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

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Fri, Jun 30, 2006 5:00 PM
Nothing really going on today. Tomorrow is July though! That was my first goal. To get into July so this baby didn't have a Juney birthday. Sunday will even make 31 weeks. But I'd prefer 32 weeks over 31. From what I've read, the long term risks go down to the same as those of a full term baby at 32 weeks. There's the initial need for NICU still at that point but I'm conforted by the long term outcomes.

I finished the coordinating baby hat! When I next get a camera in here, I'll take pictures of the hat and blanket. Compared to the blanket, the hat went amazingly fast. Now Baby will have at least something coordinating right away... a hat and a blanket. The hat is stretchy too so it should fit the head.

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Thu, Jun 29, 2006 10:19 PM
Checking in so no one worries. My glucose levels have been incredible today. Always under 95 or under.

Nothing much to report though. That's good news. No cramping or anything like that.

The kids are now with Eric's parents for the weekend. The plan is that they'll share a double bed over there. I'm curious though how it'll work out. Katelyn tends to expect that she'll sleep with her grandparents. It's just been that way since she could walk. She simply followed them to bed each time; even carrying her pillow and a bear with her. Grandma found it difficult to say no to her.

I did get my prenatals and the iron supplement I've been using before the hospital approved. Today was the first time taking them since I've been in the hospital. I'm especially please about the iron. It's a brand called Floradix and it absorbs better then the pill forms. And it's non-constipating. It doesn't even taste terrible.

I did finish the blanket today. I've started on the coordinating hat. At this rate, I'll have both done for the baby. I'm making the hat in the large preemie size. I'm thinking of doing a second in the 0-3 month size just because heads tend to run large in this family. And the kids are getting that from both sides of their family.

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Wed, Jun 28, 2006 7:48 PM
I just had the honor of meeting my cousin's son! He is adorable. He feels so little compared to the newborns I've held but at the same time I was thinking that he was big compared to what I'm learning to expect this time around.

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Wed, Jun 28, 2006 9:10 AM
This is a bit sad. Katelyn asked her Grandma last night who she was going to spend today with.

I'm sad that she has to think about that at all. She's amazingly smart and observant. And I know she's also very resilient and will come out of this fine. But she's obviously figured out that she spends each day with a different person nearly each day. It's hard for her.

Everything here at the hospital is going well though.

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Tue, Jun 27, 2006 5:57 PM
New AFI today... I scored a little above 5 from what the ultrasound tech told me. I expected it to be lower because of how much I leaked yesterday. So I was happy with that number. I haven't had much leaking since the ulrasound so it's hanging around at the high end of low amniotic fluid.

Baby scored an 8 out of 8 on the biophysical profile. I ate breakfast before the ultrasound today and we found the breathing motion right away. I wonder if the tech was right with the comment that baby will do more practice breathing after a meal? So far she seems to be right.

Tim and Laura stopped by yesterday and then Eric came up with the kids. We all ate chinese in my room. My glucose levels were a little high after that meal... 134. Still not too high though. And there was very little protein in what I ordered and it was a sweet sauce. I was happy.

We took a wheelchair trip to the atrium of the hospital and then spent a few minutes outside. The kids loved it. Katelyn and Conner smiled and giggle more then we've seen them smile since I've been in the hospital. It was like they figured out taht we weren't lying when we told them that mommy was OK even though she needed to stay in the hospital until Baby came.

Eric also brought in a delivery from home... stuff to help the room feel better... pictures drawn by Katelyn, a twin quilt my mom made me in college, stuff like that. I slept so well last night under that quilt!

This morning Eric's parents came in to town and the brought the kids up to the room for a little while. Katelyn asked where the ice cream was because I normally order them some. I told her that was just for supper. They also brought me in some fresh strawberries ready for eating and some milk. I really like that milk... so much better then what I get here! It just tastes better. And the strawberries... oh, yum! At home I usually get my sweet fixes from things like grapes and strawberries. Here I can only get it from things like ice cream and cookies. So I've been craving sweets here. The strawberries taste just wonderful. I've been snacking on them all day and have just a few left.

