Finally, it looks like we are getting out of here!

Unless something drastic happens we will be moving to "CAMP" (Centralized Antenatal Monitoring Program) today. We will be staying at the Markham House Suites. We really don't know much else. I will update later tonight, that is if the hotel has wireless internet!

So frustrating!

So, all weekend all we have heard from the doctors and nurses was that we would be going to "camp" on Monday if I had not dilated anymore. Well, I have not dilated anymore and I am still at the hospital. Hmmm??? The doctor that came in this morning didn't even bring up the option of leaving until I asked and then she said that she would have to talk to the rest of the staff within the hour and get back to us. . .this was at 8am. At 2pm a nurse came in to check on me and I asked her if she could find out what was going on, if we were getting released to camp or not? Well, she goes "Oh, yeah you're not going to camp" just like that, without much thought or care. She said that one of the other nurses had called down to the doctor's office to check on a patient of hers that was supposed to be getting released and they told her that her patient wasn't going anywhere and to tell our nurse that we wouldn't be leaving today either. I guess instead of coming to our room and telling us then, she just thought she'd wait until we asked?? I was SO mad. I asked her if she knew why, and she said no but she could call the doctor herself and find out. [uh, THANK you!] I asked her to do that and if possible we would like to talk to the doctor ourselves to find out just what was going on and why they wouldn't release us. She came back and said that they just couldn't get the release approved and if we wanted to talk to the doctor she would have her to call us because she wasn't going to be able to get back up to the room to see us. At first I told the nurse not to worry about it, I knew I was too upset to talk to the doctor rationally anyway. But Jarrod decided he needed to know more so he had the nurse call the doctor and she called us in our room a while later. She did apologize to Jarrod for not getting the news to us sooner (or at all.) she said that her rounds took longer than she thought and then after their meeting she had to go to the clinic and got busy. . . .she also said that they couldn't get everything arranged and coordinated today between the hospital and the hotel, then she told Jarrod that the main doctor who everything has to go through decided that he just wasn't comfortable letting us go today. She said she couldn't guarantee anything but really felt that if he decided to let us go tomorrow everything would be in place where we could move tomorrow. I was really frustrated. I am so tired of being here and not knowing anything from day to day. I feel like this must be a good hospital for emergency care, but they could definitely work on their long term patient care and the patient-doctor communication. We have seen 5 different doctors since we have been here and have yet to have the same nurse for more than a shift. It's hard to get a straight answer from anyone, but I guess that is a problem with all hospitals! Anyway, I am in a better state of mind tonight, but I was really upset this afternoon. I really had my hopes up and I was just really disappointed. I hate to get my hopes up again, but I am really praying that we can go to camp tomorrow. I am beyond tired of being here. I haven't had a night of uninterrupted sleep in 10 days! It's funny that I am on "Bed-Rest" and while I am in bed, I am definitely not getting much rest! Sorry today's blog is mostly a rant. I am still feeling fine, no pain, no contractions. My mom is here to stay till Wednesday. Jarrod is staying the night at his friend's house in Sherwood and is planning on going to work tomorrow and Wednesday. He will be off on Thursday and Friday, they are getting their 4th of July day off on Thursday and then of course he doesn't work on Friday's anyway. Maybe this weekend won't be quite as bad if we are in the hotel.

Hopefully our last night in the hospital!

