Its starting!!!

After not getting more than 2 hours of sleep last night because of waves of backaches and contractions, not to mention John snoring, today started out very uncomfortable. We had our US today. Emmy looked good again and she weighs in at a whopping 5lbs, 12oz. I was so excited to hear that since last month she was 4lbs, 14oz. She's dropped from 77th percentile to 60th percentile. So I think I might get a petite little girl!!! NST didn't look fantastic. Emmy tried to be reactive but it didn't work all that well. I had a bunch of contractions, about 12 minutes apart. They never got any closer. When I had my visit with Dr Young, after hearing about my lovely weekend and failed "sleep test" (if I fall asleep during my contractions and don't wake up, its false labor. Last night I kept waking up), she agreed to check me and I'm dilated 1 cm. So we're making some progress. I got the official "when to go to the hospital" speech....if my water breaks or if my contractions get to be 3-5 minutes apart and I'm having trouble tolerating them. She also told us that a baby born at 35 weeks (where we are right now) should have no complications. That was a HUGE relief. So we're looking no NICU stay, unless something arises during labor.

With that being said, I'm going to try to start walking. I'm taking myself off of bedrest (well off as much as I can tolerate) to see if we can get things started. Walking is pretty rough but I'm trying.

Only complication that has come up since leaving the doctors office was a random bleed this afternoon. They always tell me that I might have some spotting after being checked. About 4 hours after being checked, I had a pretty good bleed...more than the original abruption bleed. I called the doctors and they said if I didn't stop bleeding in an hour to call back and I'd probably have a trip to the hospital. Well its stopped, thank goodness, but I'm nervous about another bleed. I'm not sure if this was related to being checked and being dilated since it was so long after the doctors appointment but who knows. We'll just have to wait and see. Keep your fingers crossed that there are no more bleeds and we go to the hospital because my water breaks.

Off to try to fall asleep tonight. I think my body is totally prepared for no sleep by the number of sleepless nights I've had over the past 3 weeks.

The random things I find

Update on me.....still cramping/contracting with horrible pain but not in labor yet.

Since I've have had a little time on my hands, google has been my friend. I google everything....signs of labor, ways to stop backache, ways to survive bedrest. Yahoo discussion boards have the funniest conversations. I love when they pop up in my search results. However, last night I came across something disturbing. There are multiple websites that teach women how to check themselves for cervical dilation. I couldn't believe this. And the best part is women commented on their experiences. Who does something like that???

Anyways...thats it. Keep your fingers crossed that Emmy either decides she wants to stay inside for a little while longer (so the contractions will stop) or that she decides to just get it over with and make her entrance. I can't take her being stubborn right now

False Alarm again

So after 3 hours of contractions (which never got into a good pattern) and horrible abdominal pain, I was able to get some sleep...bad sleep but sleep all the same. So not true labor yet. Who knows what's going on. I think Emmy is getting cold feet. She wants to come out then decides not to. Stubborn little girl!

Same old, Same old

Well I'm sitting here at 34 weeks, 6 days pregnant. Today we had our first reactive NST within 20 minutes. I was off the monitor and in the car driving away 30 minutes after I got hooked up. It was a first and the doctor and nurses were all just as excited as Mom and I were. Dr Young signed off on my strip. She came in to see me and said "look at you still hanging in there." The way she said it made it very clear that she didn't think I'd still be pregnant. So we're surpassing everyone's expectations.

So what does that mean for us? Plan is to induce at 39 weeks. So we're looking at an induction around August 21st, unless I go into labor before then. We're adding growth to our ultrasound on Monday. I found out it doesn't really matter how big Emmy is on US right now. The only way they react to "large for gestational" age babies is if the baby weighs 11lbs or more at 39 weeks. Then they schedule a C-Section and forget vaginal labor altogether. I'm still on bedrest but I talked them into letting me walk a little more around the house. I've been tryiing to do some more walking but I've realized how weak I am and how hard this has been on my body.

Today I am completely uncomfortable. My back hurts and I'm having right sided abdominal pain. Whenever I'm standing, it feels like the baby is going to fall out. Not sure if this is a good sign or a bad one. All I know is that the abdominal pain is starting to feel like it did when I was pregnant with Noah and had to be admitted overnight. I had a lot of uterine activity on my end of the NST but I wasn't in a pattern and I think they aren't going to be concerned with it since I'm 34 weeks now. I'm sure if I was looking like I was going to get into a rhythm, I would have been sent to the hospital. So we'll see how the weekend goes. Fingers crossed Emmy wants to stay in for about a week or two more.

The big day!!!

We've made it to 34 weeks! So now if I go into labor, they won't stop me. Emmy's lungs should be mature enough to avoid any major respiratory complications. So how am I feeling now that I'm 34 weeks? I thought I was going into labor Wednesday night. I had 1-2 hours of horrible contractions and I was really nervous about them. But I was able to fall asleep so I guess it was a false alarm. I've been very "active" since then. My NST strip on Friday had an increase in uterine activity but not enough to send me to the hospital. I don't feel too good, I'm not sleeping, and I'm going stir crazy. Oh yeah....I'm uncontrollably itchy. It gets worse as the day goes on. Don't really know what that's from. Maybe Dr Fosnot will have an idea on Monday. Other than that, thats it.

A few more angels

God gained a few more angels this week. 2 of our patients lost their battles with cancer this week. Please keep these grieving families in your prayers and pray for all the children and families who are fighting the fight against cancer every day. Thai and Jhanelle, you are so missed already but God is so lucky to have you next to Him.


Just a quick update on us. I'm losing my mind and going stir crazy. I am so restless and I don't know how much longer I can take this.