This morning also brought exciting news! My cousin has a new little son!!! So I've had visitors all throughout the day which has been very nice. Even my aunt and uncle (and my cousins other two kids) stopped by on their way out of the hospital from seeing the new baby. :D

I'm currently about 4 inches from finishing the main part of the baby blanket I'm knitting. Then I do the last border and it'll be done! I'm planning on making a coordinating hat. The blanket is small but will work very well in a car seat or something like that. I'm very proud of it since it's my first real knitting project other then a dishcloth I made as a kid.

Emotionally, I'm doing *much* better today. Back to my more normal self.

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Mon, Jun 26, 2006 10:00 AM
I had an AFI today and the fluid levels were almost normal!

I scored around a 7 (it always seems to change between what I'm told and what the OB is told) and normal is between 8 and 18. So that's good news.

The biophysical profile was a 6 out of 8 which will turn into a 8 out of 10 after I am monitored. The ultrasound tech couldn't find consistent breating movements. She told me this was likely due to my not having had breakfast yet... apparently babies are more likely to do that after a meal. She also said that of the things that they look for on the biophysical profile, breathing movements is the least important.

Not so good news is that I'm really struggling emotionally with being in the hospital for this long. I'm getting frustrated with being dependent on other people... to bring stuff in for me, to do pretty much everything for me. I don't want to give birth yet (for baby's sake) but I found myself wishing yesterday that I'd go into labor just so I could get out of the hospital.

The pressure of being so dependent on others is just slowly building up and had to come out sometime.

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Sun, Jun 25, 2006 3:56 PM
I thought I'd share a comment that Katelyn made yesterday.

Eric brought the kids up to see me. I orded them ice cream and cookies and they brought me Subway. Katelyn decided to sit on my bed to eat her ice cream at my bedside table.

We talked about why mommy was in the hospital. Katelyn told me that it was because I was sick. So I explained to her about the baby not having any water any more.

We've been spending a lot of time this pregnancy talking about babies in the uterus. There was a couple of really great websites that show pictures of unborn babies at different stages. So we'd sit on the couch and look at those on my laptop.

I'd been explaining to her about different things we saw in the picture... the "food tube" (gives the baby good and water and connects at the belly button), the placenta (turn the food that mommy eats into food that can fit into the food tube), things like that.

One big thing we've talked about is that there is a sac that holds water for the baby to swim in until the baby is born.

So she caught on right away to no water being a problem.

She let that information sink in for a few moments and then told me that the solution was to take Baby to the Y so that baby could swim in the pool there and be OK.

If only it were that easy!

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Sun, Jun 25, 2006 1:16 PM
The hA1c came back...

Perfectly normal. I tested at 5.2, normal is anything between 4.4 and 6.4. I am exactly average.

Since this test basically measures my average blood sugars over the last 2-3 months, this is wonderful. Despite that weird glucose screen number, my body is handling blood sugars quite well on a daily basis. There may be the few occasional spikes here and there but nothing that is abnormal. Everyone has the occasional spike.

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Sun, Jun 25, 2006 12:00 PM
Nothing new today. But I'm at 30 weeks now! I'm excited about that.

Everything else is same old, same old. That's a good thing.

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Sat, Jun 24, 2006 3:00 PM
I found out today that tomorrow along with the normal blood draw to check for infection, I'm also getting a hA1c drawn. This checks for sugar on the red blood cells and gives doctors an idea of the average blood glucose levels over the last couple of months.

The nurse thinks it's because my glucose screen was so high yet my daily blood glucose levels are consistently low. (As I'd told the doctors before the glucose screen.)

For example, today
Fasting blood glucose: 107
One hour after lunch: 104

Fasting was a little high since ACOG wants fasting to be below 105 for pregnant women. I'm told Bronson prefers below 100. I'm curious if having it taken at 5:45 when I didn't acutally get up and eat until about 8 makes a difference or not. I don't think it should.

But the other number is good since ACOG reccomends numbers below 140 for one hour after a meal.

For some reason the OB didn't want to have my 1 hour after breakfast level tested. So I don't know what that was.

I'm curious to see what the hA1c comes out as. Especially since a couple of months ago I really wasn't paying attention to my eating... so it could be high from that. I was eating a lot of comfort foods right then.

On a *very* positive note, I don't have an IV in any more. That is wonderful. I was finally getting used to it being in but at the same time it was annoying. I feel like singing the song about having no strings to tie me down! I'm not attached to a tether any more. And showers are sooo much easier. It felt luxurious to shower without wearing a glove over the IV.

