28 weeks!

Yep, it's been a long time since I posted. SO much has been going on.

First, we went to Texas! It was so great. The drive down was... interesting. We left right after Baker's exam on 12/19 and drove to Louisville, Kentucky! We made great time. We got to our hotel, checked in, got Roxy settled, and went to the D.rury happy hour. We had 3 drink tickets so Baker got all of my drinks, too :) I did have a few sips of wine, though, and it was GOOD. But Baker's Rum and Coke was just DISGUSTING to me. Some alcohol just makes me sick. When we were done there, we went over to Olive Garden for a nice dinner. It was so fun, I love Olive Garden and Baker and I rarely go out together anymore. Got some sleep that night and headed out for Dallas the next day.

Man was that a LOOOONG day. First, we ran into an accident on the freeway at about 10am and sat stopped on the freeway for about an hour and a half. Finally got through that and cruised on. Then at about 3pm or so I guess, we got stuck behind ANOTHER accident just outside of Little Rock, AR. We were there for literally 3, 3.5 hours. I don't think anyone was hurt - it was an 18-wheeler that had caught on fire but it was in the cargo, not in the cab. We made it to Dallas around 11pm, and man we were tired. Pat was so accommodating and we got to stay in their wonderful guest room for the night. We left the next day around 9am and finally made it to San Antonio around 1pm. We dropped our stuff at the house and headed to Momo's house where the family was making cookies. Momo had lunch prepared and everything - wonderful to come home to!!! Everyone investigated my belly and said I was small, but I expected that :)

My shower was on 12/23 and it was wonderful. Don't get me wrong, I was a little bit concerned about the lack of notice people had, but it really went well. A lot more people came than I thought. Kari, Lori, Kelsey, Mom and Dad King, and my mom really worked hard getting set up for the shower. People started arriving right before 6pm and had chicken salad to eat and some other yummies. I made my rolo treats and Oreo truffles, yum! They were a big hit, as usual. I was proud :) It was EXHAUSTING talking to everyone but I was glad to do it. I probably sat down more than the normal honoree does but I was trying to follow my "modified bedrest" orders. It was wonderful seeing everyone - lots of Baker's family came and lots of our friends came as well, which was so nice. Then, Kari had me start opening presents. People sat around and watched me and it was a bit unnerving but fun. I was glad that it was a couples shower so Baker could sit with me and help unwrap. He had a cute comment for almost every gift, like, for some burp cloths, he said "well, that's the cleanest those will EVER be!" haha. I think my husband is so funny. When all was said and done, we got some great gifts. I mean, people really did come through and get us some great stuff off of our registry - USEFUL stuff! I mean, I got a lot of clothes but I really did get a lot of other things as well. YAY! Baker gave a really great "thank you" speech the way that only my husband can, and it was so touching.

Christmas Eve was filled with wrapping presents and hanging around the house. We went to church as well, which was great. We went out to Momo's church and it was a great service. Christmas Day was wonderful as well. LOTS of present opening and a speech from my mother in law about how "next year we can't go overboard", which she says every year. We spent a few hours at home and then headed out to Momo's house, where Christmas ensued again :) I think my parents were a bit overwhelmed but at the end of the day, they had a great time. They left the next day before we headed out for the Sauer party. The Sauer party was fun, and I enjoyed visiting with people, etc. but it was nice that we didn't stay TOO long because I was really starting to get exhausted from all of the activities that Christmas involves.

The next few days, I really did rest around the house. I was just overtired from everything. I made sure I was drinking tons of water, laying around, all of that. I even turned people down when they wanted to do something - I just felt like I needed to recover.

So we went to church on New Years Eve and I had 22 contractions in 1 hour. It was insane. I couldn't stand up when I was supposed to stand up, I just had to sit there and contract. It was terrible. I just concentrated on getting to go home soon and lay down and drink a bottle of water, hoping that would help. And honestly, we got home, and didn't give it long enough to work - I was clearly in a crisis. My mother in law got on the phone with the closest hospital to see if they'd take me directly into L&D, warned them that I was coming, and Baker took me in.

