I'm famous!

Actually my cervix is famous. The Dr came in the morning and told me that the US of my ugly cervix was going to be in a text book he's writing with a colleage. There are three high risk OBs here and this Dr had not actually looked at my US until today. He'd heard from Dr. Baker how ugly it was already. She told him she knew better than to look at the second US because she knew it scared her to see the 1st one. I guess it's by shear will that this baby is still inside me and not in the NICU.

He also said they wouldn't be testing my sugar anymore because they had been text book perfect and at least he can get rid of that torture for me. Evidently, if I was going to develope gestational diabetes, we'd be seeing signs by now.

Not much else going on...

We're still here!

Baby Update

We had an US today to get some growth measurements on our baby boy. He is now 3lbs, up from 1 lb 13oz on September 17th when I was admitted. He's growing at at good rate, so we're hopeful I can keep him in another 3 weeks at least. That will put us at 32 weeks. Of course the bigger he gets, the harder it will be for me to keep him in where he belongs.

So send up your prayers, good wishes, rub your lucky rabbit's foot, dance nekkid in the moonlight etc... etc... We need all the help we can get!

The joys of being in a teaching hospital

You are NEVER left alone. I'm a pretty low maintenance patient. I don't have an IV. I take Procardia every 8 hours and Heparin every 12. But my day starts are 5:30am with the on call Resident coming in my room to ask if I've had any problems overnight. Ummmm nope, if I'd been having ANY problems overnight, you'd have heard from me. I roll over and 6:00am the nurse comes in take my blood pressure, temperature. Then someone else is 15min behind her to listen to the baby's heartbeat and sometime there someone else has come in to give me my Procardia. 6:30am, a Med Student comes in and asks me the same questions the Resident asked me an hour before. Ummmm nope, nothing has changed in the last hour. 7:00am, breakfast. 7:30am come in and hook me up for an NST. If the baby cooperates and stays on the monitor, it takes 30min. If the baby doesn't cooperate or the nurse just forgets about me, it can be anywhere from 45min to an hour. 8:00am Dietary comes in to get your tray and go over you menu with you. I've been here for two weeks, I think I know how to fill the darn thing out. Now, around 8:30am, the nursing students come in to do your vitals again. They are encouraging you to take a shower so they can change your bed linens. But you aren't ready to take a shower because the Drs are rounding and you don't want to miss them. So she comes in every 15 min asking if you're ready to get in the shower. Then they wonder WHY you are napping before noon. UGH!

Mom brought the boys today

I had a loverly visit with the boys. Jack was his usual happy self. He ate about half of the stuff in my snack drawer and charmed the Dr, nurses and med students that did rounds today. Michael is getting so big and is getting very social. He was just talking and talking and smiling. He had a bottle while he was here and fell asleep on my chest. I miss them both so much! :(

Today's Ultrasound

The good news is, there is no change. Cervix is still where it was almost two weeks ago. So, we're still here and our bun is still baking. On a funny note, she also did an abdominal scan to see the baby's heart rate. We caught him sucking his foot...LOL Not his thumb, but his foot. We could also see him trying to breath, so that's a good thing also. He's still active, moving and giving the nurses a hard time when they try to put me on the monitor in the morning. He'll kick the monitor and run deep. They usually have to get the monitor on him and then tie it down tight to pin him down.

They are supposed to do an US for growth early next week. The tech told me they had new machines that had printers with them. Hopefully they'll have them up and running next week and I'll have new US pics to share.

Thanks again for everyone for your continued help and support. We REALLY appreciate it.

Michael's 4mo checkup

Michael's 4mo checkup has been moved from Oct 3 to Oct 17. So we have a few weeks to collect guesses. I see lots of people hitting this blog. Make sure you go to the "Guess My Weight" post and leave your guess.

It will be fun to see who gets the closest.

28 Weeks

Well, today I hit 28 weeks. Jeff just headed home for the week. But, before he left he took another belly picture. Since they are letting me wear my own clothes, you can get a better shot of the belly. I look so happy, perky and attractive...NOT! I guess you can't ask for much more after two weeks in the hospital. Don't expect it to get much better folks...LOL

Anyway, here's the 28 week belly pic for your viewing pleasure.

PS.
Don't forget to go add your guess to the "Guess my weight" post below!

MANY MANY THANKS!!!