Today is our 10th day in the hospital! I am so tired of being poked and prodded on every 2 hours. And I am so ready to be in a real bed. 10 nights in a hospital bed is killing my back! And I am pretty sure Jarrod could do without his nightly ritual of blowing up his airbed and making it. From what we can get out of the nurses it looks like we will be going to "Camp" aka The Markham House Suites, tomorrow. We have no idea what it will be like, but come on, it's got to be better than a hospital room. From what we can tell it will have a kitchette and a small living room area and a seperate bedroom. So, I think it will be nice. This is just what we have gathered from the nurses but we won't know for sure till tomorrow. I think they will re-examine me in the morning and they will go from there. I have been feeling really good, practically no contractions and pains. I think being on bed rest for the last two weeks must be doing some good. And this past week I have been trying to lay down more instead of sitting up, which I think has also helped. Jarrod has been allowed to work out of the Little Rock office, so he won't have to take off anymore work. It would really stink for him to use up all his days before the baby even comes! We are so thankful they are letting him work in Little Rock so he can stay with me at night and he will be close if anything were to happen. My mom is coming to stay for a few days this week just too get us settled and see how it goes during the day. I hate that I might need a babysitter! I guess if I need it then that's what I need, but is so hard to lie in bed and watch someone else do everything for you! We had quite a bit of company today. We had a good visit with Jarrod's cousin Keith, then Brian, Christina and the girls came to see us (and entertained us)and of course my mom and dad and Jarrod's parents and sister also came to visit. Please keep your fingers crossed!! I really have my hopes up that by this time tomorrow we will be out of the hospital! Check back tomorrow for the verdict!!

No news is good news

Still no change. In fact, I have been feeling less pain and pressure today. The doctors came by early this morning and basically told us we are going to be here at the hospital till at least Monday. If nothing happens this weekend, they will re-evaluate the situation and decide where we should go from there on Monday. I don't know for sure but I figure I will get examined on Monday and if I haven't dilated anymore they will send us to the "camp" or send us home. I guess going back to Jonesboro isn't an option anymore since they can't really do anything else for us. I am afraid that they will want us to stay here since I don't have but a few weeks till I will be in the "safe" stage for delivery at Jonesboro. You have no idea how bad I miss my bed!! And my DVR! We don't even have a dvd player here! We are just hanging out, I am taking lots of cat naps. Jarrod had to go buy himself a air matress after sleeping in the fold out chair in the room Wednesday night. So, we are both getting more rest at night, now. The food they have been bringing me hasn't been too awful so far. I am on such a restricted diet because of the gestational diabetes that it doesn't really matter to me. Jarrod has been going down to the cafeteria or sandwich shop and bringing his meals back up to the room to eat. They have lots of choices for him to choose from so hopefully it will be a few days before he gets tired of the food here. I figure it's going to be a long, uneventful weekend! I will keep you posted!

Transferred to UAMS

Yesterday morning after my examination and another positive result on the fetal fibronectin test, my doctor decided that it was just too risky to keep me in Jonesboro. Jonesboro just doesn't have the facilities to take care of a preterm baby so if I was to suddenly go into labor and deliver he would have to be sent to another hospital(probably Children's)while I stayed in Jonesboro until I recovered. The last thing I want is for our family to be separated! So just in case they have sent me to UAMS in Little Rock. Here at least if I deliver both the baby and I can stay together until we are ready to go home. Just so you know the "transport" from Jonesboro to Little Rock was horrid. Honestly the worst 2 hours of my life. We got to UAMS and they put us in a labor and delivery room for a few hours until I was examined and monitored to make sure I wasn't actually going to go into labor. They have moved us up to another room (an antipartem room)for now. The good news is that I am off all the meds and iv. They are just keeping me here for observation and as a precaution. The dr we saw yesterday here said that my cervix is so thinned out that my water could break at anytime and I could go into labor pretty much at anytime. He said he wished he had a crystal ball to see how long we have(hours? days? weeks?),but he doesn't, and unfortunately there just isn't a good way to predict labor. So I figure we will be here for a least a few days waiting see to see if anything happens. There is a chance that if nothing happens they may let us go home, or go to a place they call "CAMP" which is for patients that they don't feel confident enough sending all the way home, but are stable enough that they don't need constant hospital care. Either way I only have 3-4 weeks until I am far enough along that it won't matter if I go into labor. So if I can make it that long I will be able to safely deliver at Jonesboro without any problems. We are just taking it easy. They are still keeping me on bedrest, obviously, but it's nice to be off the medications and iv. Thanks again for all the support! This has been one crazy ride so far and I am anxious for it to all be over!

