Friday, December 26, 2008

Friday, December 19, 2008

Rough Week

Where to begin...

Monday morning I woke up feeling horrible and began running a high fever of 102. I assumed I had the flu. By Tuesday I was hurting all over my entire body and my fever wasn't breaking. So I called my OB/GYN and she urged me to go see my primary care physician because they were uncomfortable with me running the high fever.

I ended up going to the Urgent Care near my house. SEVERAL blood test, swab tests and an ultrasound of my legs plus another full day later, we find out that I do not have the flu nor mono nor a blood clot in my legs. My white blood cell count is high and all they can figure is that I have some nasty infection that is still causing me to have this high fever 4 days in a row. They give me some antibotics and things start feeling better quickly.

However, last night I noticed that my stomach kept tightening for brief periods with a slight pressure in my lower abdomen. After talking to Shane and my sister who used to work in L&D, I finally decided to go to the ER just to make sure I wasn't having any contractions. I didn't even drive out to Slidell where I plan to deliver and where my doctor is located. I just went to the hospital right by my house because at 26 weeks, I was sure they were going to laugh at me and send me home.

When they hooked me up to the monitors, we found out that I was in preterm labor, having contractions every 2-6 minutes and was 1 cm dilated. The contractions became more regular while I was there, but the on call doctor assured me that I wasn't going to have the baby that night and he thought it would be best if I went to see my doctor first thing the next morning and was under her care.

So today my mom took me to my doctor’s office in Slidell where they immediately sent us to the hospital. Same situation, I was still having contractions and still dilated 1 cm. They monitored baby and me for a while and then decided to give me a shot of Breathine (sp?) to slow/cease the contractions. Thirty minutes later they gave me a second shot of the same medicine. Thirty minutes later they gave me the oral pill version of the same medicine and monitored baby and me for 2 more hours.

I only had about 2-3 more contractions since the first shot, so I seemed to be responding to the medicine pretty well. The main concern was my heart rate, but as long as it stays under 130 I’m okay.

So I was sent home with strict instructions to take this same medicine every four hours around the clock (yes, I have to set my alarm at night to take this pill that makes me wired). They said their goal is to get me to 36 weeks, but we’ll just take it one week at a time and that I really need to rest and take it easy.

I don’t know if I’m just naïve, but I really thought I was going to get one shot and then everything was going to be better. I had no idea how serious this was. But for now, baby and me are doing great and we’re going to take things slow. Shane and I are going to have a little talk with our peanut tonight on why he needs to stay in my belly for a few more months :-)

The good news is that they said the baby was responding well to my contractions and he was still very active...he's such a strong boy!

Phew, I think (and pray) that's it for a while!

P.S. Thank you so much to my loving family for all of your help this week. Shane was on total daddy patrol, my mom drove me and stayed with me for all of my doctor's and hospital visits and Shane's mom watched Chase for me several days. And my sister Lindsey was the one who finally talked me into going to the hospital in the first place (early enoguh to stop the contractions before I dilated anymore). I really could not have gotten through this week without all of you! I love you!

Friday, December 12, 2008

25 Weeks!

With all the craziness of the snow yesterday, I forgot to take my 25 week progression picture. So here I am at 25 weeks and 1 day :-) I compared it to my 26 progression picture with Chase and I am carrying much higher this time. Both babies are boys, but I'm carrying so different this time (and I've gained a lot more weight this pregnancy)!

I feel pretty good with the exception of some circulation issues and back spasms. I have a little bit of more energy during the day, but I am horizontal by 9:00 most nights. My belly gets bigger and bigger every single day! Shane loves to rub my belly and Chase is constantly covering it up if Shane lifts my shirt to see it.

The other day, our friends Christy, Conner and Mary Frances Bourg stopped by for a visit. Mary Frances is about to have her first birthday. I picked her up and sat her on my lap, and Chase immediately responded with, "NO, that MY Mamma"! Uh-Oh! We may be in trouble.

As for the snow, it stopped snowing yesterday around noon. It snowed for 5 straight hours and our yard is still covered in snow today. Chase ran out this morning and asked me to take his picture in the snow. I guess he knows the drill.

25 weeks pregnant with Peanut:

26 weeks pregnant with Moosehead (Chase):

Chase playing in the snow this morning:

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Chase's 1st Snow!!!!

We woke up this morning to a snow day (thanks mom for the early morning phone call)! It's so crazy to look out my windows and see the snow falling like this! I've never seen it snow this heavy around here. It's so awesome!
Here is a video of Chase playing in the snow and some cute pics to follow:

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Big Bed Update

I don't want to jinx myself, but Chase's transition to the big boy bed has been so easy! With the exception of the very first night when he freaked out and ended up back in his crib, every other night & morning has been a breeze.

I started again on Sunday night. I told Chase he had to lay in his bed to watch TV in the dark before bed time so he could get used to being in his new room and new bed in the dark by himself. I set the TV timer on and told him when the TV turned off he had to go to sleep. And it worked! I never heard a peep out of him and he slept through the night with no problems. When he woke up in the morning, he called for me and I went into his room and he said, "I did it"! He was so proud of himself.

The second night I let him watch 15 mintues of TV in his room, then I turned off the TV and told him it was time for bed and tucked him in. Again, no problems.

And since the third night, the TV does not even come on. We just do our usual bed time routine with the added bonus of me tucking him in and he goes down so easily. He even has been sleeping a little later in the mornings! I can't believe how great he has been. I guess we were due something to go smoothly one of these days :-)

Now the nursery looks so empty, but soon enough I'm sure our house will feel very crowded!



Monday, December 1, 2008

Well it's....

... definitely a boy!!!

I went for my regular monthly checkup today, and I had another ultrasound to confirm the sex of the baby. It was an amazing ultrasound with lots of great views of our peanut. The ultrasound tech was showing me different views of the baby's genital area and she said, "It doesn't get any clearer than this"!

So, yes we are having another boy, and apparently it's a big one! Dr. Lobello looked at my belly and said that I have no abdominal fat and that I'm all uterus because she can see my uterus just by looking at my stomach (but don't worry, I have PLENTY of baby weight on my backside that will take me years to get rid of). When she went to measure my stomach, I measured at 28 cm when I should be measuring at 24cm.

Dr. Lobello asked how big Chase was at birth. He was 1 week early and weighed in at 7lbs. 9 oz. Dr. Lobello assured me that if I go to my due date, we will have an 8 lb. baby on our hands. She said this is a big one...we don't know where he came from. Chase was the biggest baby on both sides of our family.

Anyway, here are some great pictures of our precious new baby. This first picture is an inbetween the legs shot:






An update on Chase:
He slept in his big boy bed last night without any trouble. I bribed him with some TV and it worked like a charm. This morning when I checked on him, he jumped up and said, "I did it"! He was so proud of himself. Let's keep our fingers crossed that he'll do it again!

Here is a Thanksgiving picture I stole from my sister's blog. Chase wanted to show his Nannie where his baby was and Chad jumped in as well. We think that Chad will be the first of us to deliver :-)