FINALLY GOOD NEWS!!!

We have finally got some good news at today's check. Baby is still doing well on NST. He slept through the first 10 minutes. Then the nurse turned on the radio and he instantly started bouncing around in there. I guess he likes Taylor Swift. Or hates her ... either way that is twice now her music has got him moving around.

I went for the ultrasound next. The tech said there seemed to be an improvement from 3.2 on Wednesday to a 3.7 today. Then he jumped up and yelled "Wait a minute ... WAIT A MINUTE!" Scared the crap out of me but he looked happy so I wasn't to worried. He showed me a very nice pocket of fluid that he found once he convinced Wyatt to move around a little bit. This pocket measured at a 5.3 level. He said that was REALLY good and sent me on my way to see my doctor.

I met with my doctor and I told him the tech and told me he found a good pocket. So my doctor pulled up the results on the computer. He jumped back in his chair and cheered! HA HA HA That is the most excited I think I have ever seen him and he is a very up man. He said that anything between 5 - 25 is considered "normal" and a 5.3 puts us back in the normal range! He thought last week when we were pretty much at a 0 that it would take a miracle to get my fluid levels back up to an acceptable level. Well I guess we got our miracle. Thank God!

So we have a new game plan now. I go back on Tuesday and Friday next week to be monitored. He wants to continue to make sure that baby is doing well. He wants to check to see that the fluid level is either increasing or at the very least holding steady. Fingers crossed that it does. Because we don't know what caused this, why it is reversing or if it will happen again he still wants to do a c-section earlier then first planned. But he thinks it is safe to let baby stay put until 37 weeks so that he can make it to full term. We scheduled the c-section for June 7th at 7:30am!

The only bad news was that I did test positive for group B strep. Bummer! But all that means is they will give me antibiotics at the time of the c-section. It is rare for it to get to baby during a c-section but we are not taking ANY chances with this baby's health.

So woohoo!!!! Thank you to every one for the prayers, well wishes and finger crossing. It worked and we got the miracle we were looking for. Thank you!

Wednesday Update

Everything is pretty much the same. The NST went mostly well. They had trouble keeping track of him again. The first lady did a great job. The last two have struggled a bit. I have a squirmy child that just doesn't want to be spied on. He had good accelerations but afterward he decelerated a few times. My doctor is going to just keep an eye on that. He is happy that at least he accelerated first. So for now it is just watch and see.

The BPP went pretty much the same. He has gained a little bit of fluid. On Monday he was at a 2 and today his fluid level was at a 3.2 which is better. It is still way to low but it is an improvement. If we can get it up above a 6 my doctor might put let him stay inside a little bit longer. But he is not holding out hope for that.

I go back on Friday and Monday. They are booked all week for c-sections so I will have to be added on some where. My doctor is trying to get a hold of the OB I had during my last pregnancy to see if he would be willing to come in on the holiday to assist with the c-section. He said with it being a holiday on Monday they number of people around will be lower then normal. He would feel better if he could get just one more doctor in with him since this will be a preterm birth. Better safe then sorry he says. So there is a chance Wyatt will be delivered Monday afternoon. It all depends on how things go over the next few days. Of course if at any point he is not doing well they will do a c-section and get him out right away.

After my appointments I went and had lunch and then headed to my work's main office. I needed to speak to some one in HR. I dropped off my paperwork to approve my maternity leave. I let her know what was going on and had her adjust the dates of my maternity leave. She told me if I need any extra time beyond the 12 weeks I am taking to just let her know. If baby is not ready for me to return to work or if I am not ready to leave him mid August then we can work out a couple more weeks of personal leave. I have more then enough sick time and PTO to cover 12 weeks and a couple extra if I need them. So I will still get paid all summer and my insurance premiums are covered too. I made sure she knew I wanted to use sick time and PTO for my leave. So that will kick in this pay period. I am so glad I got that all taken care of. She was super nice and understanding of what is going on right now. It was a HUGE relief to get that all squared away. Now I can relax a lot more and just worry about baking this baby longer.

35 week update

I went back to the clinic for testing again today. Everything is pretty much the same as it was on Friday. There still is little to no fluid around the baby. But he continues to tolerate that well.