I got there and they put me in a bed in triage and hooked me up to the monitors. I was contracting over and over again. A nurse came in and checked my cervix, she said that I was 1-2cm dilated and 50% effaced. I was totally freaked out by this news because that was clearly a change from when I was in Ohio. So then, they were deciding what to do with me and the nurses came back in saying that I was having late decelerations of the baby's heart. Not good news. They put me on oxygen. I was trying to keep it together and so was Baker, but I started crying - I thought the baby was coming and so did the nurses. Before I knew it, they were admitting me and putting me on magnesium sulfate. Luckily, this hospital was really nice and I got a really nice L&D room. The mag sulfate slowed my contractions but made me feel like crap. They brought in a portable ultrasound and checked my cervix and the baby - my cervix was shortening and thinning, but baby looked fine, so that was good. They put a catheter in me so I wouldn't have to get up to pee - yikes, that doesn't feel so good. The first night I swore I had to pee the whole time but I finally got used to it. So my mother in law came to visit me, and Baker stayed with me through the night. My first night was really bad - I had gotten demerol and phenergen and though I slept a bit, I woke up vomiting twice. Luckily, the nurse came quickly but Baker had to take care of me. Thank GOODNESS he was there. It was so comforting having him there. He was so sweet to stay with me. I saw the doctor at about 3am but I honestly don't remember much about seeing him except that he said that I would have to stay for awhile.

The next day, I saw the perinatologist, Dr. Mc.Farland, and another OB that ended up being my primary doc, Dr. Cr.ockett. They were very nice but laid down the law - I was going to be in the hospital until they could control these contractions, and I would not be allowed to go back to Ohio for the remainder of my pregnancy. It was hard news to take, but I knew it was the right decision, and so did Baker. So Baker spent as much time with me as he could, but on the 3rd, he had to fly home. My wonderful brother got him a flight with his rewards points, it was so incredibly sweet of him. Baker hated going back while I was still in the hospital, but we really had absolutely no choice. He has to go on with his education.

So I stayed in the hospital and talked to Baker as much as I could. They weaned me from the Mag sulfate, I started contracting, they turned it back up - I think that happened about 3 times over the course of my stay there. The first few days in the hospital, I was almost magnesium toxic. It was awful, I could hardly lift my arms, couldn't move, and the worst thing was that I couldn't even focus my eye muscles to see anything! It was really tough. I was laying there watching TV but I didn't even feel well enough to care what was on TV. Cindy, Kari, Kelsey and her friend Brian came by a lot to see me, and even brought me food, drinks, etc. It was so sweet.

So finally on Tuesday Jan 6th, I was seen by Dr. McFarland. She told me that she wanted me to come over to her office and take a look at me and the baby with her ultrasound (which she said was better) to get a look at things. Oh man, that was an adventure. They took out my catheter and unhooked me from the monitors - I was free for a few minutes! They wheeled me over to the office and dropped me off. I swear, I probably scared the other patients - I needed a shower and I was in that ghastly hospital gown! They got me back right away, had me fill out paperwork, and did my ultrasound. I got to see my little Patches on a 50 plus inch plasma TV. It was wonderful. He is SO cute, I am dying to hold that little one. My cervix was measuring longer than they thought and baby looked great. He's still a little small, but not worrisome small, and I'm small, so doc said it was okay. So. Dr. McFarland recommended my release! But then I sat around in the waiting room again waiting for the nurses to take me back to L&D. I had to wait awhile because they had an insane day over there. It was awful - I was pretty sure that I was flashing the people behind me but I wasn't sure what to do about it - I couldn't fix it without making it worse. So I just sat there feeling really uncomfortable. They finally came to get me and I can't tell you how happy I was to get out - to lay around somewhere comfortable and get out of that bed. To be able to shower. To not have the catheter anymore. I had to wait around for my (new) regular OB to come around on rounds and release me, but Dr. Troy came at about 2pm and allowed for my release. I was ecstatic. Got my stuff together and got the hec outta there. We got my medicine (Nifedipine, otherwise known as Procardia) on my way home along with some Palapas :) It was great.

So my first few days home, I mostly slept and stared at the TV. I had a hard time adjusting to the meds - I had a headache for the first few days and it was BAD. I knew that it was bad when I couldn't even sleep the headache off! Plus, every time I took the meds, I had to go directly to sleep. But, I finally started to get used to it, and on Thursday night, Baker came to visit me! I was so happy to see him. I wasn't allowed to go with the in laws to pick him up from the airport, and he came in and I was just overwhelmed with emotion at seeing him. He was just so happy to see me looking so much better and feeling so much better. He bought a Winnie the Pooh toy for me and got it out immediately, and said that he wants me to sleep with it so that when we give it to the baby it will smell like me. SO cute. So totally sweet. I can't believe I am married to such a wonderful man. We stayed up really late talking and it was just so wonderful :)

I loved having him here way too much. We took the in laws to the airport on Saturday morning - they went to a wedding. We grabbed breakfast at a our favorite pancake place (shhhh!!!) and came home. We lounged around together all morning and it was just luxurious. We just watched Monk all morning and I cross stitched. Baker went for a run and then we went to see "Yes Man" at the movies. (again, shh!!!). It was so fun to do that together. We came home and Kari came over to visit. When she left, we went to get dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (picked it up) and I quickly tried on bras at Victoria's Secret so that I knew what the hec bra size I wear now (since my bras don't fit). I am so excited that I am up a whole cup size, yahoo! Baker was excited too haha. Then we just ate our dinner at home and watched TV. It was just so nice to be together.

