WAHOOOOOOO!

The nurse called with my fetal fibronectin test results, and it was negative. YAY - Now it's quite probable that I'll make it at least 2 more weeks, which will put me close to 34 weeks!

Hopefully this great news will save me a few gray hairs now :)

Is my hair gray yet? ;)

I'm pretty sure this baby is giving me gray hair, and he's not even born yet! ;) Yes, I had yet another frantic trip to the clinic yesterday, but thankfully everything was fine. At lunch time I called the Perinatal (High-Risk) nurse line about a concern I had, but the nurses were at lunch. The receptionist said they would be back at 12:30, and I left a message on the nurse line. Well at 12:45 I hadn't heard back yet, so we (my mom and I) decided to just put Brecken down for his nap because he was starting to fall apart at this point. We had hoped to keep him awake in case I needed to go in because then we could possibly take him to our daycare lady, and he could nap there. I'm not really supposed to drive myself to the clinic in Maple Grove, so I needed my mom to drive me there. (DJ was still in TEXAS!) Shortly after 1:00, I still hadn't heard back, so I called the nurse line again. I connected with my nurse at that point, and she ran my concern past the doctor. The doctor said I should come in for an ultrasound to check my cervix, and that they needed me to be there at 2:00 because the only open time they had was 2-2:30. At this point it was now 1:15, Brecken was sound asleep, and it's a 30 minute drive to the clinic! I quickly called my neighbor who works from home, and she was able to come over to be here for Brecken for a bit until my dad could get here from his work in Coon Rapids. After that big rush to get there by 2:00, I learned when I got there that something had come up between the time they talked to me and the time I got there, and I was now going to have to wait awhile. I finally got in around 2:40, but the ultrasound room that I needed was still busy. They did some other tests and the contraction monitors while we waited for the room to open up. Everything looked fine, and I eventually got into the ultrasound room around 3:30. The ultrasound looked great - no change in my cervix and the stitch is still definitely doing it's job, so they sent me home. One of the tests they did was the fetal fibronectin again to check the likelihood of delivery within the next 2 weeks. I will have those results later today. Same story as the first time I had this test ...if it's negative, WONDERFUL because that means there is over a 90% chance that I won't deliver within the next 2 weeks; however, if it's positive, it's not a very accurate predictor. A positive result just means you have a 50/50 chance of delivering in the next couple weeks. The doctor said she could flip a coin and predict just as accurately. I'll give another short update once I hear the results. DJ came home on his scheduled flight last night - yay! That's a big relief to have him back in town again! I was so thankful that nothing came up any earlier while he was gone. My biggest fear was a scare happening while he was gone and that we'd have to decide if he needed to get an emergency flight back or not. Thankfully by the time this issue came up, it was already within hours of his scheduled return flight, so he really couldn't have gotten home any faster anyway.

Whew! I'm relieved that all of this was nothing serious, but I'm getting pretty tired of these frantic trips to the clinic/hospital. (I think this was trip #5 for an unscheduled visit.)

I'm now going to leave my recliner for a few minutes to shower - my big event of the day - haha! Have a great day, and stay cool! They tell me it's VERY hot and humid out there, so thank God for air conditioning or I would be one REALLY miserable, pregnant lady on bedrest!

Happy Friday - A little encouragement

I came across this video of "In Christ Alone" today on Proverbs 31 Ministries. It was quite encouraging to me as I sit here and think about the fact the fact that I've completed 3.5 weeks of bedrest and still have about SIX more weeks to go (they'll let me off of bedrest at 36 weeks). I know, I know, one day at a time, right? Hopefully you can find this song/video equally as encouraging with whatever challenge(s) you might be facing right now. I especially like the first verse:
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease...
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

Here is a link to the video:
http://youtu.be/bvnpcKUrCo4

Like I said, I found this on Proverbs 31 Ministries. You can "like" them on Facebook to see their posts in your news feed, and you can also sign up to receive their daily devotionals via e-mail on their website: http://www.proverbs31.org/
This ministry is particularly geared towards women, but much of their content is applicable to men as well.

Have a nice weekend and God bless.

30 weeks!

I'm now 30 weeks pregnant (it feels great to be in the 30's!), and I've completed 3 full weeks of this lovely bedrest. Today was my big doctor appointment, and we spent almost 2.5 hours at the clinic. The first portion of the appointment was a Level II ultrasound, where they again checked my cervix and looked closely at baby's organs, bones, blood flow, etc. AWESOME NEWS - my cervix length measured almost exactly the same as it was 3 weeks ago when they put me on bedrest! Praise God! I was quite surprised to hear this after all of those contractions that I've had over these 3 weeks. Everything with baby looked really good too. In fact, he actually measured about 1 week ahead of my dates, and they estimate he weighs 3 pounds, 6 ounces (but that's give or take 8 ounces). We had to laugh when they showed us the breakdown for all of baby's measurements - his femur/leg bones actually measure about 1-2 weeks BEHIND my dates, so I guess both of our boys will have the short legs and long torso that I inherited from my dad's side of the family. Then the poor baby's head measured 2 weeks AHEAD of my dates (we're blaming the large head on Grandpa Al :) On average though, baby's size measured 6 days ahead of my due date, which is wonderful.

