God is teaching us patience....

Well, I had my doctor's appointments today at the hospital. We ended up being there for over 4 hours but FINALLY everything got done. God has been teaching us lots of patience these las few months! They forgot to order the ultrasound to be scheduled so we had to wait for them to do that and get over to me. Then after the sonographer left she didn't leave a report for Dr. Huff so we had to wait for her to go back to the imaging center and let the radiologist read the images and then send a report back to the hospital, which took another hour. Dr. Huff saw me and said everything looked great with the baby. She gained almost a pound in the last 2 weeks and now she weighs 4 lbs 9 oz! She's growing so great. Everything else with her look good and she was right on schedule at 33 weeks. Nothing had changed on me either, which is great. The afternoon was frustrating for Gavan and I but eventually they got their act together and we got to go home.

The plan is for me to discontinue my terb pump on my appointment on Nov 20th, when I'll be 36 weeks and 2 days. She's going to check several things to give her a baseline on me for reference and as long as baby and me are still doing great then we'll stop the pump. I can't imagine me not going into labor within a few days or so after that but my body may surprise us and go another week or so. We'll just have to wait and see. Dr. Huff is on call over Thanksgiving, which is good in case I go into labor over the holiday!

It's hard to believe that I've been on bed rest for over a month now! The time has gone fast and I'm so thankful that our little girl keeps growing like a weed and I feel more confident every day that she'll do great when she's born. But keep those prayers going us for us. It means so much to us to know that there are so many people praying for us and our little one. God is so awesome and in complete control over our lives and we feel so blessed to have the friends and family we have.

I'm such a hormonal crybaby...

So I decided to DVR several new shows during the week to give me something to watch during the day besides movies and HGTV. We all know there is pretty much nothing on during daytime tv except soap operas. I'm not and have never been a soap fan like some of you are (I'm not bashing them but I just don't watch them). I recorded Extreme Home Makeover, which is not new to me but I didn't watch it every Sunday before. Even before I was pregnant that show made me cry every single time. I usually didn't break down until the end when they show the house but now, oh my, I cry practically through the whole show. I don't know if any of you watched Sunday night but I watched it this morning and cried through the whole show. There was this 15 year old boy who had to step up and be the man of the house to his mom (who was in a wheelchair), his 20 yr old sister (who had 2 boys, 2 and like 16 months) and then his younger 13 yr old sister who had bad asthma problems. Anyways. He was so awesome and I just wanted to reach into the tv and hug him. So sad that he has had to grow up so fast and live in a trailer that didn't even have running water, not too mention a toilet. Seriously, ABC got to me on that one. My mom called while I was watching it and I think I freaked her out a bit cause I was crying when she called! Nevertheless, great show.

I got woken about 8:20 up by my nice, older neighbor lady (the one with dentures but never wears them) ringing my doorbell and knocking multiple times. I was going to really try to get extra sleep this morning too. Anyways, I didn't answer the door cause I knew she was just going to tell me that Paisley was in her yard again. She knows I'm on bedrest and that I'm not going to get out and try to get my dog back in my yard. I don't know why she just doesn't put her back in our yard through our gate and put something over the whole that her dog helped my dog dig. She's done this before and I don't understand why. Yes, Paisley is 1/2 at fault for the holes but she never dug into their yard before until they got a puppy who started digging under the fence into our yard too. He's a psycho dog anyways. Our fence line looks awful from all the holes but we don't really have time to mess with it right now. Or I'll say, Gavan doesn't have time to mess with it right now!

