Answers

The last week has been one of answers and even more questions. I have been waiting to write this post until Christmas was over and I know it's kept some of you waiting as well. This post is very hard for me to write and share. I am angry. I am sad. My son is going to die.

Last Tuesday night, Colton went for a repeat MRI on his brain to see if there was any progression of the HIE. Well, what they found was very different. Colton has been diagnosed with Lissencephaly. (Lissencephaly) Lissencephaly means "smooth brain." When we are formed in the womb, lots of things have to happen. Part of that is forming your brain. When it is formed, you end up with something called gyri. These are the folds of your brain that contain the neurons that allow you to learn and do everything that you do in daily life. Colton does not have enough gyri. This is what makes his brain smooth. Children with Lissencephaly have seizures, intellectual difficulties, feeding difficulties, growth retardation, hypotonia, difficulty swallowing and most children die by the age of 2. There are some genetic causes of Lissencephaly as well as possibly a virus or blood flow issue in the first trimester.

Also on the MRI, they found that Colton has some subdural hematomas. (Subdural Hematoma)These were not there on the first MRI. They happened in the two weeks between MRIs. The current thought is that these have happened because Colton's head is bigger than his brain. When this happens, the blood vessels can break and cause clots of blood between the skull and the brain. They are not currently bleeding and seem to be an incidental finding at this point.

With the last post, we thought that we would try Colton off the ventilator again. We did that on Wednesday (Christmas Eve). He failed. This time he only lasted 4 hours. He was quickly reintubated and he remains on the vent now. Colton can not tolerate not having extra support. When he doesn't have the breathing tube he has to focus solely on breathing and can't keep up with other things that he needs to do. He can not keep his temperature up and gets really, really cold. He can't digest his food and tends to throw it up. When the breathing tube gets put back in, these things get better.

Colton is tolerating his feedings very well. He is up to 60ml every 3 hours as of today. He still has his central line, although the TPN was stopped today. We stopped giving him suppositories to make him stool earlier this past week to see if he would go on his own. He is :). They have started giving him formula to supplement his feedings, as I am only getting about 1/2 of what he needs per feed of breast milk.

Friday, Nick and I made some very tough decisions. We decided that in order to get Colton home he would need to have a tracheostomy and a feeding tube placed. Since he is not tolerating being off the ventilator, he needs to have a more permanent airway placed so that he can be on it at home. Since he will need a tracheostomy for breathing, he is is also going to need a more permanent feeding tube placed. This will be placed into his stomach. He does not have enough strength to be able to breast feed or take bottles. These two things will hopefully be done this week. When these are done we should be able to take him home faster. Another decision that we made was to make Colton a DNR or Do Not Resuscitate. This means that if something were to happen to Colton and he would need help to survive we don't want that. He will not receive chest compressions or any medications to restart his heart. We do not want Colton to suffer needlessly.

I am angry. After everything that we have been through to try to have a baby, we got lucky and were able to conceive on our own. Now my miracle baby is going to be taken away from me. I want to know why this has happened. I want to know why he is being put through this. He is an innocent baby that never should have had to go through this. I want my son to be ok, to grow up and smile and walk and talk. He is so loved and was loved even before he was conceived. I leave you with a few pictures of my precious boy. The one is the first time he's had both of his eyes open at the same time.

Slow and Steady

So overall the last 4 days have been rather uneventful in Colton's world. That's a good thing.

Thursday Colton was put back on the NAVA and he has been tolerating it very well. They have decided to wean the NAVA very slowly, only changing one thing at a time. The goal is to wean him to a level that he can tolerate being off the breathing tube. Saturday night the breathing tube came out when they were trying to move Colton to a new position. He seemed to tolerate it well, but the tube was put back in. When the tube came out some of the settings on the ventilator were changed inadvertently and Colton tolerated those as well. When the error was discovered, the settings were changed back to the ones he should have been on and he tolerated those as well. His chest xray last night looked the best it's ever looked. I would venture to say that sometime this week we'll try him of the ventilator again.