I can even wear normal shirts if I want. Except that none of mine are long enough to cover much below my waist. I think I need a couple of nightgowns or something like that.

I'm learning how to knit and it's going pretty well. But it was discouraging to take out a couple hours of work today. I have a goal of what I want to finish today and I don't think I'm going to get there. I was on track before but not now.

Keep praying for Eric and the kids! Eric helped Katelyn call me today and it was so sweet. I just started crying on the phone. I don't know if she realized that. I told her I missed her and she told me that she missed me. She also told me that she'd helped her Dad clean this morning and that her room was not a mess. I told her that made me very happy. Conner just wanted to listen to me talk.

Eric is learning what it's like to work all day and then come home and take care of kids and the house. Add in the worry he always has for me and the baby and that's really hard for him. He's used to getting a nice break when he gets home from work and I don't think he's getting that. But I know that if I can't be there, the kids really need him there.

So today after they cleaned up, Eric got out his Star Wars "guys" and played with them with the kids. I'm sure the kids loved this because they always want to handle the Star Wars game pieces... they don't understand the game dynamics yet but they try to imitate playing like they see Dad play. They move the pieces across the board, roll dice and pretend to have their pieces use light sabers against the other pieces. Or blasters... Katelyn prefers clone troopers so she doesn't do the lightsaber thing.

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Sat, Jun 24, 2006 10:19 AM
Another day in the hospital. Tomorrow is 30 weeks. I know that there's not a ton of difference physically between today and tomorrow. But it'll sure feel nice to know that I'm in the 30's instead of the 20's.

Today makes a week in the hospital. Wow... that long? Hopefully there's another month though! But even another week gets me into July.

Non-medicaly related, the June birthstone appears to be a pearl which is very pretty but the July one is a ruby. Given the situation, and as much as I like pearls, I want this child to have the ruby as a birthstone!

Everything is looking good still. Nothing to report there. I'm figuring out more ways to do stuff on the menu. For example, you can order a cheese pizza and eat only 1 piece and it's like eating breadsticks with a salad. Very yummy!

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Fri, Jun 23, 2006 2:31 PM
Just in case you're interested, my glucose level after lunch was 110. And that was with what I would consider a more high carb meal.

*self satisfied grin*

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Fri, Jun 23, 2006 1:50 PM
The OB came in. The one I don't like as much, but I can deal with that.

I got him to agree to write me a presription for a blood glucose monitor that will let me test my levels on my forearm instead of my finger. He also said that based on my sugars being low while on steroids, he didn't see any reason to limit my diet. I obviously make good choices on my own. That's a good thing.

I'm still frustrated but I'm feeling better. Copy and paste this link and you can understand a lot of my frustration better...
http://parenting.ivillage.com/pregnancy/pcomplications/0,,9cgc,00.html
Note that evidence shows that if you are confined to bed, your blood sugar levels will be higher. Certainly sounds like me!

I'm not opposed to keeping my glucose levels stable, I just find this whole process frustrating when I'm already keeping them level with my diet!

It helped that my midwives stopped by. They feel like I do. :D But their visit was such a comfort. They prayed with me for the baby and for the whole situation. I just cried. I don't normally cry during prayers but this was special. I'ts like my emotions released and came out. I needed that! A chance to just let out all the general stress that has probably been slowly building up. And the dissapointment from this morning.

They also offered to be doulas for this birth since it'll be in the hospital. That's amazing. Having the support from women who I connect well with and who can help me with everything and who can encourage both me and Eric... that's pretty special. That's a gift from God!

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Fri, Jun 23, 2006 8:37 AM
Ah, this morning was nice!

My nurse said that as long as everything was looking good, she didn't see a reason to wake me at 5 for morning vitals. I actually slept in sort of! Ok... 7:30 isn't much of sleeping in but compared to the other, it sure feels like it.

No word yet on my blood glucose numbers from yesterday. I'm assuming I'll find out today.

