not happening for it to appear again, we are understandably wary this time.

So now we're extremely thankful and grateful. But still cautious. We've been told once that it shouldn't come back but it did. I'm off of restrictions but Eric and I are choosing to keep at low activity to just make sure everything stays away. So light housework, caring for the kids, things like that.

Baby looked healthy and is still measuring ahead. So that's all very good.

Thank you again for your prayers! Please continue to keep us in your prayers so that this doesn't come back or cause further complications.

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Sat, Apr 22, 2006 12:00 AM
Yay! Brown!

Today makes my second full day of brown spotting. I didn't want to speak too soon incase it was just a fluke. I'm really praying this is a good sign that will show up on the ultrasound on tuesday.

Katelyn and Conner have been spending most of their days outside. They love it. Conner especially. He'll bring you shoes and socks and try to get a coat and hat (he's used to winter) and beg you to put them on him so that he can go outside. It's his new obsession.

We've had people coming in for half day shifts to help care for the kids while I'm doing couch rest. They usually clean a little and make either lunch or supper while they're here and get me food and stuff to drink. They they take the kids out either to our swingset or to the park that's a little ways down the bike path. The kids just love it. They keep going and going and going the entire time and don't want to leave. They'd happily spend the entire day there.

I'm looking forward to getting off couchrest so that I can join them at least outside in the backyard.

I'm also hoping to be off this in time to go to Chicago with my family. The plan is to ride a train over and back and then spend the day going to the aquarium and one other museum. I'd go in a wheelchair just to avoid the SCH coming back yet another time (assuming it goes away) but I'm hoping that even if it doesn't go away, that the bleeding will have stopped enough that I'll be given doctor's approval to go.

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Tue, Apr 18, 2006 11:41 PM
What's going on here?

More of the same.

Sandi is taking the kids two days a week. They like going over there but I can tell that they miss being home with mom. Sandi noticed it too with Conner. He didn't want extra snuggles tonight though. But I gave them anyways.

For the rest of the week the kids are at home with people coming into the house.

Bleeding, again it's more of the same. Things are slowly getting darker which is a good sign but it's slow.

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Sun, Apr 16, 2006 10:19 AM
The kids look so good in their Easter outfits. Eric bought them this year. Katelyn had picked hers out a couple months ago so that was easy. But Eric selected Conner's himself. He did a great job with it! He also bought new tights for Katelyn for the summer. She only had winter ones that fit.

Katelyn's dress is almost floor length and she adores it. Conner just thinks it's a normal outfit. Nothing new or anything. He's not as excited about new clothes.

I found the download cord for my camera so I'm downloading pictures right now of the Egg Hunt and of the kids this morning.

The Easter Egg Hunt went really well. The kids were sent into the area first (Conner had a staff person help him) for 10 minutes to do their own gathering. And then the parents got to join them. Eric said their were eggs everywhere. Not much of a hunt but perfect for the kids. Katelyn knew exactly what to do... pick up eggs. She repeated the instruction the entire day even after she was back home.

Her big basket was full! Conner's smaller one was the perfect size for him. Apparently they got candy and also 5 certificates for personal pan pizzas and 4 certificates for Dairy Queen ice cream cones. Sounds like outings with Dad this summer!

Afterwards, Eric took the kids to church to help prepare the Easter breakfast. Conner said a very clear sentence to his Aunt Sandi as soon as he arrived... "Where Josh go?" She pointed Josh out to him and he very happily ran over and started playing. He's been asking things like that but it's usually been, "Where shoes?" or some other two word combination. It's great that he used 3 words and asked clearly enough that someone who wasn't with him every day could understand him.

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Sat, Apr 15, 2006 11:00 AM
Eric and the kids are off!

Today is an Easter Egg Hunt at the Celery Flats that I'd wanted to take the kids too. So Eric is taking them instead of it being a family thing. I missing out but I keep reminding myself that it's a good thing right now.

Miss Sarah is helping Eric out today so that he can take lots of pictures for me. The idea is that while he's taking pictures of one kid, the other one doesn't wander off this way. I like that idea.

When I was braiding Katelyn's hair this morning, I asked her if she knew what she was going to do today. She told me that she was going to pick up eggs and put them in her basket. Sounds good to me! The kids are taking the Easter baskets that their grandmother gave them. Each year she makes them Easter Baskets.

This year Conner's is like the one Katelyn was given last year. He kept trying to take her's last year so he's thrilled to have his own this year. The entire time when we were opening the boxes, he ignored everything else and wanted to only pay attention to the basket. I'd say it was a winner. It's small but a perfect size for him.

Katelyn slept with her basket last night. She likes to put things into baskets and then carry them around. So it's important that her's have handles. It does. She's thrilled.