Feedings are going much better. Colton started getting suppositories every 12 hours to make him stool to see if we could get things moving through. Well it has worked. His feedings were increased to 25 ml every 3 hours today. Right now hes getting breast milk, but I'm having a hard time keeping up with him. Pumping sucks, literally. I've been pumping every 3 hours including at night. It's been hard to keep up with sleep as well. It's one of the only things that I can do for Colton right now, so I'll suffer with no sleep for now.

We also got another test result back. The Smith-Lemli-Opitz came back negative. Yeah!! Another thing to check off the list.

We have been spending nights at home since last Tuesday. It's been a good thing to be at home and spend the days at the hospital with Colton. We have even spent time with Marley. He's such a good doggie.

We want to thank everyone who has thought about us and Colton over the past few weeks. We are very grateful for everything everyone has done for us.

Big Boy!

Tuesday December 16th: Today was an ok day. Colton's chest xray was a little better. The right upper lobe of his lung was starting to expand more. They continued the CPT (percussion therapy), but were able to wean the rate (mandatory breaths) on the ventilator some more. The discussion is to treat him like his lungs are small for his age and get him to grow some more lung tissue. This happens as he gets bigger and older. The plan is to go slowly on the ventilator wean to get Colton to a place where we think we can try him off the ventilator again.

His feedings were restarted at 5ml every 3 hours. Of course he wasn't too fond of this. He struggled throughout the night with a lot left in his tummy after being fed. Stubborn little boy :)

We did get another test result back today; the microarray (see this link Microarray). Colton has a piece of DNA missing on his 18th Chromosome. According to the geneticist, this means absolutely nothing for him and is not causing our current situation. Nick and I are going to have our microarray's drawn to see if this is something that we passed on to him or if the missing chunk is something that happened when Colton was being created.

The big thing for the day was getting out of the isolette and being put into a big boy bed and being dressed. My little man is getting bigger!

We decided to go home for the night for the first time since Colton was born. It was a much needed break. We slept for a good long time and it felt great. We missed our boy, but it was nice to spend time with Marley.  

Wednesday, December 17th: Today was a weird day for us. We didn't wake up at the hospital. Since we went home last night and stayed at home we slept in. And I mean slept in. I got up to pump in the middle of the night, but overall we slept in until 11 am. I know slackers!  We finally made it to the hospital by 2pm and did Colton's care at his 3 pm feeding. He is moving soooo much more. He really hates it when you play with his head or his belly.

They were able to wean his ventilator rate some more and are talking about putting him back on NAVA tomorrow through the breathing tube. He did well with that the last time he was on it so keep your fingers crossed.

Feedings have not been going well. He likes to save his food for later. He ended up getting a suppository to make him poop last night and he just got another one about 30 minutes ago. We are trying to feed him 7 ml, but we'll see how he does.

Tomorrow Colton is scheduled for a 24 hour EEG. This should tell us if his brain activity is getting better and if he is having seizures we don't know about. If you recall, his initial EEG was normal. This one will stay on until Friday morning.

We got another test result back today. If you read some of our posts from before we started our rounds of IVF, you'll know that I am a SMA (spinal muscular atrophy) carrier ( see link here SMA). A hallmark of this condition is not moving, so this was the first thing that Colton was tested for. His results came back today.... Colton does NOT have SMA!!!! He is however a carrier like his mommy. This means that he could pass it on to his kids if he marries another carrier; Something we will tell him about when he is much, much older.

Little by little we are weeding out conditions. We are hoping that we have the rest of the test results back soon, so we know what we are dealing with and how to better help our son.

One step forward... two steps back

Saturday December 13th. Colton had a good day. We were able to wean down the settings on the NAVA since his blood gases looked pretty good. He got another dose of lasix in preparation to extubate him (take out the breathing tube) on Sunday. He seemed to be tolerating his feedings pretty well, so we increased the amount that he was getting to 8 ml every 3 hours. He was still having some feeding left over, but not enough to bug him.