After I got up this morning, I looked outside to see Paisley laying in the middle of the yard, like a good dog, and she was chowing down on a nice, fresh squirrel! I almost lost it. She had 1/2 of it gone and was still working on it. I knocked on the window to try to get her to stop. She finally got up but kept the squirrel in her mouth. All I could see was the back 1/2 of it hanging, including the tail. She proceeded to walk up and down the fenceline and yard looking for good spot to bury it. After about 5 minutes of this, she dug a small hole, laid the remaining part of it in the hole, and then covered it up with dirt with her nose. Then she came and sat at the back door, which means she wants to come inside to see me. I couldn't let her in right yet cause she just had a 1/2 of a squirrel in her mouth. Sick. She ate a little dog food and then I let her in. She went right to sleep when she got in and slept for a while. I guess catching, killing and eating the squirrel was hard work. Sorry for the gross story but that's what you get when you look out the window all day!

Another big week down for me and baby! I hit 33 weeks yesterday. Whooohoooo! I see Dr. Huff tomorrow and have a NST & ultrasound as well. I'll give an update afterwards. Let's see how much weight our little one has put on in the last 2 weeks! Happy Monday to you.

You'd think I have plenty of time to blog!

32 1/2 weeks

Sorry it's been over a week since you've heard from us. My schedule has been SOOOO busy. Just kidding. Like I said, you'd think I have plenty of time to post each day. I did actually have my mom snap a pic of me yesterday when I looked half way decent after getting back from the doctor. I haven't been very good about taking pictures each week of my pregnancy but here's me at 32 1/2 weeks along. Couple things I'd like to point out about this picture though......

First, notice the capris and shirt I have on. Cute right? Well, funny how I got these clothes. The first night I was admitted into the hospital, Gavan was unpacking a few of our things and putting them in the closet. The previous occupant of our room had apparently left these clothes in the closet. He pulled them out and they were my maternity size so I guess you could say they fell under new ownership when I left the hospital. We gave the previous owner almost 2 weeks to come back to claim them but since we heard no word of anyone missing them, I came home with them. Don't worry, they were freshly washed before I wore them yesterday! Just a funny story Gavan and I thought you would enjoy. And yes, those flip flops are mine. I bought them.

The second thing I just thought I'd point out is the nice dark stripe on the part in my hair! You know you are overdue for your hair color when it's that noticable in pictures! I will take care of that in due time but it's not my top priority right now, obviously.

I just thought I'd update for this week. We went for our non-stress test and doctor appointment on Tuesday but sat in the waiting area for an hour and didn't get called back. Apparently they hospital was completely full and they didn't have a bed for us so we left. I told them I could come back the next day. I told them I'd call in the morning to see if they were still full. Long story short, I finally got in for the NST at 4:00 on Wednesday but didn't get to see my doctor cause she was off that day. The nurses talked to her and said my test was fine and so she said it was okay to just see me this coming Tuesday. Kind of annoying but hey, I got to leave the house 2 days in a row!!! What a treat.

I'm still doing good with the bed rest and my pump. It has become one of my best friends. It's always with me. It never leaves my side. It doesn't give me any drama. We have a great relationship. It literally saved my life. It is the reason I got to ever leave the hospital. I'm thankful everyday for my terb pump!

I'm not too stir crazy yet. It's hard to believe that it's been almost a month since my bedrest started in the hospital. My days actually go fairly fast if you can imagine that. It takes me longer to do things and I have to monitor my contractions twice a day, which takes an hour or so each time. Showers take a while too but it makes the day go by! I'm getting some reading done on my baby books and magazines and getting a few movies watched as well.

Well, TV night is tonight so I always look forward to that. Guess where I'll be. That's right. My other best friend the couch. Good thing it is a comfortable one. Have a good Thursday night and great weekend. Keep up those prayers. Pray especially for me to make it to 34 weeks, that's our next big goal!