Then at around 10pm we got a text from Baker's aunt asking if it was okay for them to come over - well, of course, but I didn't know they had people with them! And here I am looking like crap. OH well. They were all kinda tipsy, it was funny. They left and we stayed up for awhile having fun together. Baker had to get up early the next day and get on his flight. I woke up really sad, cried in his arms about it, voiced my fears, all of that - and oddly, it made me feel better.

So Baker is gone now and I'm sad. We're trying to work out the next time he comes and all of that - it's not easy for him to get here, flights aren't so easy to come by. We'll just have to do the best that we can. We have some Continental miles but those aren't easy to use. Southwest is neither economical nor efficient for the flights we need, so that's disappointing. We'll make it work, we have to.

So I just spend my days on the computer, watching TV, cross stitching, reading, all of that. It's not a bad life but it is frustrating for a type-A personality like me. I think my spirits are relatively high given the situation. I am just trying to concentrate on keeping little Patches in there for as long as I can and the rest will fall into place - right????

Pictures - enjoy!

24 weeks!

Okay, so I'm 24.5 weeks now :) Went to the doc on Tuesday, all is well! I am beyond elated - the fetal fibronectin test was negative! WOOHOOO!!!! I'm likely NOT to deliver in the next 3 weeks! Good thing. Baby needs to stay in there a bit longer! I got to see Dr. C, he's so nice. He said it was fine for me to travel (pending the negative test, of course) and said to have a good time. But stay on my modified bedrest of course :) He checked my cervix, still long and closed, woohoo! I now weigh 111.8 lbs, so I am up 8 lbs from when I came in for my first visit at 7 weeks. No talking to yet but I am guessing if I don't start putting on some weight then I am really going to hear about it. MUST EAT MORE! I got to have an ultrasound as well - my cute little baby is 1 pound 3 ounces now. He's sitting "Indian style" in my belly with his butt down (on my bladder, as always). He's in the 26th percentile for size and weight - so he's small, but not alarmingly so. Doc was like, you're small, so he's small. Makes sense to me but I'm going to work on plumping him up :)

So we're getting ready to head to Texas TOMORROW! I am so excited. I am pretty much packed and ready to go. I got my hair cut today, nothing new just shortened it and shaped it up a bit, and enhanced the color. I'm very pleased, as usual, and the prices in this small town ROCK! Still have a few things to do to get ready but I'm certainly on track. Baker is home and studying for his exam tomorrow. I think I'm gonna take a break and lay down for a bit, I'm really tired today. BUT, I have no excuse, I had a great night last night! No pain, no waking up all the time, I really slept well! Fell asleep at about 11:30pm and woke up (I think only once) to pee but when I really woke up, it was 7am! I SLEPT! I felt like jumping up and down it was such an accomplishment.

So I guess the next time I blog I'll be in Texas! Enjoy the 24.5 week belly pic and new haircut :)

Parked in Expectant Mother Parking...

Okay, so this may be a dumb thing to post/blog about but I had to say it. It was too cool. I've always wanted to park in Expectant Mother Parking. I'm 23 weeks and on modified bedrest, and I still felt guilty doing it? WHY? I have no idea. I had to talk myself into it. Kelly... you're 23 weeks along, on modified bedrest - if this spot ISN'T for you, then who is it for? Okay. So I parked there. I was waiting for people to yell at me haha. It's just that although I am showing, winter clothes hide a lot. I was prepared with a response and everything! I found out that it wasn't THAT silly that I was prepared with a response - a girl on my chat boards said that an old man asked her if she was really pregnant or just fat and lazy??? Man, if someone said that to me, I would not be a happy camper. I think that I would have said something mean back. But, luckily, I parked there without incident :)

So I've started doing kick counts at the suggestion of the nurses (and my prodding husband haha!). Patches is so good at kicking. Lowest recorded in a 30 minute session so far is 25. Highest? 71. Yeah. He likes to kick. I'm proud :) But who knew how hard it is to lay still on your side for 30 minutes to count kicks 3 times a day? I mean I don't even do that much and it's hard to do. You actually have to concentrate on it - at least I do, because I'm used to the kicking. Funny stuff.

23 weeks!