I had a biophysical profile done this afternoon. He scored a 6 out of 8. The tech said he would have scored a full 8 out of 8 if he had the proper amount of fluid. But he has almost none. So that is why his score was a little lower. How ever his heart rate looked great. She showed me the rise and fall of his chest as he practiced breathing. He continues to have fluid in his belly and bladder. So there is some in there some where because he continues to pee it out and swallow it again. Isn't it nummy that babies do that? Ick! LOL

The NST today was a royal pain in the toosh. It took the lady forever to find his heartbeat. I am glad I had the ultrasound first or I would have started freaking out. Every time she would find it he would shift and she would lose it again. She buzzed him once because she didn't think he was awake enough. *eye roll* That didn't help at all. LOL My entire belly was covered with that ooey gooey ultrasound gel. I was laying back and half on my side propped up with pillows for 40 minutes. And she still didn't have a great chart. But my doctor came in and watched for a bit and saw two great rises while he was there. So he was satisfied that he was doing well.

My doctor did the strep B test. That was lovely (said with as much sarcasm as possible) It wasn't awful but it was weird. I could do with out it and I am glad it is not something they do every single time.

My urine test was negative. So no protein in my urine. WOOHOO! My blood pressure while still a tad elevated is lower then it was last week. Also a good thing. So no preeclampsia which is a good thing. But that was the only thing they had to go on for the fluid loss. So now we are back to having no idea why this is happening.

My doctor joked that I need to give him just one more reason to take this baby. JUST ONE MORE! LOL Anything else along with the low fluid and he would take the baby out. But both baby and I are doing fine despite the fluid issue. He is stuck between wanting to get this baby OUT because of the fluid levels and wanting to let him stay put until 36 weeks to give him a better chance on the outside world. He asked for our opinion and I told him as long as baby as well then I really want to make it to 36 weeks. But we are not comfortable with going past 36 weeks with no fluid. I just don't know how well he can continue to do and for how long. And my doctor has no idea either. So I guess it just continues to be take it one day at a time and try and get to a safer place.

So back to the clinic every other day. Continued monitoring. Next Monday we will meet again and decide what day next week Wyatt will be delivered. Hopefully he can make it until then safe and sound. And hopefully he will do well when he comes out. Fingers crossed and keep praying. It seems to be working for us. Thank you!

Update and Game Plan

I feel like the last 2 days have been a blur. Things changed so quickly. Thankfully they do not seem to be as bad as we had feared and we have a game plan in place now.

The first ultrasound I had done showed a small pocket of fluid. The ultrasound I had done today how ever showed no fluid at all. He does still have some in his stomach and bladder but none around him. There is a chance there is still a pocket of fluid underneath him that the ultrasound was not able to find. But we are not counting on that. The ultrasound showed him measuring at 5 pounds 11 ounces right now with great breathing movements.

My OB checked me for signs of rupture. My cervix is still closed nice and tight and there was no sign of amniotic fluid leaking. He does not think my water broke but does not have an answer to where all that fluid went. There was more then enough fluid 2 weeks ago when I had an ultrasound to check position of baby. Now there is none. He consulted with a few doctors from his practice and they are baffled as to both what happened to the fluid and what is causing the fluid loss.

My blood pressure was still elevated today. My urine test from Thursday was negative for protein. I will be doing a 24 hour urine collection over the weekend to make sure. Since my blood pressure is still elevated and I have had puffy hands and feet they are worried I am on the verge of developing preeclampsia. That is the only explanation they can come up with for the fluid loss. But even that is just a guess.

The NST showed that Wyatt is tolerating the lack of fluid very well. They only need two rises in 20 minutes. He had like 4 in 5 minutes. I lost count of how many rises he had by the end of 20 minutes. The nurse commented after a while on how at first it was great but now he is just showing off. LOL His heart rate is great and he is still moving around a lot in there. Both good signs.

I will be going in to the clinic every few days for monitoring. Hopefully he will continue to do well with out fluid. If he does not then he will be delivered right away. If they find protein in my urine he will be delivered right away. One stress on the baby they can deal with. But they are unwilling to put him through 2 stresses at the same time. The plan is to keep him in until he reaches 36 weeks and then deliver him. They don't want him in there to long with out any fluid. But as long as he is still doing ok they want him to stay put until 36 weeks. That way he will have a little more time to grow, lungs to mature more, for him to get stronger and bigger. If by some miracle my fluid levels go up to at least a 6 then they will allow him to stay put longer. 38 or 39 weeks if possible. But they do not think that will happen. So it is just a matter of getting through the next week and a half.