Tuesday evening update

We saw the Dr early this morning and she decided to take me off the magnesium sulfate at noon today and continue to monitor to see if I have any more contractions, then she will check me in the morning tomorrow and I will be tested again for the fetal fibronectin and if that comes back negative then we can for sure go home, she didn't say what we would have to do if it came back positive again, I am hopeful we won't have to cross that bridge. I have been doing good today, since they weened me off the magnesium I have felt much much better, much more like myself. I will be so glad to get back home and in my own bed. I am so tired of laying in this uncomfortable bed. Jarrod did go buy me an egg crate mattress topper last night, since we thought we would be here till Thursday and it has helped quite a bit, but it's still soo uncomfortable! Jarrod went to work today and my mom stayed at the hospital with me. I have been trying to rest but between the different nurses coming in to get this or that and all the visitors I have had it's been hard. A hospital is definitely not a place you go to get rest!! They have also decided to stop taking my blood every 6 hours, since I am not on the mag, so I am hoping that we can get more uninterrupted sleep tonight. It seems like just as soon as we get good and asleep we are awoken by one of the nurses for something. Maybe tonight will be different! I am crossing my fingers that this time tomorrow I will be in my own bed! Which if that happens, Dr. Layton made it perfectly clear that I would be on strict bed rest, only up to the bathroom. She said if I can't do that at home they would have to keep me here, so I am going to do my very best if given that chance! Thanks again for all the emails, calls, thoughts, and prayers! Continue to pray for the safe arrival of our little guy!

Monday update. . .

Well we are still here. It looks like we are going to be here for a while. The doctor came in this morning and just wasn't ready to sound an all clear yet. She is going to wait until Thursday to check her again so she doesn't disturb anything or anybody. They don't want to cause her to go into labor. And she didn't come right out and say it but from the things she said I took that to mean that we will most likely be here till Christina delivers or goes into labor. If she goes into labor they will try to send us to UAMS.  Since nothing is really happening yet Jeanie is going to come up and stay tonight and tomorrow night with Christina so that I can go home and sleep and work on Tuesday and Thursday. She is still only on the monitor every 6 hours and they backed the mag down a little (her levels were getting pretty high) so that has made her feel a little better. Other than that we are still just hanging out waiting on something to happen. Thanks for all the calls, thoughts, and prayers they are very appreciated. Jarrod

Oh! and Happy Father's day!

I think this has got to be the crummiest father's day weekend ever for poor Jarrod!! Spending his time in the hospital with me running around getting stuff for me and helping me to the bathroom. . . .poor guy. He is indeed showing his true colors, and I know he is going to be a great dad. I can't get over how he just stepped up and took control of things. I am not a good patient to say the least! I hate having him, or anyone, do things for me! He is being very patient with me and I know I am so blessed to have a husband that takes such good care of me and our unborn child. I do hate that I missed Father's Day with the rest of the family, but I know they know we would be there if there was any way we could! To all the Dad's out there, Hope you had a Happy Father's Day!!

We're still here. . .

I made it back to the living today!! The magnesium sulfate they are giving me has some nasty side effects, one of the worst is flu-like symptoms and heavy chest. So I am really tired and not feeling good at all. But the good news is that none of the monitor readings can track any major contractions at least not with any sort of pattern that they can see. And the baby's heart rate remains great. We are really anxoius to talk to the dr tomorrow morning to find out where we go from here. . .if anywhere! At least if they keep me I think they will take me off the IV, I really hope so anyway. Thanks so much for all the emails, calls, thoughts and prayers! Keep the prayers going up! We are in good hands and are fully confident that the Lord will take care of our little guy.