I'm off to fold another load of laundry. I asked Eric to bring me a basket of laundry in the morning each day before work and then I fold it during the day. It's one activity that I can do while reclining on the couch. And it does make it easier on Eric to just have to put clothes away. One basket full doesn't take too long to put away and as long as we do one load a day, the laundry is kept up on.

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Fri, Apr 14, 2006 11:16 AM
Good news is that I've feeling quite a few very firm kicks. And there's no cramping.

Bad news is that bleeding is increasing. Or is that good news? I'm praying it's good news and that this is the SCH going down.

We were quite stressed last night though wondering what we were supposed to consider too much bleeding. The info you get when you go to an OB says any red bleeding is bad and to call right away.

Ok... so if I go by that I'm calling all day, every day. So when should I worry? We got that straightened out last night and it did calm me down.

Pray for Eric right now though. He's really feeling the stress of all this. He can't do anything (no one can) to make this all go away and it's not sitting easily on him. And this is his child and he wants to make things all better for him/her.

A wonderful friend is arranging child care / Kimberly care for next week. That's one of the few things we can do... have someone helping out with the house and kids so that I can really just lay on the couch. The idea is that this might help the bleeding inside to stop and that gives my body a chance to get rid of it.

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Thu, Apr 13, 2006 9:55 AM
When is garbage disposal fun?

When it's talked about in a coloring book!

My parents picked up a coloring book about garbage disposal at the home show a few weeks ago. The kids are currently happily coloring away at it (together!) at the kitchen table. I did read it to Katelyn so she knows what it's about but their main interest right now is that it's a coloring book.

You sure can't beat free stuff that interests the kids like this!

The rotten part of bedrest right now is that I feel great. I don't feel like I should be on bedrest. Mentally, I know this is exactly what I need. Emotionally, I feel like I should be up doing things.

I keep reminding myself that the SCH slightly more then doubled in volume in 3 days. That's a big deal.

But when people ask how I'm feeling, I feel obligated in so many ways to tell them something that justifies bedrest. But I "feel" great. No cramping, no aches or pains, I feel rather healthy in fact. (I'd really like to go work out at the Y today. But that's not going to happen.) But then I sit and think for a very little while and remind myself that this is very justified bedrest even if I do feel great otherwise.

There was bleeding again last night. I woke up to it. Nothing major again but it was there. For some strange reason this stuff always happens at night and then stops.

I'm still really praying for the SCH to go away and for this baby to be born full term.

And I'm eating my healthy proteins and other foods to help this baby grow big.

I had a few questions about why big was so important this time around. It's because of two things. The risk of preterm labor and the riskthat toward the end of the pregnancy, the placenta might be somewhat compromised so we need to make sure that the uncompromised part of the placenta is getting so many nutrients that it can do extra duty toward keeping this baby healthy.

I think mostly of the preterm labor though. I have a few friends on line who've given birth to preemies and it seems that with the preemies, weight is very important to their survival. Starting big is a good first step. But it needs to be a good big, not purely a chubby big. So no pigging out on sugar for me here.

Oh, and please feel free to share this page (or the info) with people. The more people praying, the better!

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Wed, Apr 12, 2006 12:31 PM
So the question is, can I grow a large baby?

That's supposed to be my goal.... to grow this baby as large as possible.

I think I can do that! :D

But I'm bummed about my appointment...
The SCH grew. Even with this spotting, it grew. So something is causing it to grow. I put the measurements on the stats part of the homepage under baby to come. It helps to have a timeline to look at.

So here we are. I'm to stay put on the couch except for 20 minute meal breaks and bathroom and shower breaks. No other activity.

So who wants to help Eric take the kids to an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday? Any takers? Someone willing to take lots of pictures is preferred. I'd like to scrapbook it even if I can't be there.

My next appointment is the 25th.

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Wed, Apr 12, 2006 9:32 AM
More bleeding today when I woke up. Not much though. Just a little.

It's not stopping when I wake up which does concern me but we're going in for our follow up appointment this afternoon. So it'll be checked out then.

I'm praying that this is the SCH going away.

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Tue, Apr 11, 2006 11:00 AM
It's sad when you wake up in the morning, see blood and go, "Oh, that's normal." Maybe not sad... but definitely disconcerting to think about.

That happened this morning.

When I was awake enough to think about it a bit more, I realized how not normal that thinking was. But then I thought about it a bit more.

This SCH was 8x2 cm. It sounds large and is on the large side where SCHs are concerned. But really, that's not a lot of fluid. So how much fluid did I lose this morning? I have no idea. It wasn't as much as on Sunday. Not nearly that much. My big question was is it enough to take away the SCH? I don't really know. I'm praying that it was.

We'll see tomorrow. That's when my follow up ultrasound is scheduled for. I'm most certainly not used to all these ultrasounds. There are studies that show that frequent ultrasounds are associated with low birth weight. I don't really need to worry about that right now since this baby is already measuring a week ahead. But still... I wonder what all these ulrasounds are doing to him/her. I know they're a wonderful diagnositic tool and sometimes you need them. But I still wonder.