I'm still praying though. I had a breakfast planned of proteins and fats to balance out the sugar and help my body out. But when the person came in for the very early morning bloodwork, he wanted to do the glucola too. He talked to the nurse and it was decided that even though I hadn't even had a chance to order breakfast (kitchen wasn't open yet) that I'd take the test. So instead of a non-fasting one, I did it fasting. This isn't a huge deal because many women do it fasting across the US. But it still made me nervous.

He also took a baseline blood sugar. He had such a hard time getting my blood and I was such a needlephobic wimp, that he sent up a co-worker that had a reputation of a being good at getting blood easily and quickly.

Nurse just came in and blood glucose was 215. :(

The perinatologist came and didn't say anything about it though so I chose not to bring it up. I wimped out.

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Thu, Jun 22, 2006 12:00 AM
Quick prayer request..

Please pray for low blood sugar numbers tomorrow! Thanks.

I decided to go ahead with the gestational diabetes screen tomorrow. I'd rather not take the 3 hour test though so please pray that the numbers are low tomorrow so that I don't need to take the 3 hour!

Nothing else to really report today.

I kept off the computer because my room has been super hot. I thought it was just pregnancy hormones. But turns out that there was a problem with the air conditioning in my room. The maintence guy came up and said that my room was only getting about 10% off the air flow that it was supposed to be getting. There's also an air compressor that went out today so it's not completely fixed but it's so much better.

My room was like a sauna!

Even with the a/c though, I'm still leaving the hall door open because the hall is a lot cooler then my room still. I'll get it closed later so I can sleep comfortably.

Eric got to come up without the kids this evening. That was so nice. We sat on the bed and watched TV and just chatted. A lady from church brought the idea up to us and she babysat the kids so that Eric could come.

I also got a shower today. Amazing how little things are wonderful, huh? But it's the first I've had since I've been in the hospital and it felt soooo good.

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Tue, Jun 20, 2006 5:46 PM
Ok... latest update. I'm off the IV antibiotics but not IV fluids. Now I'll be taking oral antibiotics for 5 days.

My blood sugars have remained stable. The OB requested a oral glucose screen and I'm trying to decide if I'm going to waive that or not. Even with the steroids artificially inflating things, I've done well with my blood sugars. So I'm leaning toward just testing my blood glucose levels on a regular basis which is the alternative. One one hand, this means being poked 4 times a day one one finger or another. But since when I'm pregnant I try to eat very healthy, I'm concerned about slamming that much glucose into my body all at once and stressing things out.

I have until Thursday morning to decide.

Either way though, my blood sugar levels have remained low even with the steroids and that is excellent news. I did recieve insulin twice but that was only for being slightly over.

I'm happy about that.

Baby is kicking away as I type this. :D

I'm busy learning how to knit right now. My OB stopped by and dropped of a crochet kit yesterday and I finished the little blanket from that. It's tiny but this baby might be tiny. Compared to the other two kids, this baby will definitely be!

But today a friend dropped by with some baby yarn and a few small size knitting needles and a pattern for a preemie blanket, hat and sweater. I think I'm going to give the blanket a go first. It'll be good practice for learning how to knit.

Eric is also going to bring me some yarn to crochet a larger blanket. I'm excited to see what colors he chose. My sister told me that the yarn was very pretty but also gender neutral.

These yarn projects keep my hands busy. While I love using my laptop but my room really heats up by the end of the day so I don't want to use it too much... it keeps my lap very warm. I had a slightly elevated temp yesterday from all the heat. I'm hoping to avoid that today.

I've been overwhelmed by all the wonderful outpouring of everything... support, well wishes, wonderfully thoughtful small gifts.

I'm still aiming for a July birthday!!!

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Tue, Jun 20, 2006 10:35 AM
Minor good news but I'm happy about it.

My post breakfast blood sugar was 85! My fasting one (after eating ice cream just before bed last night) was only 92.

This makes me feel really good because the steroids that I was given artificially raise bloos glucose levels. So this means that I'm going back to normal and my normal is looking very nice.

Yay!!!

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Tue, Jun 20, 2006 8:35 AM
I was told this morning that I'd have another ultrasound. But now it appears that this was a mistake. Someone apparently saw the order from yesterday and was following it today.

I'm OK with that.

Less leaking last night which is hopefully a good sign. And no blood is what did leak.