I just wanted to take a moment to thank a few people for their help this weekend. I want to make sure I keep up with this before the list gets too long for my feeble memory to keep up with...LOL

Karen-Thank you so much for taking he boys to the picnic on Saturday. You gave my mom a much needed break and gave her a chance to go do some unmolested shopping at Wal Mart.

Kristi-Thanks so much for taking Jack to church with your family this morning. He's such a social little boy and loves being around other kids his age. Just getting him out of the house for a few hours does wonders for him.

Vicki & Jaime-Thank you and your hubbys so much for mowing the yard today. Mom says it looks great and it's one less thing for Jeff to worry about. She also enjoyed the chance to have a few minutes to herself with a cup of coffee and some chocolate pie.

I don't know what we would do without the wonderful people we have in our life.

THANK YOU!!
Pam, Jeff, Jack, Michael & Barbara

Jeff's 2 cents for the day...

Who was the hack who took those soccer pics?
I wonder if our bathroom scale is accurate enough to win the baby weight poll? Hmm...

Small update

Well, not a whole lot that is really new. I'm still here, bun is still in oven, no contractions, bleeding, etc...etc...

When the Dr came in this morning, I asked her what was our goal for me to get out of here. She said that they would check me at 32 weeks and if there were no changes and my OB was comfortable with me delivering at 32 weeks they would send me home on bed rest and Procardia. If I were to go into labor after that, as long as the baby's lungs were mature, they would stop the meds and let me deliver. Evidently the 32 weeks is when the danger of a brain bleed goes away. When I was being admitted to OS Hospital for transfer to USA, my OB actually mentioned me being here until the 34 week mark. So I'm imagining that his comfort level is 34 weeks. So I may be in here another 4 weeks, I may be in here another 6 weeks.

Jack's 1st soccer practice

Jack had his 1st soccer practice. Jeff said he did well for his 1st time out. He was done after about 25-30 min. Jeff was very impressed with Coach Bob and Coach Art. He said that they were very patient and kind with the kids. He also meet Coach Bob's wife Jennifer and said that she was very nice and offered her help in making sure that Jack was able to make it to practice and games. We do appreciate all the kind offers of help we have received.

People have asked for me to share his soccer schedule so I've included it below.

All of these games are at 8am at Freedom Field in Ocean Springs.

10/4-Practice
10/11
10/18
10/25
11/8

Here are a few pictures of our little soccer star.

I can move the ball!

I can kick the ball!

And then boredom set in...

Thanks for the support

Pam and I are very appreciative of the wonderful visit we had with my DO/Flight Commander, Capt. Apilado. Rarely, in the past, have we had a visitation from the unit; especially the "head shed". Even when one of us was at Keesler Medical Center. Sir, thank you for taking the time out of your weekend to drive an hour away from your wife and girls to visit us. It was nice to talk with you and keep the hangar doors closed for a while.

Guess my weight!!!

No, not MY weight! Michael is going in for his 4mo checkup and vaccinations on Friday and I thought it would be fun for folks to guess his weight. He was 11 pounds 13 oz at his 2mo checkup and he has grown by leaps and bounds since then. Here's a quickie snapshot Jeff took of Michael today. Please leave a comment and guess Michael's weight.

Slacking, I know...

Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. There has just been NOTHING to report. Bun is still baking, no contractions, no changes. These are all good things. I'm starting to go a little stir crazy. Someone who's been through all this told me the 1st two weeks are the worst. Well, I've made it through the 1st week, 2nd week ends on Wed, Oct 1st. The good news is, we have almost made it to the 28 week mark. We hit 28 weeks on Sunday.

It occured to me the other day that Michael is almost 4mo. I have to call the Pediatrician's office on Monday and make an appt for his 4mo checkup and vaccines. I'm hoping to make the appt for Friday the 3rd. It's a down Friday, so Jeff can stay home w/Jack and mom can take Michael to his appt. I normally take Jack to Michael's appts, but he doesn't need to see Michael get his shots. Jack is such a sensitive soul, seeing Michael hurt like that would just do him in.

Since our goal is to keep this little bun in the oven until at least 34 weeks. I hope to be in the hospital until at least Nov 11th. This means I will be here on voting day. I called the voter registration office in Gautier and they are going to send me an absentee ballot. I have my polictical views on who I think needs to be President. I won't dicuss it here, as it's not the forum for that type of discussion. But I will say, no matter if you vote for McCain or Obamam, VOTE! If you don't get out and vote, you have no right to complain when things don't go the way you would like them to go.