I liken it to x-rays. You get them when you need them. But you don't go out getting x-rays just for the fun of it.

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Sun, Apr 9, 2006 9:47 PM
There are times that Katelyn's tendency to be the CEO of the house come in very handy.

Tonight has been one of those.

While Mom and Dad were here they did a lot of really great things... changed the flag outside (it was still the Christmas one up - they put up a spring flag), picked up toys on the kitchen floor, washed dishes, washed bedding and clothes, emptied garbage... I was so thankful for them when I found all they had done.

So tonight I was folding some of the clothes that they washed. I was being good and doing it while sitting on the bed. What was cute about Katelyn was that I asked her to put away some of her socks that I folded. She did it and then came back saying, "New job please." So I gave her a new something to put away. She only had problems opening one drawer. Otherwise everything was put in the right place and she kept coming back for more. Eric commented that she knew where her clothes went better then he did. She's been picking out her own clothes this last week so I'm not surprised.

She just wanted to be helpful and it really was a huge help.

Now to just teach her to use the vacuum. :D

Conner had a super cute moment this evening. While I was folding clothes, he lay on the floor reading an "I spy" book. That was cute but what was even more cute is that Arthur lay down near his head and watched. Conner loved it.

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Sun, Apr 9, 2006 4:46 PM
It's baaaack!

:(

The SCH is back.

I woke up very early this morning and discovered that I was bleeding. Uggh. My first reponse when I discovered it was to tell Eric that we were on going to the ER.

I don't mind waiting things like this out when it's during the first trimester. There's not much you can do at that point. Other then know what is going on. It's the getting frustrated and wanting to know what was going on that sent us to the OB for an ultrasound where we discovered the first SCH.

But this was second trimester and even though I haven't reached the point of "viability" yet, I still felt like we should go in. After Eric got up and saw how much blood there was, he agreed instantly.

Eric called my parents and asked them to come over and watch the kids. Then he called his parents and filled them in on what was happening. We called the OB and the midwife and let them know all about it too.

Mom and Dad arrived a little before 4 am. (I told you it was early!) Katelyn either woke up or was awake already because as soon as she saw them she started yelling "Hi, Hi, Papa, Papa!" as loudly as she could to try to get her grandpa's attention through the window. Eric was outside getting the truck defrosted so he encouraged Dad to wave.

So much for separation anxiety, huh?

We went to the hospital. I must say, it's amazing how quickly the ER gets you out of the ER and up to L&D when you tell them you have a pregnancy complication. We were taken to the triage room.

The bleeding had stopped by then (sounds exactly like what happened at 10 weeks) but I was hooked up to the monitors. We found a heartbeat (Yay!!!) but this little one was moving around so much that we didn't keep the heartbeat monitor on. They did want to watch for contractions though so we kept that part of the monitor on. No reaction from that other then when they took blood and when we felt baby kicking the monitor.

That was cool. Eric got to feel kicks for the first time on the same day that I felt kicks for the first time. I'd felt flutters when I was on bedrest during the last SCH but then I stopped feeling movement. So this was the first time for both of us. Eric confirmed that they were kicks and not just my imagination. It was neat to see them show up on the monitor strip though.

After a while the bloodwork came back very good. But they wanted to do an ultrasound to see why the bleeding had occured. We were told this would probably happen around 8am.

Then we were told 9am but that we were first on the schedule.

Then the ultrasound tech showed up at nearly 11am.

We did get some sleep there though. We were still in the triage area so Eric requested a sheet, blanket and pillow and made himself a small bed on the floor. I slept on the bed. It was spotty sleep because the lights were on (though dim) but it was good to get sleep. Eric slept quite a while but he's exhausted now.

About the ultrasound. Baby is measuring a week ahead. Go figure... it's me and my big babies! But everything else looks great as far as the baby is concerned. No, we didn't find out gender.

The tech thought she saw a SCH though so I had to empty my bladder so she could look easier. Baby really stretched out when I did that. She did find the SCH then. It took some looking though. It's 8cm x 2 cm. I don't know the 3rd dimension. So it's smaller then the last SCH. She looked closer at my cervix with the ultrasound and saw that blood seemed to be pooling down there (thus the cause of the bleeding this morning) but she didn't see signs of continued bleeding into the chorion (where the SCH is located... I hope I'm spelling that correctly). Cervix length is good though which means I have a ways to go before preterm labor. That's good news.

But... I'm on restricted activity again. Not as much as last time but no heavy lifting and no major activity. So I can watch the kids from the couch and make a light/quick lunch but Eric gets to do dinner and the major stuff around the house.

So that's what's up here. I'm back to being told to be a lazy bum.

Please pray:
that the SCH goes away again.
that I don't go into preterm labor.
that the family does well with me on restricted activity.

Thanks!

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