Hopefully if he makes it to 36 weeks he will be fine. Maybe a day or two in the level 2 nursery but he should be able to avoid the NICU all together. God willing he will be able to come home with us when I am released after my c-section. If not hopefully only an extra day or two in the hospital. Bryan was born at 36 weeks and 6 days and came home with me with no problems. Hopefully Wyatt will do just as well or better. (Bryan had a little trouble regulating his temp right after birth)

I have started my maternity leave early. Because of my blood pressure and the low fluid levels I need to relax as much as possible. I'm not stuck to my bed or anything. Just lay low and drink lots of fluids. I had two weeks left before my maternity leave started but not anymore. We all agreed it would be better for me to quit working early so I can rest and try to keep my blood pressure down. I would have only been able to work one more week before he was born. So I was giving up at least one week anyway.

I have a big list of things I want to complete before Wyatt comes and little more then a week to complete them now. Thankfully I have Ethan and Bryan to help me. Bryan is a young strapping boy who can do all the bending and heavy lifting for me. LOL I checked out some books from the library so I can read up on preemies. Hopefully he will be just fine but I want to be prepared just in case there are any problems. Fingers crossed and prayers if you have to spare that everything will turn out ok for us.

34 Week OB Appointment

I have good news and bad news from this mornings OB appointment. The good news is we finally scheduled the c-section! I will be having a repeat c-section on June 21, 2010 at 10am!!! I am SOOOOO excited to finally have a date set! I have been well aware that I would need another c-section for a while now and trying to prepare for it. But I didn't have a date. Which was driving me totally nuts. Now I have a date. I know that no matter what happens in the next few weeks he will be here in a month from tomorrow! WOOHOO! I am still hoping I go into labor on my own before then. I don't really want to go to 39 weeks. Bryan was born at 37 weeks. So I am hoping this baby will come some where in between those two. 38 weeks would be perfect! Fingers crossed! LOL

The "interesting" news is that I am still measuring WAY ahead. Since 28 weeks my fundal height has been measuring 5 weeks ahead. I will be 35 weeks tomorrow and my belly is measuring at 40 weeks today! EEEK! I am going back to the clinic this afternoon for a growth scan ultrasound to see just how big he really is. My doctor thinks it is because he is breech and just sitting very high in my pelvis. But I told him I thought that he had dropped recently because the kicks have been MUCH lower then usual. I have also had a lot more kicks to my bladder, cervix, rectum and now what feels like the inside of my hip bone. So he wants to clear it up and find out if it is just position or if he is actually as large as a Mack truck. LOL I am excited to see him again. Maybe I will get lucky and get some pictures again. Fingers crossed again!

The bad news ... ick ... is my blood pressure is elevated. It was 146/84 the first time the nurse took it and 136/84 half an hour later when the doctor took it. I noticed on Saturday that my hands and feet were feeling really puffy. I took my blood pressure at work that night. One of the perks of working in a health care setting! It was in the 140s/90s but went down as the evening went on. It has been elevated the since then and I was well prepared for it to be up at this appointment. And unfortunately I was right and it is elevated. ICK! I had a headache yesterday and it is still lingering a bit today but it is not a bad headache. But then I have suffered from migraines since I was 14 years old. So I may not be the best judge of what is painful. I can put up with a lot of head pain before I am down and in bed. So when I come back for the ultrasound I will do a urine test.

After both I will meet with my doctor to go over the results. Hopefully no protein in my urine and not an overly large baby. LOL I swung by work to let my supervisor know that I would be late coming to work today because of the appointments. She thought I was coming in to tell her I was going on leave 2 weeks early. LOL She was so relieved when I told her I was going to be 1 or 2 hours late for work today. HA HA HA Fingers crossed that I don't have to come back later and tell her I need to go on leave early cause of x,y and z. I will update later and let everyone know how things turned out. I won't be able to do it until after work. But I will as soon as I can!

Prenatal Massage

I had my very first massage today. It was my birthday present to myself. The massage was fantastic! They had special cushions for me to lay on so that I could lay face down. The cushions had enough of an indent for my belly with out making you feel like you were going to fall through to the floor. I forgot how much I love laying on my belly. *sigh* When she was done with my back I flipped over and she worked on my face, neck, shoulders, arms and legs. She spent extra time on my arms and hands because of the carpal tunnel I have been suffering from. I had no idea how amazing having my arms, wrists and hands massaged could feel. I think that was my favorite part! I was bummed when it was over. The room was warm, quiet, dark, the table was comfy and the tangerine aromatherapy smelled awesome. She helped me sit up. Which was interesting while being this pregnant. I started laughing. I sat at the end of the table not wanting to get dressed and leave the little cocoon she had created. But ya can't stay there forever and the best part was over with. I think I have decided that from now on I will get a massage for every birthday. It really was an amazing way to treat myself on my special day.