Normally the instructions for a rupture are to lay on your left side as much as possible, staying as flat as you can. But every time I did this, the leaking seemed to increase. I'd noticed this even at home... if I slept on my left, I had larger gushes more often but if I slep on my right they were smaller and less frequent.

Add in that when I'm up, I leak even less... so I wondered. If this is a high leak on my left side (which makes sense because that's where the SCHs were) then if I lay down on my left, I'm putting the area of the leak on the bottom. Like putting a hole on the bottom of a bucket.

So yesterday I stayed mostely upright sitting and had no leaks during the day at all. And last night I tried to sleep that way too. The bed is elevated as high as possible on the head and I used my pillows to prop me up as much as I could. It appears to have worked based on what did (or rather didn't) come out.

If it continues to work, great! If not, it sure doesn't feel like I can lose much more water then I was before.

Baby is still moving very well and the monitoring sessions are looking wonderful. My blood sugars are coming down after the elevating effects of the steroids. My BP and everything else is looking good.

I had a bit of an elevated temp yesterday afternoon but I really think that it was from the room just being too warm. The nurses were continuously coming in and commenting about how warm it was. And that was with the heat totally off!

I turned of the computer, made sure the shades were pulled down (they already were) and kicked of the blankets. The temp came down by the next time I was measured. And it's been down since.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Things are going well here. Eric is overwhelmed at trying to handle home and kids and work as well as worrying about me here in the hospital.

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Mon, Jun 19, 2006 5:20 PM
GBS (Group B strep) culture came back and it was negative!! This is great news because GBS can cause big problems with ruptured membranes.

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Mon, Jun 19, 2006 11:33 AM
Ultrasound was this morning. Not so good news though... there was almost no fluid today. I was assured that this is one of those things that can fluctuate day by day. I'm continuing to drink lots, limit activity and I'm still on IV. The OB didn't seem too concerned though it isn't the best of news. It's not a disaster... just continue doing what we're doing.

Emotionally I took it hard though. My cousin stopped by just after I got back from the ultrasound and that timing was so perfect. I really needed someone to talk to. And there she was.

It was also comforting to talk to her about NICU babies and how things go. Everything is looking amazing for this child right now so I am very encouraged for that.

I'm still praying for July birthday though! Please do similiar. I figure that God says that 2 or 3 people praying together do amazing things... this baby has an amazing number of people praying so we we can storm God with prayers for health and a long(er) pregnancy.

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Mon, Jun 19, 2006 7:30 AM
It's Monday. My second day of waking up in the hospital.

Yesterday ended well. Eric stopped by along with Mom and Dad and Katelyn and Conner. Eric couldn't stay as long as he wanted to because the kids really needed to get home. But it was so nice to see them. Katelyn had a ton of questions about everything in the room. Conner just wanted to play.

We're noticing a general decrease in discipline. I have no doubt that this is due in large part to simply having multiple caregivers. But that can be remedied after we get through the next few weeks. Right now we're in "get through it" mode. And so far this is just little things like simply not listening when instructions are given. However, while I completely understand what is causing this and that it will probably get worse before it gets better, I also don't like seeing it.

Last night Mom was told by a nurse that usually if I get through this first week without going into labor, chances are very good I can go even longer. That would be wonderful. The reading I've done in the past says that at 32 weeks, the chances of long term effects from premature birth go way, way down. That's only 3 weeks away. I've already hit the point where keeping the baby has almost the same chance of survival (with help) as a full term baby. That's encouraging.

How am I doing?

I have bouts of anxiety. That's normal. But I also really prepared myself well for the possibility of this happening. So I'm dealing with this well emotionally.

The blood in the fluid concerns me. But that's within the range of normal from what I'm told. I passed a clot late last night which wasn't comforting but I'm learning to take that sort of thing in stride.

I'll find out today what's up with the amniotic fluid compared to the last ultrasound. This will be ultrasound number 9 this pregnancy.

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Sun, Jun 18, 2006 12:39 PM
I just finished meeting with the perinatologist and then talking to the OB. This went really well.

The perinatologist said that I'll probably be on antibiotics for about a week. So that means the IV stays in for at least that long. Have I mentioned how cold room temperature IV fluids feel when entering the hand?

If I were to deliver today I should expect Baby to stay in NICU for 2-3 months. Usually they go home a few weeks before their due date. But that going home date is very flexible depending on how they're doing.