We went home for a couple of hours and got to see Marley ( our dog). A huge thank you to our neighbors for taking Marley into their home and treating him as one of theirs. We don't know what we would do without you guys!  When we came back up to the hospital, my parents brought us dinner and visited with Colton.

Sunday, December 14th started off as an exciting day. Colton's blood gases looked good and his chest xray was ok, so the decision was made to extubate him. He was kept on the same mode, NAVA, to help with his breathing, but now it was without the breathing tube and with a nasal cannula. It was so nice to be able to see his face without all of the tape on it. The breathing tube came out at 9:30 in the morning.

Initially, Colton did ok without having his breathing tube, but he was starting to work harder to breathe. He has a lot of secretions (spit) that he really doesn't know what to do with yet and they tend to pool in the back of his throat making it harder for him to breathe. They got a blood gas at 2pm and made some adjustments to his settings on the NAVA. We kept him sleeping on his belly since he breathes better that way (never, ever do that with a baby at home!). We had to continually suck the spit out of the back of his throat, but that didn't seem to be helping him toward the end of the day. At 6pm they did another blood gas. This gas was not good. Colton needed more support. A discussion was had about what we could try and we made a decision to try to increase his support on the NAVA, but Colton took that decision and said no way. He tried to cough up some of the secretions in his lungs and his feeding came with it. He was breathing harder and harder, when he did breathe. The decision was made to put back in his breathing tube. 

So the breathing tube was put back in around 7 pm . When the breathing tube is put in a chest xray is done to make sure it's in the right place. The chest xray showed that it was in the right place, but it also showed that the right upper lobe of his lung had collapsed again. The increased settings on the ventilator were done to help open his lung again. His blood gases throughout the night were not good and his settings were continually increased. 

Colton's feedings were left at 8ml every 3 hours and then we skipped a feeding when the breathing tube was put back in to give him a break. He really didn't tolerate his feedings for the rest of the night. He had too much left in his tummy at the next feeding. 

After he was working so hard to breathe, Colton didn't move too much. He was so worn out from trying to keep up. 

Monday, December 15th: This morning's blood gas was not good. Another chest xray was done which showed that the right upper lobe of his lung was still collapsed and not exchanging oxygen. The pressure setting on the ventilator was increased and he was placed on his left side to try to get some air to go into the right side. They also started something called CPT or chest physiotherapy. Basically, Colton gets vibrated every 6 hours to try to break up some of the secretions in his right lobe. Another chest xray was done this afternoon to see if that area had opened up. It was better, but not completely open. The ventilator settings continue to be on the higher end and Colton is not breathing over the ventilator. That's ok for now. He needs to rest and get better.

His feedings were stopped because he kept having higher and higher residuals (feeds left in his tummy) throughout the night and morning.

Colton got some laboratory studies done this morning. One of those was to check his hematocrit. The hematocrit shows the part of the blood that carries oxygen. His was on the low side so he got more blood today. To give the blood the nurses had to place another IV. He was a little stubborn with this one and it had to be placed in his scalp. It's just on the surface and does not go into his head. In fact they are some of the easiest IVs to start. The blood went in just fine and he will get another hematocrit check here shortly. The plan for the rest of the night is to let him sleep and chill out.

Please continue to pray for Colton and for us. He's got a long road ahead of him. We are staying at Colton's side as much as we can. Thank you for all the offers to do things for us, we truly appreciate it! 

Test Results... Well, some....

This post is very long, but you will be caught up at the end!!!

Tuesday December 9th started off with a bang.

