Counting down, in the single digits now

Bedrest is coming to an end...ahhhh. But not too soon, I have a week left to bake Pumkin. We have a c-section scheduled at 34 weeks and then depending on what the baby needs, to the NICU baby will go. Hopefully, for not too long.

On a bad note, we got the bill from Spectrum of course that sucks...not fun. And of course, there will be one from Bronson and then the baby's bill from Bronson...yikes. This will be a tight year. But that is the last thing on my mind right now. I just need to keep baby in as long as possible and hope and pray for the best.

It's getting better....10 more days at the most

So today I met with "my" doctor, the doctor that gets test results right when talking to me, will be delivering the baby (because I am going to make it to 34 weeks and he is going to perform the c-section), and is the one that I was referred to due to his excellent reputation and patient skills.

It truly put my mind at ease. He has made appointments for me today to meet with a neonatologist from downstairs to further ease my mind about what baby will be like at 32.5, 33, and 34 weeks. So hopefully, he/she will come while Brian is visiting.

I will also be meeting with a dietician. I am having a heck of a time gaining weight. They are not concerned, because the "baby will get what it needs first" but I am and them are hoping that I will be gaining more so that the baby does as well.

Rollercoaster Sunday...

So I am a hormonal mess now. I was able to collect the AF like they wanted and they were able to test it. It scored 40 or 49 (I swore that I heard 49 last night, but that was at 3am) either way, it is rated as an intermediate maturity, not immature, but not mature either. So lungs are definitely maturing, but not fully done yet.

So, when the med student woke me up at 6:15, he confirmed the results of the test, and then said "So that means we won't be rushing into delivery anytime soon" I said ok and tried to go back to sleep.

At about 9:45, the doctor came in and says "so how do you feel about having a baby today?" Enter rollercoaster emotions...tears, unable to logically ask questions and get the info I needed. She left me to call Brian and then talk to her about it later.

Brian rushes like a mad man to get Greyson taken care of and get here before 11. She came in at about 10:30 and said that she wasn't going to induce because of my previous c-section and she wasn't the dr on call. So, this has been, even before noon, an ups and downs day.

So, I guess the current plan is, if nothing goes wrong, to wait until I naturally go into labor or hit 34 weeks, when they would be happier doing a c-section if that is what we want.

Now, I just need to relax...

Saturday's big plans

So it is Saturday here at the hospital...not much to do but grow a baby and watch the lifetime movie marathon. I know, sick and wrong, but the drama keeps it fresh...lol

I am doing the first thing well. Pumkin is a moving machine. Moving so much and getting so big, the movements are not always comfortable. The back rolls make my stomach look like there is an alien in there. The kicks are very forceful, despite what the 32 week update says "that baby will sleep most of the day and the movements will slow" I'm calling BS on this one. So I think this baby is getting big.

I am having a hard time eating. I get so full due to lack of room. Not to mention you don't burn many calories when you are laying in bed....all day and night long. But I force it down for Pumkin. I am trying to get in 1800 calories a day, which they recommend for growth of baby...but it is hard.

Friday tests were a bust

So no tests got to be run due to not enough or not enough qaulity of the fluid. We will try to get a sample again tonight. So other than the baby sounds great on the monitor still, I have no real updates.

I am finding myself increasingly frustrated and depressed with the bedrest...it's getting old. 24 days and counting, although I know it is best for baby. So send me me good happy vibes....

I am officially at 32 weeks now, which is fantastic. I have officially made it 3 weeks and 3 days longer than they originally thought I would go...

Almost 32 weeks...

So, it is official. I have made it 3 weeks longer than the dr's initially predicted. They gave me most likely 24-48 hours after my water broke to deliver. I was under 29 weeks when this happened and I am 32 weeks tomorrow.

So tomorrow, baby hits a big milestone. 32 weeks is what the hospitals I have been in look at as the "if baby makes it to 32 weeks in-utero, he/she will be as good as a full termer" milestone. So at this point, they start to really weigh the pros and cons for baby and me of delivery vs. waiting to 34 weeks.

