Another Quick Visit

They gave me another pass for today. Woo hoo! We're sorting through baby clothes right now. In case you don't check Nick's blog, we've just found out this baby is a boy! We're thrilled with that. We think we've settled on a name, but we'll let you know that when he arrives.

So we're packing up the girl clothes for my cousin who is expecting a girl in September. My sister has offered some boy clothes, so we're all set.

I'm still getting a steady rotation of absolutely insane roommates. If I'm still sane when this baby arrives, it will be a miracle!

Short Post

I'm home from the hospital on a 4-hour pass. This won't be a long post because I don't want to waste a lot of time on the computer, I'm just going to be here until Darcy finishes her nap.

I just quickly want to say thanks to everyone for their words of support and encouragement. It's really meant a lot to us. It does look like I'm going to be in the hospital until the baby is born. They're hoping to hold me off until week 38 and I am currently 34 weeks, so I've got a while to go. I've had some crazy roommates, interesting characters creating a rucus down the hall and trouble getting the food I've ordered. Yet those seem to be the things that are keeping me sane.

I never knew resting could be so hard! It's so tempting to get up and take a stroll through the hospital, but I'm not allowed to go further than the bathroom. Anywhere else I have to go in a wheelchair. I'm even getting a little bored of reading! I never thought I'd say that. I've just got to do whatever it takes to have a healthy baby at the end of it all. I miss being at home with my family, but at least they get to come visit me once a day, if not more.

Darcy should be up soon. I'm going to go. Hopefully I'll be talking to you soon.

Nick at the controls

I've hi-jacked my wife's blog. But with good reason.

Sue was admitted to the hospital today. Probably for a week for some extra monitoring. There was concern about the fluid level being too low. That's all I know at this point.

Updates on my blog.

Today's Update

So I finally got to see my OB this morning. I feel a lot better after chatting with her.

First of all, the baby is perfect developmentally. None of the nurses or techs could answer that question for me, so that's something that has really been worrying me. There doesn't seem to be anything to worry about health-wise (these ultra sounds are scored out of 8 and we keep getting 8/8) aside from the baby being small.

If the placenta stays where it is right now, she sees no need to schedule a c-section, we should be able to have a safe delivery. She wants to keep an eye on that.

She also wants to keep an eye on the amniotic fluid, which is low. She didn't seem to be overly concerned about this and said that there's absolutely nothing I can do about it, she just wants to know what's going on.

So I'm still going to the hospital twice a week, but it seems like most of the real danger has passed.

What I Learned Today

Here's what I learned today: Darcy can apparently eat her weight in pancakes.

We went out to an Ontario Early Years Centre this morning and on the way home she asked for pancakes for lunch. No problem. I made her "silver dollar" sized pancakes and she ate 11 of them! I couldn't believe it. I made 6 in the first batch, not expecting her to finish them. By the time I got my own made and sat down to eat, she had already eaten 4. I made 5 in the second batch, thinking there was no way she'd finish those. She slowed down for numbers 4 and 5 but they all went down too. If I hadn't brought out her sliced apple, I think she would have asked for more!

I guess she played hard at the Early Years Centre!

Back at the Hospital

Back for another check-up today, which we hoped would clear up some of the confusion from last week.

The ultra sound seemed to confirm that the placenta has cleared itself, but doesn't seem to be entirely out of a dangerous position yet. We're keeping an eye on that.

The new concern today was that my levels of amniotic fluid were low. The 2.5 percentile of good levels. That's not good. The nurse suggested I might be put on bed rest because of this. Nick asked if there's anything I can do to increase the level of fluid and we were told there isn't. So, I'm still taking it easy and waiting until I see my doctor on Wednesday to see what she has to say.

So while I was encouraged on Thursday, there still seems to be some room for concern. I'm going to go sit on the couch now.

Tomorrow is Another Day

So I was back at the hospital this morning for more monitoring. My first step is to go down to ultra sound for a check there, then upstairs to be hooked up to a fetal monitor for a while.

In the ultra sound this morning the tech asked why I was there so I explained about the placenta previa. As the exam went on she asked a few questions about the previa. Finally she said, "When did you last present as a previa?" So I told her it had just been on Tuesday. She told me she didn't see any signs of it. She did the test from a few different angles and even took the results to the doctor who confirmed what she saw.

I went upstairs for the monitoring and the nurses had received the ultra sound results. They were all stunned. They were sure it wouldn't move at this point, and certainly not over two days. They're optimistic, but after speaking with my OB, they want me to keep going back. With two such different tests done in such a short time span they want some confirmation before they say it's all good.

I'm also trying not to get my hopes up, but it is pretty weird. One nurse called me the miracle momma. Who knows?

Also while I was at the hospital, I got two compliments from nurses about how nice I look as a pregnant woman. I tell you, you can never hear that enough! One woman works in the maternity department and she said she hates seeing women who just wear pyjamas or sweats for 9 months. Amen sister!

So, I go back again on Monday and we'll see what they've got to say then. I have no idea what to expect now. If you're praying, keep praying!

Lighter Post

Thanks for all your good wishes yesterday. I'll keep you updated with how things go. When we went back this morning we confirmed that the concern is more about the placenta previa than about the size of the baby, although weight gain would still be a good thing. I'd never pass up cookies!

Anyway, when I was cleaning out my office last week I found this old CD lying around my office. Darcy loves the VeggieTales right now so I thought she'd enjoy it, even though she didn't know many of the songs on there. I was right. She loved the CD and already has the songs all memorized. Well, at least her understanding of the songs. One of the songs talks about having the love of Jesus in your heart. She was singing along, or at least I thought she was. Then when we got out of the car and into the house she lifted up her shirt and said, "Look Mommy, the cheese is in my heart!"

I must have laughed for an hour! Good little Swiss girl!

Hospital Visit

So, after the holiday weekend, today is officially my first day of "freedom". I got to spend it by waking up just as early as ever to go to the hospital for tests.

Although I haven't been getting very big with this pregnancy my doctor always said that the baby was growing on schedule. That changed last week. She said there wasn't enough growth in the baby between my last two appointments. I was to go to the hospital this morning to make sure everything is OK.

Well, the baby is definitely measuring small. Darcy was small, my sister's kids were small, I was the biggest of my Mom's babies at 7 lbs, 6 oz. We're small people. However, I need to go back to the hospital twice a week now for monitoring. I also found out that the placenta previa has not yet corrected itself and is not likely to at this point. That means I am almost definitely looking at a c-section. They're also concerned about the baby coming early, so I had to have a steroid injection this morning and a follow up shot tomorrow to help speed up lung development.

So all in all it wasn't a very encouraging morning. I'm still going to do all I can to try to pack on the pounds. We're stepping up changing Darcy's room and setting up the baby's room. Who knows what's going to happen from here, but I certainly don't think I'll be having a baby in September. More likely August, and hopefully not July.