*IF* I don't go into labor earlier then I'll be induced somewhere between 34 and 35 weeks. So it looks like a full hospital birth for this baby. One way or another. At that point gestationally, the risk of infection from the ruptured membranes is larger then the risk of induction and early delivery.

Not my preferred option but I definitely agree given the situation.

I'm off continuous monitoring since the monitor didn't detect a single contraction. But if I feel crampy or unusual the I'm to tell them and they'll check things out. Being as watchful as I am about that, I like this option.

I get my second steroid shot this afternoon which I'm really not excited about. But I'll deal with it. I really struggled when the OB mentioned the possibility of steroid shots to me last week. At that point, there was no good evidence of PROM and I wasn't showing signs of preterm labor so I was leary of getting the shots at that time. There some evidence that repeated shots can cause neurological problems and though I definitely agree that the steroids are wonderful, I really preferred to wait until things seemed more definite. So I'm getting them this week.

Both the perinatologist and the OB seemed positive about the possiblity of me moving out of the L&D area into the antepartum area. That will be nice. Rules are a little different, I can have more visitors (big thing is kids that aren't my own can come visit then) and I'll be more likely to have the same nurses the entire time. All good things.

I'm getting my blood sugar tested after every meal right now because the steroids can cause blood sugar problems. So far things have been good. Though I did have an insulin shot last night because it was ever so slightly high. I was surprised that it didn't hurt.

Keep Eric in your prayers. I think he's feeling a little overwhelmed at handling the kids' schedules right now. We signed Katelyn up for swim classes for two weeks and that starts tomorrow. She's been asking for this for a while and this is the first summer session. She's so excited about it! But Eric's a bit overwhelmed with taking her there and doing everything else too.

He's also looking for help in finishing the basement... either someone to take the kids for an hour or two (they really love walking to a park on the bike path!) so he can work or actually helping him do things. He's making a list for himself of what needs done so that he doesn't forget anything.

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Sun, Jun 18, 2006 8:00 AM
Eric went home last night for the evening. He'd planned before to have some guys over to help him finish the insulation on the basement. Since things were stable here I sent him home even though he didn"t like leaving me here at the hospital alone. Hopefully he got a really good night's sleep too.

When I talked to him yesterday he really managed to get a lot done. There's a couple of small things that he should be able to finish between today and Monday and then we'll be ready for the drywallers who are scheduled to come on Tuesday.

One of the sort of problems with my being in the hospital before each time was that I never seemed to have a gush while I was here. So that made it much more difficult for the doctors to diagnose what was going on.

That changed this morning. I got a gush. So now the doctors can see what I've been trying to describe to them all this time since it started. The nurse asked if it was normally this red and I said, "Yep." It makes sense that with the red in there, it's been difficult to figure out.

Otherwise, things are going well still.

The doctors have not diagnosed this definitely as PROM but I'm being treated as though it is. The OB I saw yesterday said she suspected it was a high leak, so right in the area of the SCHs. As long as I can keep amniotic fluid in for the baby then we're doing well.

Even without amniotic fluid, I've heard of women going quite a few weeks after a rupture. But that fluid is absolutely needed for developing the lungs and stomach. When the ultrasound was done yesterday there was a lot of fluid in the bladder so that bodes well for baby's continued development.

Yesterday Eric thought that having PROM and a probably preemie birth meant an automatic cesearean. He was thrilled to have it confirmed that there is still a possibility of non-cesearean birth. But that's all dependent on keeping baby healthy and everything.

Thank you for all your prayers. There's been an incredible peace about everything. I know that's completely due to the prayers. I'm looking at this from the perspective the God knows this baby's birthday exactly. There is nothing I can do to change that. My job right now is to grow the baby as healthy as possible until that day arrives.

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Sat, Jun 17, 2006 4:14 PM
We're here for the long haul...

The OB suggested (and we totally agree) on steroid shots starting today. These are a series of 2 shots given 24 hours apart and help to develop Baby's lungs. When it looks like more ready delivery (assuming we get longer then a week from now) then I'll be given a "rescue dose" which the OB said will renew the benefits of the steroids. The steroids are good for about a week so the rescue dose keeps me from having to be given new doses each week.

