Suspense

After the test results yesterday I was feeling pretty confident that I would be going home. Then last night when I was on the monitors I was contracting like crazy. They gave me a shot of terbutaline to stop the labor.

This morning I had an ultrasound. They got me up at 7:30 for it. What's up with that? Anyway, they measured the baby at 2 lbs 11 oz. Still a little on the small side for being born, but she's a good size for her age. They measured my cervix at 2.4 cm. That is 1 mm shorter than the minimum considered to be safe. I no longer felt confident that I would be going home.

My doctor came to see me at around 12:30, and said I can go home, but I have to go to the doctor's office every week. It's just as well, because that will be my only excursion out of my house for a while. Her words were "hard core bed rest." She said I can't even get up to make myself a sandwich. (I can get up to use the bathroom and take a 5 minute shower, but that's it.)

I am very glad to be able to go home and be with my family again. I have missed them a lot since I have been here.

My doctors have warned me that if I end up back in the hospital again, that's it. This is a one strike and you're out situation. I'll be back in for the duration. So I promised to be good. As time goes on they will probably remove a few restrictions, but for now I am on strict bed rest until 36 weeks. That is 8 more weeks from now. (Today I am 28 weeks - an important milestone.)

So that's my big news. I hope it all works out.

Come get your stuff!

Jeff here. Noelle's laptop is down again :(

In any case, Noelle is coming home today! YAY! However, she is still on strict bedrest. She can't even get up to make herself lunch. Which means I've got to take care of that in the morning. I doubt she'll have as good a lunch as at the hospital.

In any case, if you've left movies, books, anything that you want back, please come get it. Please do NOT go to the hospital to get it. She won't be there (unless you show up before 5:00 PM today, Monday).

We really do appreciate everything, all the time and dinners and things, that have been provided to us. We also really appreciate a continued diligence to help us as we're not out of the woods yet.

Failure is underrated

This morning I took the fetal fibronectin test. (I don't recommend it.) It's one of those tests where at this current time, a negative result is good. I took the test at about 10:00, and the results came back two hours later. Yay! I failed! That means that there is a 99% chance that the baby will not be born in the next week to 3 weeks. Tomorrow I am having an ultrasound, and if they like what they see there I will be able to go home. So I'll be back in my own comfortable bed.

If I do in fact get to go home, which I am starting to feel confident about, I will be under a lot of restrictions. I need to duplicate my hospital lifestyle, meaning that I still have to stay in bed all of the time. I can't pick up Rachel, I can't do laundry, I really can't do anything. When I get my discharge instructions I will ask in more detail about my restrictions, but everything I have heard so far, from both doctors and nurses, is stay in bed, don't do anything!

Stay tuned for more news tomorrow.

Friday was a good day.

Friday was a good day. Jeff went to the U of L/Arizona Sweet 16 game in Indianapolis. I was really glad that Jeff got that special treat, and to make it perfect U of L won. Make that they crushed Arizona. I know that some people like close games because they are more exciting, but I like games where my team wins easily. It is better on my heart. The downside is that he didn't get home until 3:00 a.m.

I had a good day on Friday too. A while back I discovered that I can have ice cream just by asking. The flavors are limited to chocolate and vanilla. The only way to get novelty flavors is by getting a visitor to go to the cafeteria and buy one for me. But yesterday the food and nutrition lady managed to get me an Andes Candies mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwich. She said that was likely a one-time-only thing, but I really enjoyed it.

Baby Gaby was pretty active yesterday. She was kicking up a storm! When they have me on the monitors, they keep me on for 30 to 60 minutes, but especially they like the last 5 minutes of the fetal heart monitor to show the baby's heart really well. That's difficult because over the course of 30 minutes to an hour she can move around quite a lot. Last night the nurse came in to take me off the monitor, but was going to just hold the fetal monitor in place to get the last few minutes to show the heart beat. Baby Gaby was not interested in holding still at all. The nurse finally just gave up because baby Gaby was swinging from the rafters (my ribs?) and she just could not locate the heartbeat for long enough for it to do any good. No worries, though, because we got plenty of heart beat monitoring earlier.