In it til the end

So I'm pretty much pregnant until 39 weeks unless something changes. I'm still not dilated so we're planning on an induction. Dr Fosnot says there's a very slim chance that I'll end up with a C-Section (very excited about that). Now if I come in with a horrible abruption again, then we're looking at a section. Emmy's still not reactive on the NST. She has moments of reaction but not a great amount. Last week, we had 2 ultrasounds without 30 seconds of breathing but Monday's ultrasound we caught some good breathing. The report from the high risk guy came in. He made it sound like I definately had an abruption (which he told me I didn't have). We did learn that Emmy's weight is in the 77th percentile. We'll do another growth scan in 2 weeks. If she's greater than 90th percentile, she'll be considered large for gestational age. I think we'll then talk about delivering her. Other than that, we're still doing biweekly monitoring and bedrest. I'm going to discuss coming off bedrest in a few weeks. There is no way I'm staying on bedrest until 39 weeks. I'm pretty uncomfortable and I'm definitely over being on bedrest.

Off of baby news. Noah is doing great with his speach therapy. He's talking more and more. Every day he has a new word or two. I think its finally coming together. And he's so cute when he talks. Sometimes he sounds like he has a southern accent. I can't figure out what his voice will sound like.

Well thats it for now. Time to finish watching the All Star game.

Sticking to the same old plan

So my high risk appointment went as follows: We showed up and the US tech brought us in and asked me why I was having an ultrasound with them because none of my other US have shown the abruption (which all of my docs have been completly aware of). So she's scanning me, telling me that she doesn't see the abruption (go figure) and she's starting to go through all the organ systems, etc. She double checks again that Emmy is still a girl (we have a very conclusive picture proving her girlness). Then the doctor comes in. He shakes my hand, shakes John's hand, and proceeds to walk to the other side of the room. He asks me why they even sent me to see him since there was no clinical proof that I had an abruption. The fetal cells mixed in with my blood cells were probably left over from Noah's pregnancy (yeah right....2.5 years and 3 RhoGam shots later, I still have his cells with mine...don't think so). So he tells me he thinks they are treating me for something that I don't have, that they are over-reacting and that he doesn't understand why they are even discussing a delivery plan for me. I had tried to explain to him everything thats been going on, how I'm having contractions and a lot of uterine activity, and he proceeds to tell me that I'm not in preterm labor, I'm fine, the baby's fine, there's nothing wrong with me. And he knew all of this by shaking my hand. He never once examined me or put me on a NST monitor, nothing. So needless to say, I left his office more upset than I have ever been.

We did, however, learn that Emmy weighed 4lbs 14oz before she turned 32 weeks. Her head circumference measured over 34 weeks and her femur length measured over 32 weeks. So she's going to be a big baby.

So fast forward to today. I go to my normal 2 hour visit at the doctors. I have my US and Emmy looks great but she decided that she wasn't in the mood to breathe too much. So she didn't score her perfect 10 like she usually does. I go on the monitor, which I was only on for 35 minutes since she cooperated and was reactive. I was having contractions but what else is new. We go into the exam room, have the most ridiculous nurse who I'm pretty sure doesn't really know what she's doing, and Dr Young came in and told me we're sticking to our normal plan....bedrest, twice a week monitoring, etc. She informed me that Dr Prieto only sent the US report, not his official consult report. The jackass probably wont' send it either since he made it very clear he didn't know why I was sent to him. I proceeded to tell her that I would never recommend him to anyone, I had the worst experience with him, that he pretty much told me that they (my OBs) didn't know what they were doing and treating me for something I didn't have, I pretty much let it all out. Dr Young seemed shocked and was very apologetic. She reassured me that with my positive blood tests, 2 episodes of bleeding, and all the uterine activity I've been having, that we still need to continue being vigilent. She did mention that we could think about inducing me around 39 weeks if we got there. She did order another US for Friday to see if Emmy wanted to breathe for us. I don't really know what will happen if she doesn't breathe on this one.

I'm excited for my next few appointments. I scheduled them with Dr Fosnot (my favorite one!!!) She takes the time to really sit and explain things and answer questions. She'll be able to give me a better idea as to where we go from here. So I see her 3 weeks out of the next 4.

We built Emmy's crib tonight and we're finishing decorating tomorrow. One step closer.

On to a random thing....my mail man is a lazy bum. He refuses to deliver my mail if there is a car parked in the street. On multiple occasions he has not delivered my mail and written "mailbox blocked" on the mail. Well today, Mom was parked in the street (like most cars in our neighborhood) but she purposely left him enough room to deliver my mail. We watched as he drove past my mailbox without attempting to pick up the mail that we had in the box. And then we watched as he drove away. I was almost about to call the Post Office and then he drove back, was able to actually deliver our mail and take what needed to go to the Post Office but the bum wouldn't put down the flag. One day he told John that he won't "dismount" in order to deliver the mail if there is a car in "the way". John's dad (who is a retired mail carrier) said that is the official rule but he pretty much said we must have a jerk of a carrier and that he's lazy. I mean really....they drive in a car all day long. Is it that hard to deliver my freaking mail??? John's dad used to park and walk to deliver his route. And this guy won't even attempt to drive to my mailbox. Whatever. I've got my eye on him now.

Annoyed

Too annoyed and confused to discuss the high risk appointment right now. I'll post after my OB appointment on Monday. I hope we'll know whats going on then.

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July!!!!

Big day tomorrow

Big day tomorrow full of appointments. We're up in Clearwater for my NST appointment at 1030 then its off to downtown St Pete/Bayfront for my High Risk OB appointment at 2. Should make for a very LONG and tiring day. Only cool thing is that we might end up with a 3D/4D ultrasound if they think it aid them in coming up with a delivery recommendation.

I'll update tomorrow and hopefully with new pics!