Prepared to Fail

This morning I went to my 28 week doctor's appointment. Part of the appointment was to take my glucose test. I had gestational diabetes with Aric and ended up on insulin. It was traumatic at the time, but after awhile it was just a part of life. Early on in this pregnancy I had to take a glucose test, which I passed, to make sure that I didn't develop gestational diabetes at the beginning of the pregnancy. Since then I have randomly taken my fasting glucose levels in the morning and repeatedly failed the test. The baby is even measuring two weeks bigger than she should be. All signs pointed towards me having gestational diabetes again.

I took the test today and passed it. My glucose levels were supposed to be under 140. They were 115. Needless to say I am shocked. I planned for diabetes. I was ready for it and now I kind of don't know what to do with myself. I even have daycare lined up for Aric tomorrow morning because I thought I was going to have to take the 3 hour follow-up test at the doctor's office. I think Ryan and I are going to celebrate with pizza for dinner tonight.

My OB is on vacation this week, but I did meet with the nurse practitioner. She was able to answer some of the questions that Ryan and I have about the abruption.

At what point would they decide that I need to have the baby no matter how premature she would be?

There are two circumstances that would change their course of action. One of those being if I started bleeding and they weren't able to make it stop. The other being that the baby reached a point where she was in distress and she would receive better care on the outside.

What can we expect if she is born premature?

If she is born before 32 weeks she would have to go to the nearby "big city" hospital. They have a level 3 NICU nursery where they could give her the care that she would need. That is about an hour away from our house. If she was born between 32-36 weeks she could probably stay in the nursery at the nearby hospital where Aric was born. Either way she would stay in the hospital until she was stabilized and learned how to breathe and eat on her own.

Am I at risk for this in future pregnancies?

No, each and every pregnancy is different. This results from the way the placenta attached in the beginning and it is nothing that I have done or could have prevented.

Another week has passed, which makes that much more of a difference in the baby's development. I have an ultrasound in two weeks to check on the state of the abruption. In the meantime, it's just one day at a time. And at least my days can still involve bowls of ice cream!

Photo Blog

Like Father, Like Son...

This is what happens when Daddy is mowing and Mommy is too tired to chase Aric everywhere...

Haircut number six:
Before:

After:

It's a little short in front, which Ryan doesn't like, but it's still shaggy and curly or what Ms. Autumn refers to as "Surfer Hair".

Stay in There Little One

After 10-1/2 hours of sleep last night, I finally feel well enough to tell you about the end of the week.

Friday I took Aric to the grocery store in the morning, which wiped me out. I took a nap after I got back home and before I could consider putting away all of the groceries. In the afternoon, Aric and I made a quick trip to the hospital to visit a new baby. We didn't stay too long because Aric was busy climbing in the window sill, painting the hospital floor with water from his sippy cup and littering the room with goldfish crackers. I didn't even get a chance to hold the new baby, though, I know I'll have plenty of opportunities come November when I start watching this baby two days a week. We came back home and took another nap. I was still tired, but Ryan and I went to bed early and by Saturday morning I was feeling well.

Saturday (yesterday) morning I got up, took Aric to the sitter's house and went to work. Ryan was off to run a 10 mile race (he finished in 1 hour and 27 minutes, I'm very proud of him), I was only working half a day and then the two of us were going to go to Kansas City. Ryan had planned this trip for awhile, even secretly arranging Aric's daycare for the entire day instead of the half day that I originally scheduled. Ryan's plan was to take me to the Cheesecake Factory for my "last" meal. (I have my glucose test on July 30th and I'm 99% certain I'll be failing it and back on a diabetes diet.) Then we were going to go to Babies R Us to look for some things for Baby #2. I've been looking forward to this trip for awhile.

Not long after I arrived at work I got really, really hot. Then it felt like a bus had run into me. I was overwhelmingly exhausted, dizzy, unable to think clearly and the soreness that I had previously only felt on the left side where the abruption was had spread over to the right side. I had also started spotting again. I stayed at work for awhile trying to think logically, which is hard to do when you can't think clearly. I didn't want to just be a hysterical mess overreacting to everything. My coworkers thankfully took over, called Ryan to come and get me and told me to call the OB's office. The on-call Dr told me to go to the hospital.

Ryan took me to the Labor and Delivery ward and they hooked me up to the fetal monitor and ran some tests on me. We were there over four hours. The baby is doing well, but my body is taking the abruption really hard. I'm now taking baby aspirin daily to break up any possible clots and I'm supposed to rest even more. The on-call OB talked about bed rest, but we all decided that at this point I get more rest sitting at work than staying at home with a 1 year old. The baby needs to stay in as long as possible to give her the opportunity to grow and develop. I couldn't agree more, though, I'm faced with a long three months since my body is clearly not taking the abruption well.

Stay in there little one. You kick, hiccup and squirm as much as you want. I'll do what I can to ensure you can grow and develop as much as you need to. And let's make a deal, you stay in there until at least October, then you can arrive any day you want.