The biggest risk of course is infection. I am now off IV antibiotics, so the risk increases. The best way to determine how baby will do outside is to check the amniotic fluid for fetal lung maturity. This is what they plan on doing tomorrow. When we get the results that will tell us what we have to weigh at that point.

venting...

I am sorry that I haven't been online as much, updating you all as to what all is going on. I have found that it is a little harder to write about anything that might be considered negative more than positive. But then again, the writing process does seem to be quite therapuetic.

So on Monday, things were a little rough. I had been told that the IV was going to be in longer and not only was it going to be in longer, it had to be replaced. Something that was done at about 6:30 in the morning. This was not really fun for me, but oh well, it is done.

Due to the gestational diabetes, my blood sugar is regularly monitored. The protocol here, is that it has to be drawn 1 hour after you start eating. I have to let them do it and I call when I am done eating so they can come draw at the right time. Monday, they showed up, what I thought was early and of course it was high, even though the same meal the day before had resulted in lower ##'s. So if I hadn't said anything I would to have insulin, which would have crashed my normal levels.

The part of the day that sucked the most was when it was time for monitoring, I had just woken up from a nap and was still groggy. I went to use the bathroom first and caught my leg on the sheet and crashed out of bed....landing mostly on my head. I have a nice mark on my forehead and nose and knees to show this act of grace, which of course wasn't good for the baby in a already fragile environment. I laid on the monitor for 6 hours and it didn't seem to phase baby.

So fast forward to Tuesday, I wake up with some fluid loss and bleeding, which they say is "normal" for my condition, but abnormal to me, because I haven't had that in 3 weeks. Rushed to u/s baby looks good, monitor, baby looks good, baby is still moving and active. That is all good, but I now have very low fluid levels and am being much more closely monitored.

If nothing else, it has put my sunny attitude in check and I have been kinda weepy and depressed since it happened. So I am just trying to remain as calm as possible because I know that is best for baby.

You are now updated for the last few days...

Holiday weekend fun...

So today, just getting used to the new routines in the new hospital...

1. The heparin shots at spectrum have been replaced with these cool leg cuffs that massage your legs to keep the blood flowing. Stopped the bruise count from the shots at 14 and thank goodness I won't be spurting for blood sugar tests soon. It was disgusting this morning.
2. The 2 new betamethazone shots are definitely playing games with the blood sugar again. I got my last one yesterday, they take about 5 days to get out of your system, so I am getting insulin again. But at least I know what to expect.
3. The room here is nice...bright and airy. It has a courtyard and you can see other rooms across it....needless to say I spent the last two days worrying about mooning the chick across from me on my numerous bathroom trips.
4. The IV has been ordered for 7 days....7 days of hell. The 24 hours was "bad information" that I got. Oh well, I am adding it to the overdramatic birth story that Pumkin will hear.

On the good side, baby is stable, moving well, great heartrates. I also got new flowers from my boys and my grama...beautiful star gazer lillies and yellow roses.

Hope you all are having a beautiful weekend. It looks like it is nice outside.

31 weeks.....whooo hooo

Whoohoo, I made it to 31 weeks! This is huge in baby/fetal development! I will be celebrating with a delicious omelet. Bronson has some good food here.

This may sound trivial, but me eating is essential to baby (and me) gaining weight. Spectrum's food was pretty good, and I managed to help baby gain a whole pound in less than 2 weeks, which is awesome! So if I want baby to put on another pound and a half in the next 3 weeks..momma needs to eat.

Everything is good, everything is stable, I get to kiss the IV pole gone in 6 hours, which may help me stop mooning the chick across the courtyard. I swear she has seen my butt a good 7 times. Her little chair faces my room. I was more than happy when she pulled her shades last night!

I get to meet Dr Austin today, who is the high-risk specialtist who will be my primary doctor. I will update more once I talk to him...

Going home....

Well, I am going home. We spoke to the doctor and he is happy with me being able to go home and basically do what I am doing here. Strict bedrest with bathroom privledges.