Our Hospital Stay

Well we are in our second night here at the hospital. Everything seems to be going pretty good. She is only being put on the monitor every six hours now for 30 minutes at a time. She is able to eat real food now and i think that has made her feel better even though the magnesium still makes her feel bad. The second steroid shot has been given and they at least wanted him to make it 24 hours after that before he comes if he decides to still come early. As of now if she has him anytime soon we will still be going to Little Rock to deliver if at all possible. We will see her regular doctor again Monday to decide where we go from here. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers during this time. Thanks, Jarrod

Unexpected turn for the worse

So, things didn't turn out anything like I expected today. . . to say the least! Jarrod and I went to my Dr. appointment with the expectation that the doctor would either tell me I have made good progress and I can be off bed rest, or she would say I was doing about the same and for me to stay on bed rest and come back in a week. So you can imagine our surprise when after examining me she took a deep breath and said "I think we need to put you in the hospital."  Uh, Do What?!?!  I was really shocked. It was not at all what we were expecting to hear!! She is under the impression that my cervix is thinning even more (and I am dilated to  2cm) and that along with all the back pain I am having is enough to bring on labor at any time. She sent us straight over to the hospital. She wouldn't even let us go home and get our stuff!  We did run by sonic and get a snack, since we had planned to eat lunch after we got out of the Dr's office!

They have put me on magnesium sulfate (through an iv) to stop the contractions and I am strapped with two monitors. One for the baby's heart rate and another detects the contractions.  They tell me this magnesium is going to make me really sick feeling. I am ok right now. The first dose was kinda rough. It makes you feel really really hot, like your burning from the inside out. . .very strange feeling! They said it makes a lot of women nauseous, but it didn't bother me too bad. The worst part was them trying to put a catheter in. I am still convinced I have a bladder infection, and it was really painful, probably the worse pain I have ever had. Finally, after the one they put in wasn't working they gave up and took it out. I WILL NOT be having another one put in. They will have to sedate me to do that again!! It was horribly painful. I was crying so hard, I felt really bad for Jarrod. He was on the verge of crying, too. I know it was hard for him to see me in such pain and not able to do anything about it. Things are better now.  I am resting as comfortably as possible. They brought me my "supper" and I have been put on a liquid diet, which is the pits! I am starving. But I guess they don't want me to eat and then get sick to my stomach. I am having blood drawn every 6 hours to monitor the magnesium level. They have also given me the first of two steroid shots. This will help give Stratton's lungs a boost if he is born prematurely. They will give me another one on Sunday. Jarrod's Mom and Dad have been here and Brandye came by to check on us and of course my mom is still here. I hope we don't have too many visitors this weekend, since the meds are probably going to really kick in tonight and tomorrow and make me pretty sick.  

So here we are. We are not sure what to expect. I know we will be here at least through the weekend and they will revaluate the situation on Monday. The best case scenario is on Monday things will have improved and I can go home back on bed rest. Worse case. .  . Stratton makes an early arrival and they will transport us to Little Rock.

Please say a little prayer for us!  Hopefully the meds they are giving me will work and we won't have to be here much longer.

Two days down. . .

First let me say that the "A" key on my lap top is not working properly. You have to hit it really hard for it to work? So, if my posts contain words that lack an "a" it's because I am not hitting it hard enough. And I haven't been able to get Live Writer downloaded properly, so the formatting is messed up. . . Today wraps up the 2nd full day on bed rest. I got up when Jarrod did this morning and tested my blood sugar and ate breakfast. I am afraid if I continue to sleep in like I did yesterday, I won't sleep at night and I already don't sleep well at night so I don't need any more problems! I think if I get up at normal time and take short naps during the day maybe I won't get my sleep schedule to messed up. If the doctor tells me that bed rest looks like something I will have to deal with for the rest of the pregnancy I will have to get on some sort of schedule. So far I haven't been experiencing much back pain. Which is a relief. I am trying to stay in bed as much as possible. I have been a little sick to my stomach, but I figure that is from the antibiotics I am on, or just the combination of all the vitamins and meds I m taking. Besides getting up to go to the bathroom, to get a drink or a snack I pretty much stay in bed. Jarrod has been so great. Last night he came home from work and cooked us a great supper (grilled pork chops, baked beans and mixed veggies) then cleaned up the kitchen, did my laundry and cleaned part of the house. I feel really bad that I can't help. I hate to see him working so hard at the stuff I am used to doing. I already miss cooking. . . now the cleaning maybe not so much! Tonight he has gone to church, another thing I will miss out on. In our Sunday morning class we just started doing the Ten Commandments of Marriage and I was really looking forward to it, so that is just another thing I am bummed about. It just really hit me today that I may not be able to get out and do anything, besides going to the dr, again till I have this baby! Hopefully, things will get better and the Dr will at least let me get out, if even just for an hour or two, a couple times a week. Think of it, no work, no church, no shopping. . . the list goes on and on. And to make it worse Father's Day is Sunday and we had planned to go to Searcy Friday night, and HR on Saturday and Sunday for family get togethers. I know everyone will understand if I can't go anywhere but it just stinks to be missing out.

