Monday, February 22, 2010

Having a baby...eventually.

     Today I had a doctor's visit, one that I was hoping would be the last prior to baby Justin making his (as Natalie would put it) "grand entrance."  Everything was pretty much routine except that we had discussed induction last week as my pelvis has split and is highly uncomfy.  So Dr. Leavitt came in, checked my cervix and nothing had changed (I was dilated to a 1) and we shortly discussed giving it another week so that everything would be completely ready to go before we induce...until he measured my abdomen.  When he did so he said that I had gained almost a complete inch in the last 5 days; at which point, he said that he wanted to send me down the hall to have an ultrasound to see how big this boy is.  I said that it was something I had been nervous about because Nathan was 9 lbs. 9 oz. and I was 8 lbs. 5 oz.  and the wives tale is to base a baby somewhere in between the two.  I was off to have an ultrasound!
     When I got there the tech could obviously tell I was a little nervous and so she said this was her favorite point at which to give an ultrasound because you can see their faces and EVERYTHING else.  She was right it was totally awesome.  She also turned on the 3D ultrasound for a few so that I could see his face.  His bone structure looks so much like Nate!  It was almost spooky.  Anywho...every part of our baby boy looked absolutely perfect except for the fact that no matter what we did we couldn't get him to wiggle, which was odd because he is normally the biggest wiggle worm!  The she turned the tide over to his living conditions and therein is where the problem lies.  He seems to have enough fluid, except that he is pretty big in there.  At which point she took a picture of the placenta, helped me up and had me clean up.  She left the room with the picture and went to talk with Dr. Leavitt.  She came back and told me that my placenta was worn out.  Heart attack!!  What does that mean?  Am I sick?  Is Justin okay?  I was literally freaking out in my head!   But the placenta that both gives him nourishment and oxygen has been overtaxed.  Apparently this sometimes happens when we have democratic leaders in Washington...just kidding.  I guess it sometimes happens at the end of a stressed pregnancy where Mom has experienced high blood pressure.  I have had this problem off and on which Dr. Leavitt says has to do with the hormones, and part of the reason I have been home-bound until the end of the pregnancy.
     At this point she told me that I could go in the hall and ask the PA any of my questions.  Well, Dr. Leavitt was out there instead and he put his arm around me and asked if we were having a baby tonight.  I was a bit reluctant because I was scared...but I said umm...okay.  He left me with the receptionist, Kim, who called the hospital to let them know that I was coming.  But when she got on the phone she found that the hospital was already past capacity.  She called Dr. Leavitt back to see how he wanted to proceed.  He said that he did not want me there with a bunch of women and so he didn't even want to induce in the morning.  He then stated that he would prefer to wait until most of those women had gone home (around 48 hours).  The short of it is that I am being induced on Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. at ERMC.  So I may be having a baby on my brother Kris' birthday.  When I told Kris this he jokingly said that I would have to change the baby's name...but I had a quick reply that they already are going to share a middle name.  I finally made up my mind and his middle name is Dean after my grandpa Hayes who was more like a dad than anything else.  I really feel like that is a good way to honor his memory and all that he meant/and still means to me.  We are having a baby sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday!
     Oops!  I forgot that if the induction fails, within about 12-24 hours, Dr. Leavitt will be performing a C-section.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Signs of Life

So after a very frustrating week, I have found that I have a very dedicated doctor and that I am completely healthy for now.  As you know I was put on bed rest about a week ago, which has been very relaxing for both baby Justin and I.  When I went to the doctor this week, they were able to give me the results of the second testing that I went through on Monday (Dr. Leavitt was not happy with the earlier results from last week because they did not align like he thought they should with the blood testing).  Anywho, this week as Dr. Leavitt checked me out, he found that my body has reverted back to a healthy status.  I was showing most if not all of the signs of pre-eclampsia last week, but this week I am completely healthy!  Where I was dilated last week, this week my cervix has actually closed back up; which my doctor assures me happens on  an extremely rare case.  Because of the progression that he has seen I should go to full term without another problem.  I asked if I could go back to work, but he said "Absolutely Not" because it would just put me back on my feet for 10-14 hours a day and add all the stresses of teaching eighth grade right back in as well.  Gosh I love him!  However, I am very thankful for my friend Laura who brought me a large pile of good things to watch and my cousin Natalie who at least texts me on a daily basis to see how "her" baby is doing (sometimes I think she is more excited about baby Justin than I am!).  I want to sincerely thank everyone for the prayers.  I know that through the power of prayer my body has recovered and my stress level has gone down a great degree.
My sweet husband is hanging in there with all of this added stress, taking that crazy load of school work, and working more than he should.  Sometimes I find that he is now my number one worry as stress does not seem to be handled in the best ways in his family.  I love them all dearly but they hold way too much inside if you ask me!  I am afraid that his blood pressure is probably off the charts with all of this extra stuff.  However, as long as I can stay out of his way and let him study, I do believe that I can relieve part of that stress by taking all of the housework except kitty litter duty off of his hands.  He normally does tons for me around here and even more since I have been so very exhausted during this pregnancy.  He is my everything and I am so very thankful to have been blessed to have such an awesome guy in my life.

About Me

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Nathan and I have been married now for twelve years! We have accomplished a lot! It seems like only yesterday we were dating, and now we have two little ones to chase! Justin was born on the 26th of February 2010. Daphne on the 3rd of December 2011. I finished my degree in secondary ed. in spring 2007, and Nate finished his mechanical engineering degree spring 2010.