As all the doctors arrived, we were greeted with the results of Colton's brain MRI from the night before. The news was not encouraging. The radiologists were reading Colton's MRI as HIE or hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy ( see this link for more information HIE). Please do not take the information on the link as gospel. I am just providing the link for more information. If you read the link, in my opinion Colton's symptoms fit the moderately severe category.  The doctors all think that Colton's injury occurred prior to his birth. They are not sure about the time frame though. As far as what this diagnosis means for the future remains to be seen.  Colton has been steadily able to increase movements and is less hypotonic (floppy) and is breathing more on his own. We have had some wonderful help in the the form of physical therapists and occupational therapists to help with his movements and stretching.

Since we received the diagnosis of HIE, an EEG was performed to see if Colton was having seizures that we didn't know about. This was done in the afternoon. The test needed to be read by a neurologist.   This is Colton being hooked up to the EEG machine.

A PICC line (a longer, more permanent IV) was attempted to be placed on Tuesday as well so we could get rid of the umbilical IVs, but Colton didn't cooperate and let the line thread to where it needed to be. Since we needed to be able to get the umbilical IVs out, we gave consent for a pediatric surgeon to place a similar line called a CVL (central venous line).

We were able to leave the hospital for a couple of hours while the EEG was being done and the PICC line was attempted. It was nice to be able to go home for a little bit, but we missed our boy too.

Wednesday, December 10th was a very busy day for Colton. Starting in the morning, Colton had visitors from physical therapy and occupational therapy. The physical therapist worked on his mobility in his feet and stretching. She also showed us some exercises that we could do with each of his feedings to get him more limber and stretched out. We had a special person come and teach us a special form of massage called lymphadema therapy. This was supposed to help with all of the swelling that Colton had. To do this requires a very light touch and circle motions to help move the fluid through little tiny vessels to where Colton's body can get rid of the fluid. It worked wonderfully. The swelling itself went down quite quickly (with the help of the the massage and some doses of lasix :) ).  We are doing this therapy once a day for now to see if we can keep the swelling down. So far it seems to be working.

Right after that was done, the occupational therapist came and made some soft splints for his hands. Colton's thumbs did not behave like they were supposed to. They stay on for 3 hours and then come off for 3 hours. We've noticed that when they are off his thumbs stay out quite a bit more.

Another big deal today was Colton's first bath!  He hated it!

We tried to switch the mode on his ventilator to something called NAVA to let him breathe more on his own and at his own pace. He loved it. However....

In the afternoon, the pediatric surgeon came and put in the CVL. Prior to the procedure, Colton was given a dose of fentanyl for pain. Oh boy! The one dose of fentanyl knocked him for a loop. Once he got the fentanyl he was no longer breathing on his own and he was letting the ventilator do all of the work. They had to switch the mode back on the ventilator to the one that breathed for him. He was in that mode for the night. He wasn't breathing over the ventilator.

Right after the CVL was done the neurologist Dr. K. came in to see Colton. She gave us results of the EEG... no seizures! She had a hard time seeing that he was being able to move now as the fentanyl made him very sleepy. She seemed to think that the HIE wasn't the culprit of his hypotonia. However she really wasn't able to give us an answer for the hypotonia. She did however suggest that we get a MRI of his spine to make sure everything was structurally ok. She suggested the same for his heart as well. Those were ordered for Thursday.

We were also able to start him back on feedings. He started getting just 3ml every 3 hours to see how he tolerated them. He had a few times when he had a lot left in his belly and they had to get rid of what was left and give him new milk.

Thursday, December 11th was another busy day. With his morning blood gas, they discovered that he wasn't getting enough support on the ventilator and that his right upper lobe of his lungs wasn't exchanging oxygen again. So the ventilator support went up and we watched his blood gases. In the afternoon he got another chest xray and the lobe had opened back up.

In the morning, Colton also got his ECHO (picture of his heart). We had to wait for the cardiologist (heart doctor) to read the pictures. That came back late in the evening.  Colton currently has a small ASD or atrial septal  defect. ( ASD )  Eventually this should close on its own. So, essentially nothing to worry about!  It's one of the first pieces of good news we got today!