and it just keeps getting worse. . .

What a week?! Things have gone from bad to worse! If you haven't heard by now, I have been put on bed rest. I went to the Dr yesterday because I was sure I had a uti, well it turns out the back pain and other symtoms might have actually been labor related. I was dilated about a centimeter and so they put me on a monitor to check the baby's heart rate and to see if I was having any contractions. She told me that if I was having contractions I would have to go to the hospital, thankfully I wasn't having any contractions and the baby looks great so she just send me home with instructions to stay off my feet as much as possible. I have another appointment on Friday, I assume she will check me again to see if I have progressed or (hopefully)if it looks like things might be closing back up. She told me to expect to be on bed rest at least for a couple of weeks. The best case senario would be for things to close back up and I stop having back pain and then I can maybe go back to work and be off bed rest. The worst case would be that things continue to progress and I will have to stay on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy, which if I make it to my due date will be another 9 weeks! That just sounds impossible! I am thankful that I wasn't contracting, I'd much rather be here at home in bed than in a hospital bed. Please keep us in your prayers. I am doing pretty good, but since the dr told me no housework or even laundry, Jarrod may need the most prayers!

What's the deal?!

It seems like since I hit the 30 week mark I have been falling apart! I don't know what happened? It's like someone flipped a light switch!  I was doing so well. The only things I have had to deal with up till now was some fatigue and a little pain from the stretching scar on my belly.

It first started last week with the blood sugar problems, which by the way is going fine. Most of the time my readings are right at or below the acceptable level. Then last Thursday I started getting a sniffle which has now lead into a full fledged summer cold. Which of course makes it even harder to sleep at night since I can't breathe! And I have another Dr. appointment today to see if my suspicions are correct (and I have a uti) or if something else is going on. And if you have had a uti, you know how painful and miserable that is. I rested all weekend, trying to stay off my feet as much as possible,  hoping that would do the trick and I would be feeling better by today. Nope. I think I feel worse today than I did yesterday. I am not good at enduring pain and sickness, so I am anxious to feel better. . . . SOON!  I honestly don't think I can but up with feeling this bad for another 9 weeks. 

Progress has been made in the baby's room. We finally got the crown molding put up in the room last week. So, Jarrod spent most of the weekend caulking, sanding and painting it and it looks great. He worked really hard on it and it turned out so nice! We are all ready to start putting things together in there now!  I hope I am feeling better soon so I can get some things done!

So far so good. . .

I emailed the dietitian my meter readings from the last couple of days yesterday afternoon and I got an email back from her this morning that said to keep up the good work and email her my readings again next week. So, I guess I'm doing good enough that I won't have to go back to see her for another week at least. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

Appointment with the Dietitian

It wasn't as bad as I thought. The Dietitian I am seeing is Bilinda Norman, and she was super nice. They gave me a cute, PINK meter and I have to check my blood sugar 4 times a day. Once in the morning as soon as I get up and then 2 hours after every meal. I also have to keep a log of everything I eat.  And I have to limit my carbs, which isn't going to be easy but at least I get to have some!  She gave me a neat book that has a lot of restaurants and it lists the values of the food items that they serve. It's very interesting! Like did you know there are LESS carbs in a Chick-Fil-A, regular fried chicken sandwich than one of their grilled chicken wraps?! Who would have thought??