Jeff promised me her would take pictures of Jack at his 1st soccer practice tomorrow. They went out today to get cleats and shin guards. Could not find ANY soccer cleats anywhere. Jack is such a little guy, the typical shin guards would not fit him. They were able to find somethig that will work and Jack still needs some tube socks to keep them on, but at least his little legs will be protected. As soon as I get a chance to put them up, I'll share the pictures here.

It's almost 3am, so I'm going to TRY to get some sleep now.

Good Night~~~~~~

Soccer Season is starting

I enrolled Jack in the 3yo micro-soccer league at the YMCA. His 1st practice is Saturday. Jeff is going to take him to get his cleats and shin guards on Friday. It's going to be SO CUTE. I hate, hate, hate missing it. :(

Your offers of help are greatly appreciated!

Thanks to everyone that has offered to help and support us during this difficult time.

I've had several people ask what I needed here at the hospital to pass the time. Right now I'm in pretty good shape. Having acess to the internet gives me unlimited access to games, puzzles, magazines, chatting with friends etc... I have a new book to read and snacks. There is even a DVD player attached to the TV in here. So I am set for now at least. After, the 4th, 5th, 6th week, I may be tired of this computer and looking for some new distractions. I was telling a friend that it's times like this I wish I was crafty and knew how to knit or something. I do know how to crochet, but it has been FOREVER. I guess cross stitch is always an option, but again, FOREVER.

As for things we need at home. We are fine on meals right now. I had already started freezing a lot of stuff and had already planned a trip to Dream Dinners in Mobile. Our good friend Karen picked those up for us last weekend. Since I hope to be in here a good long time, I'm sure at some point my mom will appreiciate someone bringing in a meal so she does not have to cook.

With the ever changing uncertainty of our situation, I'm sure other things will come up and I promise to ask for help when we need it.

Thanks again!!!!

About This Baby Naming Thing...

I prefer Nathan Blake over all the rest myself. I have some very personal reasons that Pam has strictly forbidden me to discuss in the blog. Something about undue influence and getting honest input from you guys blah, blah, blah... I say, if you have a ringer bring it to the party. But, I fear the pregnant chick.
Thank you all for supporting in all this. I so wish I could take a sabatical and be with her more.
Love you, Darlin'

Mom brought the boys today...

Mom brought the boys up here for about an hour. It was nice to have them here. Jack just crawled up on the bed and had a grand 'ol time and ate half my lunch when it was delivered. Which is fine, because I usually only eat half of it anyway. You can tell poor Michael is confused. I know Jack misses me, but Michael is the one I'm worried about the most. He is so young and was such a momma's boy already. But I guess you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

They are "patterning" my blood sugars once a week for 24 hours. Because of my Gastric Bypass, I am unable to drink the sugary liquid that is used during the Glucose Tolerance Test. So we are just going to keep an eye on my blood sugar levels. As long as they are normal, we'll only test them once a week. If they start going up, they test more often and treat me for Gestational Diabetes.

Things are pretty much the same as they've been. No contractions, no bleeding, no leaking fluid etc...etc... Baby boy is still active, moving and running from the monitor for fun.

Thanks again for all of the offers of help. We really appreciate it!!!!

A few bright spots...

Get 'em where you can, right?

1. They are letting me wear my own clothes. No more wrestling with the hospital gown all night long and no more flashing my behind at everyone that dares to walk in the room when I'm not in the bed.

2. I spoke to a lactation consultant today. After checking my insurance she told me that if my baby was put in the NICU, my insurance would pay for the MACK DADDY electric breast pump at 100%. Those run $300+ a piece and since preemies aren't able to eat on their own, it's a medical neccessity.

3. I have a great support system of women through a play group that Jack and I joined last Dec. Folks are going out of their way, offering to bring meals and help take care of the boys to give my mom some time. With Jeff working 10 hours days and spending his off days with me, that leaves little time for my mom to relax a bit. Thank you ladies!!!!

4. I have family willing to drive/fly cross country to be here and stay for the duration.

5. Jeff's work has agreed to put him back on dayshift as of today. YEAH!!! This will make life easier on me, him, the boys and my mom.


I'll continue to add to this list and things come to me and the bright spots reveal themselves.

Baby Name Poll

The baby name poll has been added. Please go vote for your favorite!