A Boy and His Dog

Aric likes to share and give things to people, though he hasn't quite learned how to give without wanting the item immediately returned. It's not a problem when Aric gives something to Ryan or me. We usually tell him "thank you" and then hand the object right back to him. Most of the time neither one of us really wanted the said item in the first place. Tonight it turned into a bit of a problem.

Aric was outside and had a stick. Aric gave the stick to the dog. The dog wanted the stick and so did Aric. A mild game of tug of war commenced. Aric won a couple of times, but kept giving the stick back to the dog. The dog, finally tired of it, walked away with the stick in his mouth, plopped into the grass, dropped the stick and came back. Aric, completely uninterested in the dog without the stick, ran off to play with daddy's golf clubs. Thank goodness for short attention spans.

These photos were not from tonight, they were from a couple of days ago with the same stick. Maybe it's better that the stick has "disappeared" into the yard.

One Day at a Time...

I haven't had any bleeding or contractions since Monday. That doesn't necessarily reassure me, because while I see no blood it doesn't mean that there is no bleeding. It could just be trapped inside of me. The comforting thing is that the baby wiggles around and has hiccups. I didn't realize how reassuring it could be to have a baby pushing out trying to make more room inside of you. It's not annoying this time around to have my child stretching in my ribcage.

My side is still sore where the abruption is and I have no idea if the soreness will go away. I have also been exhausted. Not the typical exhaustion of being pregnant and having a small child, it is a much deeper exhaustion. Yesterday I had to go to a four hour training class in the morning and I could barely stay awake even though I had a decent nights sleep. After Aric and I returned home, thankfully, he went down right away for a nap and I was able to sleep like the dead for two hours. I felt better, but probably could do the same thing later on today.

Ryan has been amazing throughout all of this. He has taken on extra chores and responsibilities without complaint. I am so thankful to be blessed with a supportive, loving husband. Aric has no idea what is happening, but isn't taking some of the changes very well. He doesn't understand why I make him walk more instead of carrying him everywhere. (I am thankful he is able to walk around so much.) He also doesn't understand why I won't go on walks in the evening anymore. We've tried to modify our routine by spending time outdoors after dinner in lieu of our family walks. I can sit in a chair and watch Aric play with sticks, rocks, golf balls, the dog water bucket or whatever entertaining thing he can find, and Aric loves to be outside. Ryan took him on a walk last night to our mailbox afterwards and said Aric cried the whole time because I didn't go with. He apparently reaches out to where I usually walk and waits for me to give him five. I wish there was a way to explain things to Aric, but he can't even comprehend that he's going to be a big brother much less that there's a problem.

We're still just taking it one day at a time and trying to be prepared. I turned in my hospital pre-registration yesterday just in case. I've talked with people who have had premature babies who are growing up and are completely healthy and normal. I know that this is all in God's hands and that's the best place for it to be.

Shortest Hospitalization Ever

Today I went back to work, knowing that I had to get my second steroid shot around 9:30. I left work at 9:10 and drove over to my doctor's office. I waited there about 20 minutes before the nurse came out and told me that they were completely out of the steroid that I needed. She directed me to go to the hospital to the labor and delivery ward to get the shot. Thankfully the hospital wasn't too far away from the doctor's office.

Walking in to the labor and delivery ward I felt a moment of panic. I am not ready to be a patient there. I'm not ready for my daughter to arrive. I want her to stay inside until October 12th and I want to stay out of the hospital until then.

The staff had me wait in one of the maternity rooms for the nurse to come with my shot. A couple of minutes later, two nurses arrived wheeling in a fetal monitor. Apparently if you're over 24 weeks it is hospital policy for them to monitor the baby for 20 minutes before they let you leave. There went my quick half hour trip to get a shot. I called my work to let them know it was going to be a lot longer than expected while I found myself in bed, covered with a blanket, with straps attached to my belly and a clipboard full of admission paperwork to fill out. The good news is the baby is doing well. They woke her up with a cup of apple juice and the nurses were pleased with her heart rate and movements. Half an hour later I finally received my steroid shot (in the rear again) and my discharge papers. It was the shortest hospitalization ever. I was gone from work a total of 1-1/2 hours.

I won't need anymore steroid shots. The two I had are supposed to help her lungs develop quicker in case she has to arrive early. I am still having some pain in my side where the placenta has detached from the uterus, but that's to be expected. For now things are going as well as can be and we are still taking it one day at a time. The longer she's in there the better it will be.

A is for Abruption

Not really a title I would rather have on a post. This morning I had some disconcerting symptoms (contractions, pain in my side and spotting). I even made it in to work this morning and decided about two minutes later that I wasn't imagining the symptoms and needed to contact my OB.