Appointment Update

Just wanted to update on our appointment yesterday. Let me tell you, it felt so good to ride in a car, walk into the hospital, and just be up from the couch! I had a non-stress test that showed the baby was doing great. Her heartbeat was still steady and she is still moving ALL the time. Then I had an ultrasound done which showed that she had gained 10 oz in the last 2 weeks, which puts her up to about 3 lb 10 oz now! We're so proud of her! It also showed that nothing else had changed and everything is staying put for now. Then Dr. Huff came in to see me. She was very happy with the baby's size and how I was doing. She could tell that I hadn't been having too many contractions according to the measurements from the ultrasound. She felt like what I was doing (the bedrest) and the pump was working great for me. She said as long as the baby keeps growing like she is and she's up to a good size she would probably take me off the pump around 35 or 36 weeks and then just let my body do what it wants. So I guess we could possibly have a baby in about a month from now. I just feel like as soon as I get off this pump I'm going to go into labor quickly but we'll see. Overall, it was a great checkup and we are so glad she keeps getting bigger each day. I will go back each week for a check up and non-stress test and then every 2 weeks I'll have another ultrasound. So keep praying for another month for me to keep her in!

31 weeks

Well, I've made it to 31 weeks today, which is so great. We're hoping to get to 34 or 35 but we're just literally taking it a day at a time! Each day she can stay in is that much more development for her. It's been so nice to be at my home instead of the hospital. I really got to know lots of the nurses and they are all really nice but it's also nice to not have them coming into my room every hour! The pump and monitoring are continuing to work well and hopefully we can stay this way for several more weeks.

My couch is definately more comfortable than the hospital bed but my hips continue to get sore from laying on my side. I just continue to switch from hip to hip throughout the day. It's funny cause there were many, many days when I was having to get up to go to work and I just wished I could stay in bed and sleep but now I would love to be getting up and going to work! I'm afraid my leg muscles, what little muscles I actually had, are going to just start withering away due to the very little exercise they get. The only time they get used is when I get up to go to the bathroom. However, I do have to get up a lot cause of that but it's only about 20 steps to the bathroom from the couch! I'm going to have my work cut out for me after the baby comes to get my body built back up. I would for sure be winded if I tried to go outside and walk even 2 blocks right now. It's crazy. I know it could be much worse so for now I'll just enjoy all the movies and HGTV I can!

We've got a non-stress test, ultrasound and appointment with Dr. Huff all on Tuesday at the hospital at 11:00. It'll be a big outing for me but it will all be at the same place and I'll be laying down the entire time. We'll find out how much she has grown then too. She was 3 pounds at the last ultrasound, which will be 2 weeks ago on Tuesday. Pray for lots of weight gain! Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. They are sure working cause I'm still pregnant! Have a good week.

Home Sweet Home

We are home!! Mel got home around 2pm today. The pump is still working wonderfully and she's having very few contractions. She is still on strict bed rest, of course, but can get up for the bathroom and will shower every other day. It is so nice to finally be home after 12 nights in the hospital.

Defaulty equipment stinks......

Well, we have some more equipment that doesn't work properly and unfortunately it is prolonging me going home another day. The home health company sent us the pump and home monitoring system and both had some problems. I think whoever is checking the equipment before it is sent out needs some guidance! Nevertheless, my doctor feels it best that I stay here until my monitor is working without problems. The earliest the new monitor will be here is tomorrow around 10 or 11. The home health nurse is bringing it up to me as soon as she gets it. We're going to try the monitoring while I'm still in the hospital and send it through the wirelesss transmitter and as long as my doctor gets the results then I can go home!

I've had another good day on the pump medication only with minimal contractions. The new pump was preset with my dosage amounts and is working great so of that I'm thankful! This pump is the only reason I'm able to home, even if it is tomorrow, so I'm very glad that it works. I could still be here for another 3 weeks or so if the pump wouldn't of worked. So I guess one more night isn't going to kill me. I'll take that over the weeks in the hospital!

After I get home, I'll come back up here Tuesday (to the hospital) for them to monitor the baby's heartbeat, possibly just do a non-stress test, and then have another ultrasound and Dr. Huff will just come down and see me. That way I only have to get out once and get several things done while I'm here. She said after that appointment we'll see when I need to come back. She said she would probably do some housecalls so keep me with the littlest activity as possible. Again, I'll say, I have a great doctor. I feel so great to be under her care! Well, I'll go for now and lets hope tomorrow at this time I'll be at home on my own couch.