From here they will continue to see me every 2 weeks in the clinic, but they're also adding in OB home-care nurse visits so they can monitor my contractions and baby's heart rate weekly without me having to be up and about going to the clinic so often.

This coming Sunday morning, DJ leaves for San Antonio, TX for a work trip and will be gone for 4 days! (They booked his flight just days before I was put on bedrest!) Thankfully my mom is coming to stay with me while he is gone, just in case I need to make another trip to the hospital. Today DJ specifically asked the doctor if he should even be going and what were the chances that he'd be needing to catch an emergency flight home. She said, "You should be just fine. She is stable, and I would expect her to make it to 36 weeks. At that point, we'll take the cerclage out and go from there." So we again got another affirmation that they're still very optimistic about me making it close to term. However, we're of course still very nervous that DJ is going to be that far away given my situation.

Please pray that everything continues to stay nice and calm while DJ is gone (and also praise God for all of the great news we heard at the doctor today)!

An Uneventful Week :-)

It's thankfully been an uneventful week around here. My contractions have been few and far between, which is awesome! I've also finally been sleeping better which definitely improves my emotional state ;) I think now that school is finally all done, I'm able to sleep better. I pretty much missed the last 2 weeks of school since our kids went through Friday, June 8. (Thankfully I had JUST enough sick leave to cover all 9 of my days.) Since it was so last minute that I found out I needed to be on bedrest, it was difficult to arrange for a sub at the very end of the year like that. I ended up having 3 different subs and wrote 8 days worth of sub plans! Plus I had to do my report cards...I will say that all of this work gave me something to do for a while. However, I did find myself waking up in the middle of the night saying to myself, "Oh no! I forgot to tell my sub..." (this and that). This year I probably had the best class I've ever had so far, so I was honestly quite sad that I never really got to say good-bye to them (and since they go to middle school next year, I won't see most of them ever again :( However, I wasn't sad at all to be missing out on those "wonderful" behaviors that 5th graders tend to display at the end of the school year. I did hear that while I was gone, a couple of my students started a rumor that one of my girls was pregnant, and another day when they were playing outside, 2 boys got in an all out physical fight! My poor subs! Maybe laying on the couch wasn't so bad - haha.

I'm obviously not allowed to care for Brecken while on bedrest, so he spent those first 2 weeks at daycare. Once school was out, we were done with daycare so now the grandmas are tag-teaming his care. He spent the beginning of this week up in Browerville with DJ's parents (and didn't have ANY fun at all - haha! ;) Then yesterday and today, my mom was here to take care of Brecken. We are SO grateful that our moms are able to help out with caring for him!

While Brecken was up at Grandma & "Bucka's" house, DJ got a well-deserved break from essentially being a single dad. It's hard for me to watch him trying to juggle everything on his own, as this situation is definitely very challenging for him as well! Thankfully our families have been GREAT about helping out with stuff around the house, and we've had lots of friends provide meals for us. All of this makes a HUGE difference. We are truly blessed!

Finally, I'll end with a picture of some Mommy and Brecken snuggle time (It of course never lasts very long, but I do enjoy every second I get!)


I have another big check-up on Tuesday, so I'll update again after that. Have a great weekend!

Another Dr. Update

Well after I just HAPPENED to see on MyChart that they had actually scheduled my high-risk appointment/transfer of care meeting for Tuesday, JUNE 19TH, and not for this coming Tuesday, I called back to the scheduling department assuming there was a mistake. The gal still insisted that my file just said 1-2 weeks and therefore June 19th was fine...so then my nasty (protective mama) side came out! I guess it worked because I eventually got an appointment for this Friday (6/8) instead :)

Basically we didn't get much new information at the appointment, and we were pretty much told to just keep doing what I'm doing. Overall though, I did feel a lot more confident about making it close to term when I left there, which was really nice. After having to get the shot last weekend to stop the beginning stages of labor and chatting with my regular OB on Monday morning, I was feeling quite nervous. I think my regular OB was a lot more nervous about my recent changes/issues because she doesn't see it everyday, whereas the high-risk doctors deal with this type of stuff all the time. The gal we met with at this appointment essentially has the same story as me (and she made it to 37 weeks with #2), so it was very encouraging to hear that as well! Her and I decided that there should be a way to do a cervix transplant - haha. She also wasn't too concerned with the fact that I've still been having contractions about once every 1-2 hours quite regularly. They don't like to medicate to stop contractions/labor unless it's regular (4+ per hour) and it's really necessary. They also don't plan to give me the steroid shots for baby's lungs unless delivery looks imminent...again they like to avoid the meds whenever possible.