I had an ultrasound this morning to look for a reason for my symptoms. During the ultrasound they found another placental abruption. No one is sure why I have another placental abruption or what may have caused it. My OB doesn't know if I will be able to make it to my scheduled c-section or if I will have the baby sooner. They are doing what they can to make sure that if the baby comes early she will have the best opportunity. (Read- painful steroid shots in my rear end.) I'm not quite on bed rest and they will let me continue to work for now since I sit all day long. I'm supposed to keep my stress levels down and my physical activity limited. No more walks in the evening with Ryan and Aric.

The good news is that the baby is doing well. She's healthy, big (measuring two weeks ahead of her gestational age) and active. They are pleased with her size since abruption babies tend to be smaller due to the potential that they aren't getting all of the nutrients that they need from the placenta.

We're trying to take it one day at a time and trust in God. He's in complete control of the situation. We pray that I can keep the baby in there and deliver a healthy, full term baby girl in October.

Whatcha Doin' In There?

Catch Up

Ryan told me last night that I needed to post a new blog so he would know what was happening in my life. And to think I thought we had better communication in our marriage...

Last week I had my 24 week appointment with my OB. The baby has a healthy heartbeat and seems to be doing well. I also scheduled my c-section. The winner of the poll is: October 12th. We had several reasons for picking that day: scheduling with my mother coming to help with Aric, I didn't want to wait until the end of the week, we won't ever forget that day since it's Columbus Day. One of the main reasons for our picking that day: Ryan and I will have been together for 13 years on that day. I thought that was the best reason to pick that day. On October 12th I'm supposed to report to the hospital at 5:30am and shortly after 7:30am we'll hopefully have a healthy baby girl in our arms.

We have been busy working on the house. We repainted the kitchen, fixed the leak in the kitchen pipes we discovered while repainting the kitchen, and cleaned up the kitchen. We then moved on to our laundry room. I should say Ryan moved on to our laundry room, I only provided minimal help. He built some shelves and reorganized everything, painted the walls (they were several different colors before), changed the direction of our sink in there (it was at a very awkward position), and built a cover over some pipes and a hole in the ceiling. It's not the prettiest room in the house, but it looks much better than it did. Hopefully that will be the end of our home improvement projects for the rest of the year.

We didn't do much to celebrate the 4th of July (see laundry room project above). I had to work and we didn't have much energy to participate in celebrations or fireworks shows. Ryan cooked a nice dinner with desert and we acknowledged the day by painting the laundry room. I'm sure in a couple of years we'll have to make the day more special when our children are old enough to be aware of what is happening.

Aric is doing well- walking everywhere. He still crawls, but walking has turned into his preferred method of mobility. His balance is improving and he no longer needs to walk around like Baby Frankenstein. Aric is even able to squat down, pick something up and stand up again without holding on to anything for balance. He's definitely not our little baby anymore.

...And that's about all of the catching up that I'm going to do today.

Disgruntled Employee of the Month

I am a pretty patient person, but lately work is really trying my patience. For the past two months I have been working with two coworkers who do anything possible to leave for the day or get out of doing anything at work. I don't have a job where you can slack off. If you're slacking off at work someone else is having to work harder to make sure things are getting done. I seem to be the one who is having to do the extra work lately and, frankly, I'm getting really tired of it. I am counting down the days until August 2 when I am able to change shifts and work with some different people. In no way am I deluding myself that I will be problem free on the new shift. I am quite aware that new people will bring a new set of problems. I'm just hoping they will give me a break from the current problems that I am experiencing. However, I am already seeing some areas where I will have huge problems when I work the night shift.

I am supposed to work Thurs-Sun 6pm-4am. Kind of a terrible shift, I know, however it will eliminate the need for daycare and we're willing to try it out. Apparently my supervisor thinks that since I'm working this shift I can fill in on the occasional midnight shift (9:40pm-7:40am) for the holes they have due to other people's vacations. I don't mind the occasional switch, but any day they do that to me I'll be getting off work at 7:40 and have to be back at work at 6pm. Leaving me no time to do much more than sleep that day. They said they wouldn't abuse me, thankfully I'm not naive enough to have taken them at their word. In Aug I have to do that two days, Sept two days and Oct one day right before I'm about to give birth (I don't see that as occasional). What makes it worse is that I made it clear that I wouldn't be able to do that on a Sunday night because Ryan has to be at work on Monday morning at 6:30 and I wouldn't get off until 7:40 and we would have no where for Aric to go during that time. They scheduled me for a Sunday anyway. My supervisor said she would come in at 4am so I could leave that day. When I asked her about it on Wed, since it wasn't posted on the schedule, she told me she had things to do that day and wouldn't be able to work at 4am, meaning I have to stay until 7:40 and Ryan has to take leave for a couple of hours that morning.

I haven't even moved to that shift yet and they are messing around with my schedule. It's sad really because now I hate going to work and I used to like my job. Maybe they should quit wondering about the reasons for their high turnover rate and examine what they do to their employees.

24 Weeks

Me with Baby #2 at 24 weeks:

Me with Aric at 23 Weeks:

No, I'm not carrying twins, but I'm kind of wondering how big she is going to be!