Baby Shower!!!

I had my baby shower on Saturday thrown by my friends. It was really great and I had a lot of fun. I was so happy to see the people there and so thankful that they came to celebrate with us. My mother in law, mother and grandmother were also able to join us. We played games and ate yummy food and cake. I opened presents and got all kinds of goodies. We are set for diapers for a while now. I hope. LOL The grandmas got to open their gifts from baby Wyatt.

On my way out to the shower I noticed that it began to rain. Not heavily as it had been doing off and on all morning. Just a nice light sprinkle. I am sure most people get upset when it rains on special days. But it makes me very happy to see the rain. In my teens a song came out called Holes in the floor of heaven. Steve Wariner sang it. The chorus is:

"'Cause there's holes in the floor of Heaven
and her tears are pourin' down
that's how you know she's watchin'
wishin' she could be here now
And sometimes if you're lonely
just remember she can see
there's holes in the floor of Heaven
and she's watchin' over you and me"

Ever since then I have noticed when important things happen to me it rains. Graduation, Bryan's birth, our wedding day. It flooded in Nevada the night we got married! LOL So when ever it rains it just reminds me that the loved ones who have passed and can not be here physically are still very much with us for the important events. And so when it started to rain on my way out there I sobbed. LOL But it was a happy cry because I felt them with me.

Between baby showers, gift cards and me getting up far to early for Wal-mart shopping trips, I am pretty sure we are ready for this baby. We have every thing we need. He just needs to bake for another 3-4 weeks before he can come out. 7 at the absolute most! LOL

So I share with you some pics from the shower!






Beth, Tracy and Ruth

Janet, Candace, Samantha and me

Mom, Grandma and Jane

Grandma Judy

Grandma Janet







The nursing cover Candace made for me.

Birth Review Class

We had our first child birth review class tonight. It went pretty well. There was only one other couple there. I was worried they are going to be fruit cakes but they were really cool. They were a tish older then us but still close enough to enjoy our time with them. It was nice to have a smaller group because it felt more personal and we got to ask what ever questions we wanted to. The other couple also had a c-section the first time. So it was nice to have that in common with her. She had to give birth very early last time. So she hadn't gone through any labor like I had last time but we still had a lot in common.

We went through the general stuff like anatomy and the different phases of labor. The teacher took us for a tour of labor and delivery, the maternity ward and both the level 1 nursery and the level 2 nursery. There is a NICU but it is in a different building across town. Hopefully we will not have to ever see that nursery. I remember the recovery area very well. That is where I spent all of my time before Bryan was born. It doesn't really look any different 12 years later. LOL

Last time I had decided not to get a private room. It cost extra money and I thought it was silly to pay extra for a private room. Well I was horribly wrong. It sucked sharing a room with some one else while trying to recover from surgery. They only had 1 tv per room back then. So I had to give her the tv so she could watch her baby in the NICU on the monitors. How could I have possibly told her no? No matter how bored out of my flipping mind I was. So I made sure to say that YES I wanted private room this time around. Well tonight just confirmed that idea. We didn't really get to look into the private rooms much. They were all full tonight. How ever we did get to tour the double rooms. They are TINY. The room in general is not small. But when you put 2 strangers in that room it is far to tiny. Ethan would be unable to spend the night ever if we have to share a room. But he has the option to stay the night if we have a private room. He may or may not stay with us but it would be nice to at least have the option. Plus being there for 4 whole days really just makes me want my privacy. Even if we don't get a private room right away we may have a double room to ourselves. And if a private room opens later we would have first dibs on it. Fingers crossed that the maternity floor is not busy when we get there and we can just have our private room from the start.

So it was fun and we learned some new things. I enjoyed the tour. The other couple seems pretty cool and the teacher was easy to talk to. I hope to have her job some day. I have wanted to be a labor and delivery nurse for years. I think it might be fun to teach a birthing class some day too. If I ever finish school maybe it will be an option. LOL But for now I am uber excited about birth and our first few days. I can't wait to go there and get to meet Wyatt finally.