I'm also being given IV (ugg) antibiotics. And extra fluids to see if that will help increase the fluid levels. When and if I get to come home is all dependent on how fluid levels look and how baby is reacting to all this.

So it sounds like this baby will be born sooner rather then later. However, we are hoping still to keep him or her inside as long as possible.

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Sat, Jun 17, 2006 11:27 AM
Updating from the triage room of Labor and Delivery.

We came in this morning at a little after 1AM when I had a *much* larger "gush" then I've had before. Baby had been sluggish compared to normal yesterday so I was quite nervous anyways. So when the gush came, I called the OB nurse on call. Is it bad when she starts recognizing you by name because you've called her every weekend for the last 3 weeks?

Anyways... nothing since.

Of course.... Murphy's Law.

We had an ultrasound which included an amniotic fluid index (AFI) this morning and this is where the problems come in. Last weekend we were giving an AFI and measured 10 which is in the range of normal but low. On Tuesday we were measured again and measured 13.5 which was good news... the fluid was increasing.

Today we measured a 4. They like it to be at least above an 8 from what I've read on the internet. So it appears that I'm leaking fluid... PROM - premature rupture of mebranes.

We've not met with the OB yet to discuss this but I wanted to post an update for those who might read this. We have the laptop with us at the hospital this time (obviously) so I can update much more regularly this way.

Please pray for infections to stay at bay and for this baby to wait a few more weeks (at least) before being born.

Ultrasound measurments showed this baby as weighing approximately 3 pounds 10 ounces. Measuring a week or two ahead. Wonderful news if we're looking at a highly likely preterm birth.

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Mon, Jun 12, 2006 1:49 PM
I'm back on bedrest.

:(

But... the really good news is that there are no signs of any preterm labor (no cramping or contracting), no signs of cervical dialation or effacement, and the baby is doing amazing.

The pattern of my bleeding changed on Saturday to twice a day and had increased volume. It was also more red then pink. So we talked to the OB nurse on call and she suggested that we go into Labor and Delivery and see what is going on.

So we called Mom, she came over and took the kids (they'd just finally fallen asleep) and then we took off but stopped for supper on the way. I'm sooo glad we stopped! Baby's movement has been soo good lately that I just didn't feel like this was enough of an emergency to preclude supper.

We got there, and once again went to triage where I was hooked up to the monitors. Heartrate was great, zero contractions.

The triage nurse then came and told me that I'd be kept overnight because they couldn't get me an ultrasound that evening and that I'd be hooked up to an IV. If you want to see Kimberly freak out, threaten an IV! That contraction line started jumping up and down and I started to hyperventilate. The triage nurse was quite insistent that this be done though so I tried my hardest to calm down.

When our nurse came in and introduced herself to us, she said she'd talk to the OB and see if we could skip the IV. I must have looked terrible. It helped that this was a nurse who drew blood from me the last time we were in triage and she knew how hard it was to get blood from me anyways and how I reacted to needles in general. I'm more then a bit needle phobic.

Just before we left for our room, we were told that we didn't need an IV. *whew*

We went to our room, got settled for the night and just sort of hung out waiting for the blood draw.

That was when we got a very nice surprise... Kristen was on shift and stopped by to say Hi! We chatted for a while and assured her that we weren't there to bring her business any time soon.

Had more bleeding overnight, right on schedule.

The OB met with us in the morning and checked me out for dialation and a for leaking amniotic fluid. We had more blood work (a total of 3 pokes while in the hospital this time... I have some "interesting" bruises) and nothing problematic was found there. The ultrasound checked fluid levels and did a biophysical profile and everything showed up normal with baby doing very well.

So basically there is no known reason for this bleeding.

As a result, I'm on bedrest to see if it slows down or stops and I'm going in for twice weekly OB appointments.

What a roller coaster this pregnancy has been! Apparently I can't get through any pregnancy and birth without some sort of excitement. But isn't this enough for now?

Anyways... please keep me in your prayers that I can stay pregnant until full term. And less excitement would be an added blessing!

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Fri, Jun 9, 2006 10:59 AM
It just had to continue, didn't it?

No bleeding for a few days, then I woke up to a small amount yesterday. And more today. The part that concerns me is that it's getting more red each time.

The part that confuses me is that it's sooo watery and it is only showing up in the morning after I've been sleeping for a while.