My doctor came in to see me today. She decided to move up the fetal fibronectin test to tomorrow. Then on Monday I will have an ultrasound. Then I might be able to go home either Monday or Tuesday. Or not. She felt fairly confident that I would be okay to go home next week, so we'll see.

5 Weeks

Jeff has some good news. His dad is taking him to Indianapolis to see the Louisville/Arizona game. Now Louisville just has to win and that will make his day even better. I'm really glad he gets to go. Jeff loves basketball, and he is a big U of L fan. He has really taken on a lot lately, and I am glad he is getting a well-deserved break.

Jeff was over last night without Rachel. He has been trying for a while now to feel baby Gaby kick, but it seems that whenever he is around she is sleeping, or at least she is not active. This morning I was on the monitor, and baby Gaby was extremely active. I really wanted Jeff to be here then, because there was no problem at all feeling her kick. She was going crazy. In fact the nurse had to keep coming back in to find her again with the monitor because she was swimming laps in there.

Today makes 5 weeks that I have been in the hospital uninterrupted. No news at this time, but stay tuned because on Monday I will have some tests, and then I'll have news. I don't know what it will be, but it will definitely be something.

Nothing new today

Nothing new to share today. I'll just tell a quick story about Rachel. Yesterday afternoon Rachel came to see me along with her Grandma. We went for a stroll. It was rainy outside, so we just walked around on this floor. As we were about done (especially Rachel) we stopped at the nurse's station so that I could ask a question of one of the nurses. While we were there Rachel chatted it up with the nurses. She is getting to be so talkative. It used to be that when she was on the phone with nobody she would talk a lot, but when there was actually a person on the line she would just smile and wave. That doesn't seem to be true anymore. Now she has a lot to say. Not that I understand any of it, but that doesn't stop her. I guess that is what they mean when kids say that their parents just don't understand them.

I'm doing well, baby Gaby is doing well.

More hospital adventures

So not much new going on here these days. Jeff and Rachel came by last night and we went for a walk. (Rachel and I went for a ride, Jeff went for a walk.) While we were outside Rachel enjoyed strolling around the little garden area. Suddenly she got down on her hands and knees and started crawling. Then she laid down on the sidewalk. It was just for a minute, but it was really funny. I have no idea why she did that. She got right back up and started walking around again. I really wish I had my camera with me at the time. But I didn't.

As we were coming back inside we saw a lady walking down the hallway. Rachel started waving to her. She was kind of a ways down the hall, but she saw Rachel wave. So she stopped and waved back. Rachel is really into waving these days. I think it is adorable.

My doctor just popped in. She said, "so I hear you might be heading home next week." I said, "yeah, that's what they're telling me." I asked her for some clarification on what my restrictions would be. She said "bed rest until 36 weeks, either the bed or the couch." I asked if I could go for car rides. Nope. My only opportunity to leave the four walls of the house will be a weekly trip to the doctor's office. I was going to ask her if I could go to church if I was able to get a wheelchair, but after she quickly nixed even going for a ride in the car I didn't even bother to ask.

Last Monday a lady came in to see me who is in charge of pre-natal classes. She told me to ask my doctor if I could attend the classes. I asked the doctor, and she said "yes." If I'm still here after next week it will be no problem, but my doctor today said that if I'm home I can't attend the classes until after 36 weeks. "But what if the baby comes before 36 weeks?" I asked. She responded "Don't worry, we'll get you through it."

She seemed rather confident that I might be able to go home. (More confident than the voters on my poll.) I'm thinking that if you have brought me something to keep me occupied in the hospital, you might want to come and pick it up so that I don't have to hire a U-Haul to go home. Of course if I stay here the books and movies might still be needed, but I'm thinking that this week is a good time for people to start retrieving their stuff. Thank you all very much for your generosity.

Read this, then change your vote.

My doctor came to see me today (of course). She gave me the run down of what's going on next week. 28 weeks is an important milestone for baby Gaby. It marks the time when the risk of serious long term medical problems is greatly reduced if she were born then. So there is a possibility that I will be able to go home.