I'm 23 weeks! And guess what???? I FINALLY LOOK PREGNANT! I'm so excited :) Check out the picture!

I went to the doc today. I got to see Dr. L who I really like but it was kinda weird... he went over my bloodwork, which was fine except that I'm anemic (which doesn't surprise me, I almost always am!) so I get to take iron supplements. He measured my belly at 22cm, woohoo! That was cool, it was my first time to have my belly measured. Nurse did the doppler, little one was beating along at 140bpm. Blood pressure still good and low at 100/70. So he discussed my hospitalizations with me and said he's pleased with how I've improved (and lemme tell ya, so am I!) and he's like, we'll see you in a few weeks! And I'm like, wait, Dr. H wanted to do the Fetal Fibronectin test this week to okay me for Christmas travel - he was like, you must have misunderstood him, we can't do that test until 24 weeks. Ummm, I distinctly was told by Dr. H to come back in 1 week for that test. Weird. That's the one thing I need to complain about with that office - it's like the docs don't communicate. I don't mind seeing a group but I wish they'd talk about their patients. Like, last week, Dr. H was upset that I was on terbutaline and said that I shouldn't be on it because they have to save it's effectiveness in case I go into active labor early - like if I keep taking it, I'm getting used to it and given that it works so well on me they want it to work well if I desperately need it. He was all upset with the other doc about it. I just feel like I'm getting conflicting info sometimes and it's a bit frustrating sometimes. Oh well, I'll have the FFn next week - Tuesday this time so they can't argue with me and say I'm not 24 weeks yet.

So I ordered a bunch of maternity clothes from Target.com and they came in - thanks to the Britax fiasco, I used my $25 gift card :) I really love the pants I got and a few of the sweaters, but two of the sweaters are going back - they're just TOO frumpy I think. But it was fun, I tried on all of my maternity stuff to see how it would fit now that I have a baby bump and to see how I like everything, etc. for packing to take to San Antonio when we go. It seems the key to some of the stuff is to make sure I've got a belt cuz when things want to act like a tent, the belts really cinch it in!

Okie dokey, Baker's on his way home (YAY!) and I've got laundry to do.

Contractions

I was hospitalized at 21 weeks. Can you believe that? I had really bad pain on Monday 11/24, called the doc and they said to go in. I thought it was a UTI, but it turned out that I was having contractions every 1.5 minutes - strong ones, too. So, I was admitted. I was there from noon Monday until noon Tuesday, and they let me go because things had subsided after a ton of fluid and 2 shots of terbutiline.

The GOOD news, though, is that my contractions weren't causing my cervix to do anything - long and closed and high, so that's good.

So then, I had go to back Tuesday night because I was having medium to strong contractions right on top of one another. They gave me more terbutiline and the contractions stopped IMMEDIATELY. It's kinda crazy how well that stuff works. They gave me a ton of fluids again and waited to see if the contractions stoppped - of course, as soon as they told me to go, they started again but much smaller and less frequent. They have no idea why I have been having these contractions, they can find no reason for them, I've had all kinds of tests. So, they put me on oral turbutaline and to see if that would work.

THEN, I ended up back in the hospital on Thanksgivng! I was having intense contractions up to 10 times an hour so I had to go back in. Well, they gave me a shot of terbutaline AGAIN and again, the contractions did not stop but they slowed down a lot. This time, my cervix wasn't as high and I am fingertip dilated on the outside but closed on the inside. It seems like my oral terbutaline doesn't work as well as the stuff they give me in the hospital, so of COURSE when they monitor me there, the contractions aren't as strong and often as they can be when I am at home. So I went home in time to watch the Texas v. A&M game and was cheered by a good 'ol Aggie spanking :)

So I went in for an office visit Monday - my sweet Baker came with me. He is SO great. He's got so much to do at the hospital but he wants to be with me all the time. Anyway, they did an ultrasound of my cervix and took a quick look at the baby. My cervix is long and closed, so that's great! But, I'm still contracting, having up to 6 an hour (that's every 10 minutes, OUCH). Basically, the doc says that up to 6 contractions an hour is "acceptable" (and, as my MIL says, acceptable to WHO, exactly?) and as long as they aren't changing my cervix, there's not much they can do but watch me. He also took me off of the terbutiline because he said that the most recent research says that there is more risk to using it than help... so I am at home, on modified bedrest, and no longer taking the terbutiline. Hopefully, the number of contractions won't increase and things will be fine. But, I'm worried. And, I'm in pain. Aside from the contractions, my back is KILLING me. I am in so much pain - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's terrible and I literally crawl around looking for a good position for my back to be in. It's not good.