Don't get me wrong, I was absolutely thrilled to hear that there is still hope for me to make it very close to term; however, reality also hit about being on bedrest until 36 weeks (7.5 more weeks!) Last night, DJ and Brecken were playing in the front yard in Brecken's new pool. I could hear Brecken laughing and giggling away, and I almost had another complete breakdown as I sat inside in my recliner missing out on all of that great play time and memories. I feel like I'm completely missing out on what could be up to 3 months of Brecken's life! BUT, I just have to keep reminding myself that all of this bedrest sure beats the alternatives...being in the hospital on bedrest again or having a tiny baby in the NICU for weeks!

We greatly appreciate your continued prayers and support for our family during this difficult time! We definitely know that no matter what the doctors say about predictions or odds, God is in control of the situation and with Him all things are possible!

"For nothing is impossible with God." Luke 1:37 NIV

God bless and stay cool this weekend!

Once again no news is good news...

Things have continued to stay pretty stable since my hospital visit on Saturday. Late this afternoon I was finally approved to get my care transferred to the perinatal doctors, and my appointment is next Tuesday (the first available appointment). I pushed to get an earlier appointment and even offered to go down to the clinic at Abbott instead of Maple Grove, but that was still the first appointment available and the doctor had put in the notes that I just needed to be seen in 1-2 weeks. I said to the gal, "Well I guess I'll just make another trip to the hospital if things progress before then." That is really all the updates I have. Sorry I didn't report sooner...I'll admit I was an emotional mess yesterday (mainly because of lack of sleep). Instead of giving you my sob story though, I'll keep it light and share some of Brecken's recent funny quotes for something more positive and enjoyable to read :)

When giving him a bath one night (pre bedrest), he was playing with some toys and said to me, "I want some letters, please." I dumped a bunch of his foam letters in the tub, and he started moving them around and said, "Ummmmm...I'm looking for a certain one." I have no idea where he got the word "certain" from let alone how he knew how to use the word correctly in a sentence!

Last week one day I asked him if he was a good boy at daycare. His response was, "Yeah...tomorrow I be naughty." I just about burst out laughing, but instead I kept it together and talked about why that maybe wasn't such a good idea ;)

Also last week DJ had Brecken give me a hug and kiss before they left for daycare. Brecken did just that and as soon as we was done, he said "Daddy give Mommy a kiss!" DJ then came and gave me a kiss good-bye and turned away. Brecken looked at him and said, "And a hug too!" So DJ had to turn around and give me a hug too. :)

Brecken can always brighten my day with the funny things he says and his extremely caring, loving personality!

Oh, and if you're wondering about how my dad is doing, he was released from the hospital late on Friday and was cleared to fly home on Saturday. He is now giving himself injections twice a day and has to get his blood checked daily until his levels improve. Once his levels improve, he'll be switched over to a blood thinner pill for 3-6 months.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support! We are so blessed with wonderful family and friends!

Saturday night at the hospital!

We took a trip down to the hospital (Abbott Northwestern) last night. I was feeling constant cramps plus my abdomen was tightening up like a fist on and off...when the tightening started to happen more regularly, I decided it was time to call the doctor. The doctor said I better come in to put the monitors on. WELL...the monitors showed "irritability of my uterus" about every 6 minutes! They said it wasn't true contractions because contractions have to last at least 40 seconds each, and each one of my episodes was only about 30 seconds. However, since there was such a regularity to these occurrences, the doctor said to start an IV of fluid and give me a shot of terbutaline (Brethine). It's basically a drug used to stop preterm labor. When the nurse told me that's what they were going to do, I went ohhhhh boy here we go again. Those meds make you feel terrible! When I first went in the hospital in Brecken's pregnancy, I had two of these shots plus I was on a high loading dose of magnesium/"Mag" and I felt absolutely miserable! Thankfully with just the one shot this time, I just felt super jittery and it wasn't that bad.

My care is now going to be transferred completely over to the perinatal (high-risk OB) doctors mainly to avoid confusion because my regular OB is in a completely different hospital group than the perinatals. I am supposed to set up an appointment with them this week (they have a clinic in Maple Grove) and they will get my care officially transferred. My OB is fantastic, but I am kind of glad that I'll now be solely in the hands of the preterm experts.

I'm now WIDE awake after only about 3 hours of sleep because I don't do anything but lay around all day! I am again feeling an occasional tightening this morning, so PLEASE PRAY, PRAY, PRAY that it goes away on it's own and doesn't become anything regular.
By the way, this eventful day all happened at 27 weeks, 5 days - the exact time that Brecken was born!

Thank you for your prayers. We know how powerful they are, and miracles do happen!