And the tubes came out one by one.....

Well, this morning at 6 am they reduced the IV mag to 0.5 grams and then at noon they took me completely off of it. They also took off my IV, catheter, blood pressure cuff and pulse finger sensor. It feels so good to be free of the tubes. Now they just want me to get up to make bathroom trips and see how I do because that's what it will be like at home. I'll just go from the bed to couch to bathroom but that's about it. It's been an adventure for sure and this new pump makes it even more interesting. Medicine is pretty cool and we've learned a lot while I've been here. I'm very excited about going home but am still keeping my fingers crossed that all will go good.

We're hoping for 4 more weeks at home before she comes. I'm 30 weeks and 1 day today so making it to 34 weeks would be awesome. The staff here is just glad that I'm in the 30's when we're counting weeks. We'll just take it a day at a time and let God do is work. Thanks for all the prayers, thoughts, visits, etc. It means SO much to us and we just say thank you, thank you, thank you.

Hopefully I'll be home tomorrow and then we'll post from there! YEA for being able to step foot outside after about 11 days in a hospital bed!

So Far So Good

The turb pump is working very well so far. Mel got hooked up around 1pm on Saturday. They now have her Mag level cut in half, which is the lowest it's been since we've been here. And, she's not contracting much at all! Our doc hasn't called in yet so we're not sure if they'll keep cutting the Mag down tonight or wait until tomorrow. So far your prayers are being answered and the pump is working great! We might be talking about the "H" word (home) very soon. We'll see what Dr. Huff says in the morning.

The Pump is Pumping

The turb pump is up and running. Mel put the port site in herself and the turbuleline is going full time now. Our doctor hopes to have Mel fully off the magnesium in her IV by tomorrow evening. We'll know by then or Monday if the turb pump by itself will control the contractions. Keep praying for success!

We are being very positive about this and hopeful. This would allow Mel to be at home, and maybe even have bathroom privileges and get to sit up some. Mel says that she is officially a human pin cushion at this point. She has been getting 3-4 brethine shots per day, a steroid shot yesterday and today, steroid shots last Friday and Saturday, and will not be sticking herself for a new port site every three days. She's been so strong through all of this, I've been so proud of her!

We are both excited to watch the OU game here in a few minutes. I wanted to put a sign "No visitors" on the door but Mel wouldn't let me. Let's hope for better results by OU this week than last.

We've been enjoying my fellow Chesapeake folks bringing meals all week. Our JSO class is going to begin on Monday. It is so nice to have these meals being brought up here. Thank you all!

Looking forward to posting an update on the turb pump soon!

-Gavan

What's this? Good news!

Okay, not to get too carried away or excited but we had some encouraging news today. Dr. Huff told Mel about a pump she could use, similar to an insulin pump. It would have Mel on brethene (generic: turbulelene) all the time. This is the med that she gets by shot anytime she has too many contractions in an hour. Well they make a pump that would stay on her body so that she could be on the turb 24/7. The shots always seem to be very effective so Dr. Huff thinks this may be more effective than the magnesium drip. The "turb pump" (scary how much medical lingo we're using already) will be here Saturday morning. They will get it on Mel and start it. Then the plan is to reduce the Mag in her IV and find a good level of turb to give her through the pump. Since it seems her body likes the brethene/turb the hope is that once they find a good level of this to give her constantly it would control the contractions. Then we could start talking about going home.

If we get that far the home health care place would also provide a contraction monitor. Mel could put the monitor on for a time and the nurses (wherever they are) would read the results from their office, call our doc then call Mel and tell her what the doc says. If she did begin having contractions while at home, she could call the nurses and they would turn up the dosage on the pump. Pretty cool stuff. And we found out today that our insurance did approve all of this! So definitely the most encouraging news we've had. We are not going to get too set on this in case the pump isn't able to keep her contractions under control, but it is nice to have some hope of Mel getting to go home. Being unhooked from the IV, catheter and into our own home would be so nice. Keep those prayers going that this method will be effective.