Here is what we found out in the tests today:

1. Test for AF leaking was negative again
2. AF level, although low, has remained constant

So, I will be going home with care from a specialist from Bronson until at least 34 weeks and then possibly resume treatment with my original OB. It really just depends on what happens on a week to week basis.

Treatment at home (or in Kzoo) will consist of:

1. Twice weekly non-stress tests, which would have been the case with GD anyway, they monitor the heartbeat and movement of the baby and any contractions I might have
2. Weekly ultrasounds to monitor AF to see if there is any reduction or change.

So wish us luck and keep up the prayers for Pumkin!

Trying a walk...got all three in now! (edit)

So today, not only have I been given the wheelchair privledges to go for a ride, they also wanted to send me for a walk to see what happens. They are looking for amniotic fluid leaking. I am supposed to walk around the floor about 3 times today. One down.

All that happened was that I was scared to walk fast, had a nervous physiological reaction (sweating and heart beating fast) so that is good.

I did notice while walking that my belly, although hard and tight feeling, is getting huge. Huge when you went from hardly being noticeably pregnant is good...

So I got my three walks around the unit done. The first was nerve wrecking, the second I did with company, and the third was almost at normal speed. I made it and all is well.

Pleasantly boring day....

In the high risk pregnancy floor, no news is good news. Meaning the more boring the better. My day has been quite uneventful, unless you include my tasks of:

• eating (a lot....although I haven't gained a pound, in fact have lost 6 since being here)
• reading...I started a new book today and am halfway thru..it's really good
• napping, I have managed to take 2 naps today, despite the fact that there was a 2 year old in the next room who was having a tantrum, for about 15 minutes.

Baby is doing well, so well, that we are having a hard time monitoring heartrate. There is just so much movement. Especially after meals, try doing a nonstress test then and you won't get anything. Heartrate has been fluctuating between 140's when the baby is calm and 160's when moving all over.

At 3am the baby decided to keep me company as I wasn't able to sleep. How nice huh?

Tomorrow is likely to be boring as well, the big day will be Wednesday. I have an ultrasound where they will measure fetal growth, which I swear has to be immense. I feel the kid move all the time... They will also be measuring levels of amniotic fluid, which was 5.9 last time. I have been diligently drinking 120 oz of water a day to help replenish this. So that will be most likely when I have some real updates.

Happy news...Resident's report

So I just met with the hottie resident who has been on staff everyday, with both doctors, since I got here. She has never spoke during their visits with me, but today, she had plenty to say.

I mentioned that the two drs seem to be "on the same team" but on "different pages"...she agreed. She told me what goes on in the meetings that they don't tell due to fear of "sue happy" patients.

Agreement is this:

• Both feel that I have resealed (which is the best thing that could happen)
• Both feel comfortable without reservation with sending me home

Difference in opinon is this:

• Dr S would send me home without pushing amnio because he is confident in the amnisure test and feels amnio is unnecessary. He also feels at this point I am probably at the same risk as any other pregnant woman who hasn't had a premature rupture of membranes.
• Dr Z would send me home, but would recommend the amnio, but not force it.

I also talked to the resident about Dr Austin, who is now at Bronson, who I would see if I went home. She said he is amazing. The best and favorite of all the nurses and patients. The only thing she warned me of is that he would really push for me to name the baby "Robert" if it was a boy, as that is his name...

Dr. S also said the problems we are having with monitoring...too active baby...could be a sign of a big increase in amniotic fluid. Which would be awesome....

Friday...uneventful

I always wonder if people get frantic thinking..."what happened, I didn't hear from her today?" when I miss a day. Yes, it was the first day that I missed doing an update, but it is basically because the day was pretty uneventful...which on this floor is GOOD.

I am boring the nurses, but they do fight over me. Seems I am a good patient who doesn't give them much trouble. They like that. And I like that.