We left around lunch time to go home and take showers and do some laundry. When we got back to the hospital Colton was down getting his 2nd MRI, this one was for his spine.  The results were back even before he came back from the test.  Normal!!!  2nd piece of good news!

Feedings were going a little bit better, but he was still having quite a bit left in his belly when it was checked before each feeding. The decision was made to just keep feeding him regardless of what was left unless he seemed to be having problems with digesting it. Well, it worked. Throughout the day he was able to digest more and more of his feeds.

Colton was also started on phototherapy today as well. His bilirubin was too high. This is a condition called jaundice. Most babies get jaundice. The phototherapy is a way to breakdown the bilirubin. He gets to pretend he is at the beach!

Friday, December 12th is a good day!  This morning his blood gas showed that he was getting way too much support on the ventilator. His settings were weaned pretty steadily over the morning and he was able to be switched back to NAVA in the afternoon. This too was weaned over the afternoon. He is breathing mostly on his own!

Feedings are going well enough that we were able to increase them this morning and he is up to 5 ml every 3 hours. Colton still had a few times when what was left was a lot but we are still feeding him. Part of the problem with his feeds was that he wasn't pooping. He was given a suppository to make him poop... and poop he did! Yes, we are excited about poop!

We both also were able to "kangaroo" with Colton today. Here is a link to Kangaroo Care. But here are pictures!

And now you are caught up!  We are forever grateful for the thoughts and prayers for Colton. 

Baby Steps

I am continuing Colton's story from Sunday.

Sunday December 7th: Sunday dawned a new day and we were still admitted to the hospital. I was doing ok. Not having too much pain and only really needing to take Ibuprofen to control it. We ate breakfast and headed up to the NICU.

Colton was still on the ventilator and still had his umbilical IV lines. The neonatologist came in and we discussed the plan for the day. We were going to try to start some feedings and see how well Colton would tolerate it. Well, he didn't. Throughout the day when they would check to see what was left in his tummy before his next feeding he would either have nothing left or he would have a lot more left than what they had given him. By Monday morning it was decided that we would just stop his feedings and try again later. In order to make sure that Colton would get enough nutrition he was started on total parenteral nutrition or TPN. It contains all the nutrients, protein, and fat that he needs to grow and gain weight.

Meanwhile, we were able to wean the settings on his ventilator. He was doing a lot more of the work on his own and wasn't needing so much help doing it. When they wean a setting on the ventilator they do a blood gas afterward to make sure that he was tolerating the turn down of the settings. He was doing pretty good.

We started to see some random movements with his fingers and toes. Both good signs.

Monday December 8th: Today was the day that I was being discharged from the hospital. By 7am I was up pumping and eating breakfast. The doctors came in and said I was ok to go home. We were up in the NICU by 8am to make sure that we were in Colton's room for morning rounds. The doctors and Nurse practitioners walk around the unit on Mondays and Thursdays. It's very odd to be on the other side of those rounds. Normally I am the one doing the talking during these rounds, now I have to sit and listen to them talk about my precious boy. Mondays also mean that the new team of doctors start for the week. We listened to the Doc and NP talk about Colton and what the plan was for the day.

Like I said earlier, Colton hadn't really been tolerating his feedings overnight and the morning belly xray didn't have an gas going through it. With both of those they decided to stop his feedings. His chest Xray showed an area in his right lung that wasn't allowing air exchange to happen well. They adjusted some of the settings on his ventilator to take care of that. They repeated a chest xray in the afternoon and that area was open and was allowing the air exchange.

Dr. B, the geneticist, called and asked what labs had been drawn and asked that the remainder of the labs be drawn. We then found out that some of the labs needed to be given prior authorization from the insurance company prior to being drawn. Colton's insurance had gotten messed up and we had to get that fixed to get the preauthorization done. Nick took care of all of that.