32 weeks

I am rather slow on getting this blog post out. It has been eventful but all in good ways. I am now at 32 weeks. Wyatt should be roughly 4 pounds at this point. We are both still doing well thankfully. I had my doctor appointment today with a midwife. She was wonderful. I was worried since this was my first appointment that was not with my OB. But the midwife was great and made me very comfortable. My blood pressure continues to be great. Which continues to be a relief to me. My weight is down again by 4 pounds. While most woman are gaining a pound a week I seem to be losing a pound a week instead.

My belly is again measuring big. Last time I was 28 weeks but my belly was measuring at 33 weeks. This time I am 32 weeks and my belly is measuring a whopping 37 weeks! Crazy! He might be a little big but they think it is mainly because he is breech and still sitting very high in my belly.




The midwife did an ultrasound to double check and yes he is very much breech. I told her about his efforts to flip himself over and how much they hurt. She said that it sounded like he was at the point where he will be stuck head up. I go back in 2 weeks to meet with my OB. We will then set up a birth plan and schedule the c-section. I am starting to get excited about it now. It is so much easier for me to have a plan then to just leave it all up in the air. I hate that.

I have been suffering from carpal tunnel pretty bad in the last 2 weeks. I have trouble sleeping and wake up very early due to the tingling. numb pain. It is in both wrists but by far it is worse in the left wrist. I have been wearing braces at night and that has helped a lot but not completely. I asked the midwife today for any more ideas besides Tylenol and the braces. She recommended that I ice my wrists. I can put the ice right over the top of the braces if I want to. I am suppose to do it at night before I go to bed and first thing in the morning when I get up. Or PRN when the pain is really bad. She said the ice should help reduce the inflammation that is causing the carpal tunnel symptoms. If that does not work and I just can not bear it anymore she will get me in for cortisone shots. But the pain is still bearable now and I am assuming with the ice it will be better.

I explained to the midwife that I was starting to have some pain on the right side of my face. I have had a couple of sinus infections in the past. Allergies suck! This feels like the beginning of another one. The pain started Sunday morning. She went ahead and wrote me a prescription. I am really glad she did. I took the first of 3 doses tonight. A few hours later the pain got worse. I don't feel horrible but I am in more pain now then I was before. Why does it seem like those buggies feel the need to put up a fight once you introduce an antibiotic? I'm melting ..... ha ha ha! So anyway I hope that I will be feeling better in the morning. Hopefully we have nipped it in the butt before it had a chance to really put me in pain and misery.

I dropped my maternity leave paperwork off at the front desk. I guess the secretary fills the paper work out. Then takes it to your doctor to sign. Then they mail it in to where ever it is suppose to go. I will have to check with HR in a couple of days to make sure they were completed and turned in. But that is one less thing on my mind for now.

After my appointment I went down to the registration desk. We are now preregistered for the birth. WOOHOO! Check another thing off my to do list. She asked if a private room was available would I want one. It costs extra and the extra cost is not covered by insurance. I said HECK YA! I hated sharing a room last time. It was miserable. So if I get the chance and I really hope we do. I would really love to have a private room this time. Especially after a c-section. It is just no fun to try and relax and heal and bond with your baby when somebody else friends and family are busy visiting on the other side of the curtain. People are rudely loud at 8 am. LOL

I meandered over to the next building. That is where labor and delivery is. Also the maternity ward and nursery of course. Our birth class is right across the hall from labor and delivery. We start our classes on Wednesday. I am really excited and wanted to make sure I knew where it was I was going. So I just snooped a bit. I didn't actually go up onto the floor. I just found the elevators and checked out the map. I am pretty sure I know where we are going now.

After all of that I headed to work. I thought I was going to a work meeting. I really didn't want to go since it was my day off. I was tired and really just wanted to go back home and go to sleep. Or at least go pick up my prescription and shop a little bit. But I dragged my butt in there. And I am really glad I did! They through me a surprise baby shower! I had no idea it was happening and really had no idea it was going to be during the meeting. The first part was the shower and the second the meeting. So I totally got paid for attending my own baby shower! LOL There was food and cake and gifts. It was really great. A few of my friends that used to work at that house but had moved to other houses showed up. It was really sweet and I almost cried. I got some great baby gifts and had a really good time. Here I was afraid I would not get a single baby shower this time around. Now I will have had two!



I really appreciate every one coming and helping me celebrate. Even if I was totally unaware it was happening! LOL