The whole appointment was very informative. The reasons why it's important to keep your blood sugar regulated was eye opening. Gestational diabetes has little or no effects on the mother, it all has to do with the baby. The most worrisome are the baby gaining too much weight (which can also lead to respiratory problems and also require a C-section delivery) and then it can more importantly lead to complications, like hypoglycemia,  after birth. Did you know that the baby doesn't receive any insulin while in the womb? Their bodies won't start producing that until after they are born. But they do get all the sugar that you are eating and drinking.  As soon as the cord is cut after birth the baby's pancreas starts producing insulin. The amount produced is based on the amount of sugar their little body is expecting to receive based on what they have gotten while in the womb, which can be dangerous. I wish they would tell us all this stuff at the beginning!  Maybe I wouldn't have indulged in as many milkshakes and dingdongs!  Oh and by the way, there is no way to prevent this from happening. It almost always a problem brought on by pregnancy hormones. So, all the lettuce and exercise in the world, while it doesn't hurt, doesn't mean you won't develop gestational diabetes. And Bilinda was pretty confident that once I deliver my blood sugar levels will all normalize and I won't have any lingering problems.

I am supposed to take my readings from last night and this morning and afternoon and email Bilinda later and see what she says. So far all my readings have been low. Hopefully my readings will stay in an acceptable level and I won't have to do anything else. In fact if all goes well I might not even have to go back, I will just stay in contact with her by phone and email.

Just say a little prayer that this doesn't get any worse and that maybe it will just be a bump in the road!

Short but sweet visit to the beach. . .

 

 

Why do vacations seem like they take FOREVER to get here and then when they finally do, they are over in a blink of an eye?! I am so glad we had the opportunity to "get away" for a few days, but man it went by fast! For those of you who don't know. . .we went to Perdido Key (Pensacola,Fl) with Jarrod's parents and his sister and her husband. We left Thursday morning and got back late Monday night. We had such a good time! The condo was really nice and spacious! We hung out at the beach and pool for most of the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then all went out to eat at night. All the seafood was so good! We ate at the Crab Trap, LuLu's, Flipper's and a little hole in the wall place called the Original Point Restaurant .  We also took one of those dolphin cruises one evening and it was a lot of fun! Sunday night we had family pictures taken by a local photographer. I am excited to see how those turned out! I did make a decision. . .while it was fun, it's not a trip I would take again while 7 months pregnant! The car ride was pretty uncomfortable, and we had to stop about every hour or so because of my constant need to visit the bathroom and my left leg kept going to sleep! And while the idea of laying out in the sun all day doesn't sound like a problem, for some reason I couldn't stand the heat! I got so hot so fast! Plus, it took all I had to get out to the beach (it's really hard walking in sand with already swollen feet!). I wouldn't do it again, but I am so glad we went! The weather was perfect and we got to get some r&r and spend time with the fam, so it's all good!  Thanks to Terry and Margie for everything! It's a family vacation that we will always remember!

And I got the results back from the 3 hour sugar test and some of those readings were a little on the high side again. So, I am scheduled to see a dietitian on Wednesday afternoon. I have no idea what to expect at this point. I am just hoping and praying that it isn't something drastic . . . like [dare I say it??]. .  .NO CARBS?? Hopefully she will just give me a better idea of what foods I need to start eating and what things I need to cut back on. Please send up a prayer for me, I am a little nervous about my appointment!

4D Ultrasound Pictures

Hmmmm. . . who do you think he looks like??

Exciting Tuesday!

Since I am going to have to take the day off work and will be at the doctor's office all day tomorrow anyway, I went ahead and scheduled my 4D ultrasound for tomorrow, too. It's at 3pm.  I am really excited. . . .and a little nervous!  I can't believe we are going to get to see a glimpse of what are little guy looks like!  It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it!

And other exciting news, we are having the front of our house landscaped by Harmony Gardens. We meet with them Saturday morning and they walked us through the proposed design and all the different plants. They told us it would be about 2 weeks before they could get to us. Well, this morning Jarrod got a call and they had a cancellation so they are going to come to our house and work today!  Yay! I am so excited to see what it will look like!