Over the course of the day it was decided that Colton needed to have an MRI of his head to see if there was a reason there that he wasn't moving. The MRI was done Monday night around 10:30pm.

We were discharged from the mother baby unit around 4:30 pm. We moved some of our stuff up to the NICU and then we decided to go home for a little bit and see Marley. We got some new clothes and took showers and headed back to the hospital. Overnight was pretty uneventful. Nick changed his first diaper of Colton's. We were continuing to see some improvement in Colton's movements throughout the day. He was starting to get more feisty when you messed with him. We got a big surprise in the afternoon: We both got to hold him!

I am trying to not overwhelm you and give too much information all at once. Please be patient with us as we try to get everyone caught up. The next post should be either tonight or tomorrow morning. We want to thank everyone for all the prayers and support. Everyone has been wonderful!

Colton's Delivery Story Continued...

Here is the continuation of Colton's delivery story...

Saturday December 6th (36 weeks and 3 days): I woke up at around 1:30 in the morning and got up and went to the bathroom. I kind of felt like I may have had a contraction, but I ended up ignoring it and went back to bed. At 2:30 am I woke up, felt what I can only describe as a punch, heard a "pop" and the fluid started flowing. My water had broken. I quickly nudged my husband to wake him up and to get out of bed or he was gonna get wet. He jumped out of bed and went and got a bunch of towels to try to clean up some of the mess that was leaking onto our mattress. Somehow I needed to get out of bed, so hubby put some towels on the carpet so that I could walk into the bathroom without getting fluid on the carpet. I headed toward the shower and got in a rinsed off what I could. The problem was that every time I moved, more fluid came out! I put a pad on to catch what was leaking and got dressed. Nick had been running around getting everything else ready to head to the hospital. By the time we were leaving the house it was around 3:15 am. That was when the contractions really started.

We have an approximately 7 min drive to the hospital. In that time frame I probably had 2 contractions. While they weren't long and didn't hurt much, they were definitely there. We got to the hospital and got checked in. We were escorted to the labor and delivery room. When I was put on the monitor to check Colton's heart rate and my contractions, everything was great. My contractions were about 2-3 min apart. The nurse checked my cervix and we were dilated to 5 cm. The fluid kept on coming with every contraction. My contractions ended up doing something called coupling. I would have a contraction followed immediately by another contraction and then I would get a break. Toward the end, it seemed like they would come in threes. The nurses checked my cervix about every 2 hours. When they checked I would be dilated by about 1 cm more.

Toward 10 am I started getting the triplet contractions and getting more and more uncomfortable. I was doing everything I could to not cry out in pain. They were getting so bad. I just kept breathing through them and basically dancing with my hips to keep the pain away. Finally I was feeling the urge to push. When the doctor and nurse check my cervix I still had a little bit of of cervix left. It took probably another half hour for that to go away and I was able to start pushing. I only had to push for 20 minutes. Colton was born at 11:47. When he was born he pretty much shot out and Dr. K almost didn't catch him. He was put on my abdomen and Nick quickly cut Colton's cord and he was given to the awaiting NICU team.

Because of my career and knowledge, I had asked some of my colleagues to attend Colton's delivery. Under normal circumstances a 36 week delivery would not have required attendance by the NICU delivery team. I was extremely glad that I had asked them to attend. Colton was not breathing when he was born. He always had a good heart rate, but needed a breathing tube placed. We were able to see him before he was taken up to the NICU for further evaluation.

It was about 3pm when we were able to see him for the first time. Colton was on a warmer bed with a breathing tube that was hooked to a ventilator. He had IV's placed in his umbilical cord. And he wasn't moving. My precious baby was not in good shape. We were told that Dr. B, a geneticist, was going to be coming to look at him and to see what kind of tests she thought we needed to run. His blood count was running low and he may need a blood transfusion. Dr. B came in later Saturday night and gave a list of labs that she thought may be needed to figure out what was wrong. They were only able to draw two of them because of his low blood count. Colton had a transfusion on Saturday night. Colton did great the rest of the night.