Next Monday I will have a fetal fibronectin test. If it comes back negative, that means that I will not have the baby within the next week or two. I will have an ultrasound where they will check my cervical length and the size of the baby. If my cervix is in not in any worse shape than it was when I got here, and the fetal fibronectin test comes back negative, they will let me go home on Tuesday TO DO EXACTLY THE SAME THING I'M DOING HERE NOW. If I am able to go home, but have to come back she said I would be here for the duration. Her words were: "You may be let out on parole, but if you violate the terms of your parole, you are right back in the clink." (Okay, that was a slight paraphrase, but she did use the parole analogy.) She also made sure that I understood that I might not be able to go home next week, that I was mentally prepared for that possibility, which I am.

I have mixed feelings about going home. On the one hand if I stay here I am monitored regularly, and if something were to happen, I'm right here where they can take care of things quickly. There is a certain comfort in that. On the other hand I miss Jeff (although he can come and see me whenever he wants to, more or less), I miss Rachel (although she can come and see me whenever Jeff wants (more or less), and I miss Scout (who never gets to come and see me). I hope that if I am home things will be a little easier on Jeff (although he doesn't really think so).

I am so grateful to all of my friends and family who have helped my family, especially taking care of Rachel. My worry if I come home is that the sense of urgency that people feel that cause them to volunteer to watch Rachel during the day will be reduced. I am going to need the exact same help when I'm home that I'm getting now that I am in the hospital. I only hope that I still have friends left when all this is over. I don't know how I can ever repay all of the kindness and generosity that I have received.

Change your vote. The only two options should be Tuesday March 31, and ha ha ha ha. You're not going home next week. I created the poll before the doctor came. The other six options should not be there after all.

Rachel is 18 months old (yesterday)

Wow! Who thought this day would ever come? Yesterday Rachel turned 18 months old. That is a significant milestone, as she is now a legal participant in nursery. (Jeff has taken her there before and stayed with her a couple of times in the past when she was still underage.)


Today she had a doctors appointment (thanks Grandma for taking her). Here are her vital statistics:

height: 32" (60th%)
weight: 25 lbs. 8 oz. (70th%)

The doctor also recommended taking a chewable vitamin every morning since Rachel is not exactly an enthusiastic consumer of vegetables. The doctor also recommended taking chewable claritin to help treat her allegies. Rachel got two shots, and with the help of a lollipop, she handled it pretty well.

In other news, today I hit 27 weeks. That makes this the first day of my third trimester. They say that the 2nd trimester is the easiest, so that begs the question, what is this next trimester going to be like? Next week (28 weeks) is the next important milestone in this pregnancy. At that point they will reevaluate me and maybe, possibly send me home.

Jeff wanted a new belly shot of me.


What's good for the goose is good for the gander.


Jeff also wanted a picture of my bare belly, but you will not find that one posted anywhere! And lest you are asking yourself "why is she standing up when she's supposed to be on bed rest?" I'll just say that I figured if I'm allowed to walk to the bathroom, I figured I was okay to stand up for a quick picture.

A little extra excitement

A toco transducer is the name of the thingy they use to monitor my uterus. (Toco is from the Greek prefix meaning childbirth.) They also use a fetal heart monitor. I am monitored twice a day for an hour (or so) at a time.

Last night I was on the monitor and at around 10:00 the nurse came in saying I was contracting. I asked how much, and she said about every 3 minutes. That's not really what we want, so she said she would call my doctor. I expressed concern calling her so late as I didn't want her mad at me. (I'm very sensitive.) The nurse assured me that the doctor wouldn't be mad at me, if anything she would be mad at the nurse. Then she comes back five minutes later with a syringe. (See? I knew she would retaliate against me for disturbing her evening.) Anyway, she gave me a shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions. Today the same doctor came in to see me. She said, she wasn't mad for calling her so late. She doesn't get mad, she gets even. Anyway they are going to increase my procardia dosage from every 6 hours to every 4 hours. My problem is that I have a hyper-sensitive uterus. It is always getting irritated, and that stimulates contractions. I guess that's why I'm still here. They can stop them before they lead to full blown labor.

I learned something new today. If I ask for ice cream they will bring it to me. Isn't that a great discovery? Okay so the selection is rather limited, but still, ice cream! Yum!

Today Rachel turned 18 months old. It was her first official day in nursery. I gave Jeff the assignment to take some pictures, so hopefully I will have them posted in the next couple of days.