GOOD NEWS - the baby looks great. He is SO cute. I am so in love :) They didn't do a full growth scan because it hasn't been exactly 2 weeks since I had my last one, but we took a quick look and guess what????? His little ureters were no longer enlarged. Yep, the u/s tech said that he probably had to pee last time, making his ureters big. So, it looks like the hydronephrosis was temporary!

Anyway, looks like I'll be suffering in bed for many many more weeks. I go in next week and they'll check the fetal fibronectin to see if there are any signs that I'll be going into active labor anytime soon.

Baker and I like to have a good laugh - I'll just have to tell little Patches that I was in labor with him for 15 weeks (God willing)!!! HAHA.

So now it's Wednesday and I am feeling more comfortable. The contractions are fewer and less strong. I'm still home on bedrest but it's not so bad... Christmas is soon, right? Counting the days until we go to San Antonio, Baker says it's 16 now.

We'll just pray for little Patches and hope that he stays in there for many many more weeks.

21 weeks!

I'm 21 weeks today, yay! Isn't that awesome? Well, I think it is. Baker woke me up this morning by saying "Happy 21 weeks". He always tells me "Happy ___ weeks" and I think it is way too cute. And so sweet. It makes me so happy to see how happy he is about meeting this little man. It really warms my heart. This is probably the most excited I have ever seen him about anything and it's really great. I hope that it makes getting through his days a little bit easier because I know that med school has been rough.

Anyway, I took belly pictures yesterday because I was a little better dressed than I will be today, considering that the highlight of my day will be my grocery shopping trip to Wal-Mart, so I cheated a bit on the 21 week belly pic :) But, here it is! I think I finally might look a little bit pregnant!

BIG u/s

So I had my big u/s today, I guess they still consider it the "big" one because it's 20 weeks, anatomy scan, etc. even though I found out the sex about 4 weeks ago. "Patches" looks great and he is SO cute, moving around and kicking away. He's actually flipped since I saw him last and his head is on the opposite side than it was before. It was so great to see him, he is just precious.

So the u/s tech found that one of the ureters leading to one of the kidneys was enlarged, not by much, just less than one millimeter bigger than their cutoff. Cool, no problem. She mentioned it to me, said how common it is in boys, and was very non alarmist about it. She was like, our cutoff for normal is 4mm, this is measuring 4.8mm. Cool. She had a hard time looking at a lot of structures because Patches was curled up, so she had me try to move around, poked at him, etc. and he wouldn't budge.

So she finishes and goes to get the doctor. My favorite doctor wasn't there yet so I had to see my LEAST favorite doctor, the one that said my baby without a heartbeat at 6 weeks wouldn't survive. Ugh. Fine, I'm thinking whatever, maybe that was a one time incident and I better make friends with her cuz she could be delivering my baby when the time comes.

She comes in to the u/s room and takes her own look at the baby and voila, he is in a great position! She finds all the things she needs to find, and takes a look at the kidneys. She tells me that BOTH ureters are enlarged and it doesn't look good to her. She says that Patches has a 1% chance of having Down's and asked if I had declined genetic testing - UMMM, NO, I had NT scan and quad screen (hello, read my chart before you say stupid crap???). Both came back with extremely low risk. She gives me the speech about what I can do, amnio, etc. So she leaves the room, I clean up and go for my office visit.

I talked to her during the office visit and had her explain it further. She was less abrupt but still not reassuring at all. She was obviously trying to be nicer but I guess it's just not in her nature. After talking with her, we totally ruled out an amnio, she basically said not to do it unless we'd terminate (which just isn't in the cards for us).

Baker was with me and he really seems to not be concerned. And maybe my instincts are terrible, but my gut is telling me that it is not a genetic/chromosomal issue. There are a few reasons for that, first being that my quad screen was so very normal, and the fact that there are literally no other markers for it present in his little body. In addition to all of this, the ureters were measured no less than 2 WEEKS AGO and they were totally normal. I remember that distinctly.

So, we're facing one of 4 outcomes:

1) Patches has Down's.

2) Patches has hydronephrosis and will require surgery after he's born

3) Patches has hydronephrosis due to reflux and will require monitoring after he's born

4) Patches has hydronephrosis but it will resolve itself when he's born - this is simply an in-utero condition.

The wonderful nesties have suggested this one:

5) Nothing is wrong with Patches, he's fine and the doc is full of crap.

My gut tells me that it is not #1, but to brace myself for either 2, 3 or 4, but hopefully 5.

Sorry this is so long, thanks for listening. I am really feeling okay - I really have this whole "whatever happens, he's my baby and I'll deal with it" attitude about it all.