It also seems totally unrelated to activity level. So while I'm taking it easy, I'm also not doing nothing. It's gotten more red with the less I do it's just confusing.

The good thing is that as soon as I laid back down this morning, I felt the required 10 counts in less then 15 minutes. (Actually more like 8 but it took a few minutes to get the first kick.)

I did call the OB office this morning and so they're informed. The nurse seemed as concerned as I did but she said she'd make a note of it in my records and that I'd get a call back if I should come in. Meanwhile she also said that I'm doing everything right... drinking lots of water, watching for fever, taking vitamin C, resting more then usual... all the things that she'd have told me to do except that I'm already doing them.

The strangest part of all this is the calm that Eric and I are feeling. We're concerned of course, and I know I'm feeling a bit frustrated that I'm not having my usual super easy pregnancy. But I'm also feeling a huge calm. That peace that you can only attribute to God. Thank you so much for your prayers in that area!

I've come to the point that I've decided that this baby is coming when God wants him/her to come and that very little that I do is going to change that. My role right now is to insure that whenever that birth happens, the baby is as healthy as possible at that time. So that's what I'm doing. Watching my diet, making sure I take my vitamins, drink lots of water and so on.

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Wed, Jun 7, 2006 8:45 AM
Uggghhh. No bleeding for a few days and now there's more again. Not much, no where near where the OB wanted me to call back, but still. I don't like it. It's that whole blood during pregnancy thing. Blood = not good.

Other then that though, the kids and I are doing well. We went shopping yesterday and picked up a lot of fresh veggies. Yum! That's our lunches for the next few days. Along with meat sandwiches because I picked up some sandwhich meat too.

The kids were so tired yesterday that they skipped lunch so we had carrots and sandwhiches for supper instead. They loved it. I cooked the lunch meat (I like to do that, it just makes me feel better since you see a lot of warnings about pregnant women and lunch meat) then put it on a piece of buttered bread, add cheese, add another piece of buttered bread and cook the whole thing as though it was a grilled cheese sandwhich. Sooo good. And grilling process helps it to stick together for the kids. Neither one eats quite a whole sandwich... usually they each eat 3/4 and I get about 1 1/2.

I've also decided that based on a day to day basis, I'm taking an evening walk with them. It's at Conner pace so nothing strenuous. And I base it on bleeding or not the morning before. This is the first morning since I've started that I've had bleeding so I felt good about the decision. I'll take it easy today and then if there's nothing tomorrow morning, I'll pick back up again.

I'm just tired of being unfit. I was really working hard at my fitness levels both before this pregnancy and at the beginning and it's discouraging to see that go down the tubes with bedrest. I'm offically off restrictions so this seemed like a good way to start. I've also gone to the pool twice in the last week. That felt *really* good! Can't do that this morning though... I only do that if I've not had bleeding for 24 hours.

Kick counts: both what the OB told me and what I've read agree... I'm supposed to focus on baby once per day at a regular time. During that time I should lay down and just focus on kicks or movements. I need to fill a minimum of 4 per 1/2 hour or 10 per hour.

That is not a problem here! This baby is active! I decided that for my own peace of mind I'd do it 2x a day instead. And just take notice of movements the rest of the day. I'm a bit paranoid this pregnancy and so doing kick counts more often just keeps me calm. This baby though... I can ge 10 kicks/movements in less then 5 minutes usually. If I don't, I start to get concerned. But I've once the baby has woken up, I've never had a problem. A well moving baby is generally a healthy baby.

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Sun, Jun 4, 2006 5:58 PM
I've kind of been dreading this weekend. The amount of time between my first SCH resolving and the second starting was 6 weeks. It's now been 6 weeks after the 2nd SCH resolving.

And I woke up to blood again.

Not much this time. Nothing like the second SCH.

I've already called the OB office and spoke to the nurse practitioner on call. She said to not go to L&D unless it turned into period like bleeding. I'm also feelng good movement (I've hit the 10 movements that you're supposed to feel in an hour... but I felt them in less then 30 minutes) so baby is doing OK right now.

But I still nervous. Needless to say, I'm not going to church today. I'll be sitting at home on the couch.

Man, you'd think I'd get a break from this bleeding stuff by this part of the pregnancy!

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