Monitoring went well, minus the fact that Pumkin has no desire to stay on the monitor. (S)He would rather move around and have us try to find where (s)he went. Good strong heartbeat and lots of movement.

My blood sugars are all under control of diet, although I have had to learn what the real carbs of all the foods on the menu are as opposed to what they list them as. For example, the list a baked potato as 2 carb counts, but it really is about 4. Thus, I almost blew my levels by eating 1/2 of one. But that is part of this trial and error of diet control. At home, it is easy, because I can see all the labels.

Nothing much to report, I had a few visitors and went for a wheelchair ride, which is nice to get out of the room a little. Brian and Greyson are coming up today so it will be a good day!

Thursday Morning Updates

Well, little pumkin is a mover and shaker. I have been feeling him/her move ALL morning long, starting at 6am. While this is greatly reassuring, try to get a fetal monitor on a hyper baby...it doesn't happen so easily.

Remember the fetal monitor strip I posted a few days ago, where it shows fetal movement? Well, this is how it looked today: ____________ a thick black line that indicates he just didn't stop moving the whole time.

The baby woke up at 6am with me and kept going and going...and going. But once we held it in place we finally got great readings of a strong heartrate and no contractions.

I now have wheelchair ride privleges...so I made it out of the room for the first time yesterday! I get to go today too! Whoo hoo.

While out, we stumbled upon the "wall of babies". This is a celebratory section of the floor where parents have documented their baby's success stories. They have babies anywhere from 23-24 weeks (which is before "age of viability") to 34-36+ weeks. It was quite inspirational to see all the beautiful healthy babies that made it through a big struggle at such a young age.

I also have been corresponding with another mom from Michigan who was in my same situation about a year ago. She ruptured at 24 weeks, went home at 29 because they thought she had sealed up, started leaking a few days later and lost every bit of amniotic fluid, and then was back in the hospital for another 5 weeks. At 34 weeks, she delivered a healthy baby girl who only was in the NICU for a week and didn't need any respiratory assistance. Her little girl was born at 5 lb 10 oz and 19 inches! It is quite inspirational to me...and really reaffirmed my decision to hang here for at least another week.

Wednesday Test Results

Testing began bright and early this morning. In fact, the amnisure test was complete by 6:25am...

This test is designed to determine the presence of amniotic fluid leaking. It was NEGATIVE. What does this mean? We know that it means there is no leaking at the moment it was taken. However, before and after the test, we don't know about.

The next test was performed using ultrasound technology, I think it's called an AFI. It was to determine an approximation of the amount of amniotic fluid present. The results showed 5.9 (whatever measure). I checked in last Wednesday, when I had my first ultrasound Friday morning, my levels were 4.9 (again, whatever measure) So the good news is, there is an increase and no apparent leaking. But normal levels are 8-10, so still a little low.

So at this point, they are actually comfortable enough to release me, but not without reservation. If my levels were higher, then they would do it no problem. The dr said she would like to see 8-10. So with this in mind, we decided to err on the side of caution, remain here another week for monitoring and revisit the issue next week, after another AFI test.

The big factor that comes in here is the issue of fetal development. We have already bought a week, which in baby age is amazing. Today is my 30-week milestone and when we re-evaluate I will be 31 weeks, which is huge. Their goal is still 34 weeks, which would be very close to full term, but not beyond due to the risk of infection it presents.

So next week, if levels are up, we will most likely go home and start treatment at Bronson. There is a dr that had been part of the Spectrum team for years, who is now at Bronson. They would set me up with him for monitoring and evaluation on a regular basis.

Due to the healthcare insurance crap issues, there is no way to just transfer me from here to Bronson. I would have to go home, have an issue and then be readmitted to Bronson in order to have the hospital stay covered by insurance. They would like me there for the baby's stay if possible, as it would be easier for all involved. But, we are taking it one day at a time...

Wednesday = Test Day

My Wednesday may not be much fun...lots of tests scheduled.

1. Ultrasound which will measure the amount of amniotic fluid in comparison to the level of the one done on last Friday.
2. Amnio-Sure test, which basically will indicate if there is still fluid leaking that I am not detecting.