That's it for today. After tonight we'll have officially put one week in here at homey Lakeside Women's Hospital. I'm excited to watch the OU/Texas game on our 19" RCA TV here in the hospital room. Please no visitors between 2:30-6:00 on Saturday. None after that if we lose!! Just kidding. Being here football games don't seem nearly as important so I'd be fine even if we lose. Should be a fun and exciting weekend!

-Gavan

I better enjoy the view........

Well, Dr. Huff told me this morning that we were keeping the mag level put today and see if I stay fairly stable throughout the day. She talked about the possibility of transferring me to Mercy but as of now its not needed. If I start labor & they can't stop it, then they'll transfer me quickly. If I do happen to deliver here, they'll stabilize me & the baby & then transfer both of us. She'd like me to be able to stay here as long as possible so that's the plan for now. She told us again that 34 weeks would be great but hopefully I won't have to be on the mag the whole time. We're still hoping to decrease the mag each day and get only on pill form medication. We just continue to take baby steps each day & hope for the best.

Like I said in my title, I'd better enjoy the view from my room cause I might be here for a while. I just try to keep a positive perspective on the situation & keep our daughter's life as a first priority. I'd rather do the hardwork instead of having her try to fight. She still continues to stay very strong with a steady heartbeat. She's our little fighter & we can't wait to meet her but we want to keep her in as long as possible!

Gavan is doing such a good job taking care of me as well as everything else at home! He says that Paisley misses me & I miss her too. I'm sure she's wondering what is going on cause we're not at home anymore! I couldn't do this without Gavan & thank God for him everyday. He's the best! I guess I'll go for now. Gotta roll over & give my right side a break!

It's me.......

Well, I thought I'd post since I have some time on my hands! I'm keeping my sis's old laptop up here so I am able to have internet during the long days. Dr. Huff has kept me on just half the mag, which is in the iv drip, since yesterday morning. I was originally going to get decreased more but I've had too many contractions to do that. Along with the mag, I'm on a pill every 8 hours as well to keep off the contractions too. THEN, when I have any breakthrough contractions I get a shot of another med to stop them right away. I'm not a big fan of the shot cause it makes me really anxious and my heart races pretty fast. I had to have that shot last night at 11:30 and then today at about 11:15 cause of the breaktroughs. I did have an ultrasound this morning which told us our little girl was about 3 pounds, which was great news! We were hoping she was about that size. Each day she stays in is better than the day before! She's still on schedule for growth and continues to not be phased by all this activity!

I'm already sick of this hospital bed. Since Friday, I've been out of bed twice & that was for showers. I'm lucky they let me have those 2 showers! After I got back in bed this afternoon I had 3 contractions within 9 minutes so in my nurse came and gave me another shot. So.....basically I just can't move at all! They just keep telling me I have an irritable uterus. We just have to wait and see what my doctor says. It's basically a day by day thing right now.

Thanks for all your thoughts,prayers, calls, comments and emails. It really helps us get through these times and keep positive. Just keep praying for my body to settle down and keep this baby in for several more weeks. We truly appreciate everything. We'll keep you posted!

Monday Update

Mel did very well all day Saturday, Saturday night, Sunday and Sunday night. She had very few contractions each day. Our doc returned from vacation today and we were very happy to speak with her. She started weaning Mel off the Magnesium in her IV a few hours ago. By Tuesday around noon if her body does okay she will be off the mag and on a pill (procardia). If the pill alone keeps her body from contracting she should be able to go home Tuesday evening or Wednesday. Dr. Huff said she's had patients come in like this, get on magnesium, go home and end up come in at 41 weeks and have to be induced. That's not the norm, but it is possible. Our first goal is to make 32 weeks, then shoot for 34. There's just no way to know how long our little girl will stay put but keep praying for several more weeks.

-Gavan