• If it is positive...this is home sweet home for a while
• If it is negative..then we have a few options, one of which is the amniocentesis procedure where they would inject dye into the amniotic sac and then monitor for leaking (this would most likely rule that there has been no more leaking)

If the tests conclusively say no leaking, they will most likely figure out a way to release me with who knows what kind of treatment that I would have to do at home. Yikes, nervous about all this...think happy thoughts for me!

Monday Updates

No news appears to be good news. Everything continues to be going well. The monitoring sessions that happen in the morning and night both are going well. Always showing a strong heart rate and no contractions.

I pasted a pic on here so you can see what a fetal monitor log looks like. The top is what monitors the fetal heart rate, the bottom contractions. (This is not mine, but one I found on the net) Mine looks like this one on the top, but a flat line indicating no contractions on the bottom. The minute he/she feels the pressure of the monitor it is like wake up time.

The above doesn't show where the fetal movements are indicated. That is shown right in between the strips and it looks kinda like a lotto strip that has been filled in. So by the time the monitoring is done, the strip looks like little pumkin has been doing morse code, there are so many little ticks of movement.

I have another ultrasound on Wednesday, which will be the true test of how everything is going. So keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Mother's Day...what a gift

I was greeted this morning early with a cheerful little voice wishing me a happy mother's day on the phone, which nearly induced a full hormonal reaction..yes, my boys called me first thing to wish me a happy Mommy's day. Then I had the pleasure of actually seeing them and getting a great card and some nice keep you busy items to make the time here pass faster.

I also got to see my neices and nephew too, so all in all a great day for visiting, relaxing and just incubating.

An issue we have been struggling with is my blood sugar levels. I was diagnosed as having gestational diabetes the day this all happened and hadn't gotten to the education part to see what would be the course of action to control it. So between the steriods used to mature baby's lungs and the higher than what I thought I should be getting levels of carbs, my blood sugar has been off the charts. I have had to have insulin injections since checking in. Today....none. In fact, if anything my sugar is low, not high. Sounds like it is getting kinda figured out. They are really on top of it.

Luckily, when Brian was here, he actually got to talk to the dr and nurses that I see everyday. He was able to ask questions and I hope get answers he was looking for. One answer, that we are holding cautiously optimistic about is that, next week, probably Wednesday, they are going to be doing another ultrasound to monitor the levels of amniotic fluid. The dr mentioned that he was surprised to see the levels he did from the last ultrasound and that I may be in the rare few that actually have the amnion (baby sac) patch back up and thru process of nature, fill back up with fluid..good mommy drinking over 120 oz of water a day! AND....he said depending on the results of the test to determine how much fluid is in there, I may actually be discharged.

Dischaged...scares the hell out of me. I am in the safety of a nationally ranked hospital where if anything should happen, they can fix it. At home, I would still be on complete bedrest, which is also scary, but seemingly unrealistic at home....a 3 year old, 2 dogs and a family that needs me..yes, it would be harder in my opinion.

So we are taking all of this with a grain of salt. Certainly celebrating the possibility of this being the best news that we could ever receive!

Saturday's Updates

Whoohoo the iv pole is GONE! I am now on oral antibiotics for awhile, but no fluids or iv drugs anymore.

Baby is doing well, morning monitoring went well. Good strong heartbeat and lots of movement, which kinda sucks, it hurts a little. There is no cushion for the pushing or kicking so I feel everything. Not complaining though. A happy baby is a moving baby.

Mom is doing good too. No more iv drugs as previously celebrated, lots of visitors and calls, flowers, and got to see both of my boys. My sweet Greyson brought me some lilacs from our house that are so yummy smelling, it doesn't even smell like a hospital in here! I also got to ditch the gown...yes in my own comfy clothes now!

I am still working on the blood sugar issue, but that is mostly due to the steriods they gave me to help Pumkin's lungs develop. Other than that all is well, baby, my spirits and everything else.