Tomorrow I will try to get you updated through Tuesday. We have been trying to get into a routine with Colton's care and my pumping.

Colton Matthew

Colton Matthew was born on Saturday December 6, 2014 at 11:47 am at 36 weeks and 3 days. He weighed 6 pounds 11.4 ounces and was 19 1/4 inches long. Here is his story.... (be forewarned... there is some TMI information in this post).

The remainder of his prenatal and delivery story starts at my 35 week OB appointment. We had scheduled an ultrasound to check on his growth and see how he was positioned. When they did the ultrasound we noticed that the tech was spending a lot of time on his feet and measuring the amount of fluid he had around him. When we got to the other room and talked to Dr. K she was concerned. There was a possibility that Beanie had bilateral club feet. The amount of fluid surrounding him had also increased dramatically. One of the causes of increased fluid could have been my gestational diabetes. So, Dr. K wanted us to go and see Dr. H who is a specialist for moms and babies. The first appointment that we could get was for Thursday December 4th.  

Wednesday December 3rd ( 36 weeks): I woke up at 4 am and had to go to the bathroom. This was nothing new for me as I repeatedly had to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. However, this time I noticed that I had some blood when I wiped. I turned around and looked in the toilet and low and behold, there was my mucus plug! I went back to bed for the remainder of the night and got up and went to work. As the morning progressed I noticed that I was feeling pretty uncomfortable and seemed like I was having contractions. I continued to see my patients and got all my orders and notes done just in case. Yes, I am stubborn like that. I wasn't about to leave any work for anyone else.  So around 11:30 I went downstairs to Labor and Delivery. I asked one of the nurses to check my cervix to see if I was dilating at all. I was not expecting to hear what I heard. I was dilated to 3 cm and my cervix was thinned to about 70-80%. Holy crap. The last time I was checked I wasn't dilated at all. I was sent home from work for the rest of the day. The contractions continued through the afternoon but later that night they stopped. We took the opportunity to actually pack my hospital bag and Beanie's bag as well. The contractions stopped overnight.

Thursday, December 4th (36 weeks and 1 day): I was supposed to work today, but we thought it would be a good idea if I stayed home. Well, I went and ran some errands. I continued to have some contractions while we ran those errands. We went to our appointment with Dr. H at 2pm. She did another full ultrasound to check and see if there was bilaterally club feet and/or anything else we missed. She really didn't see the club feet. If they were there they were really mild. My fluid level was really high so we talked about all the thing that can go along with that. I'm not going to mention those here as there is too much to talk about. Since I was still having contractions she went ahead and checked my cervix again. I was still 3 cm. My blood pressure was high again so we actually got it checked twice while we were at Dr. H's. We thought it was just contraction related. We went home from that appointment and finished wrapping Christmas gifts and getting the house ready for the Christmas party that we were supposed to be hosting on Saturday. We went to bed around 10:30 and I hadn't had anymore contractions for the rest of the day.

Friday, December 5th ( 36 weeks and 2 days): This morning I got up at 8 am because I had some appointments that I had to go to. Nick was scheduled to work today and I told him to go a head and go as I hadn't had anymore contractions and was feeling ok. So my first appointment was with the endocrinologist for my gestational diabetes. The appointment went great. My sugars have been well controlled with just diet and my a1c actually dropped to 4.7 from 5. She was concerned that I was not giving myself enough to eat, but I told her that I really was hungry or starving myself. She basically discharged me and said that I didn't have to come back. I will get checked at 6 weeks after having Colton to see if I have diabetes, but for now I don't have to check my sugars anymore. After that appointment I went home and ate lunch and took a nap on the couch with Marley. I got up and went to my next appointment which was an OB appointment with Dr. K. At that appointment, my blood pressure continued to be elevated and I was starting to spill protein in my urine (not a good thing). I hadn't had any more contractions, but Dr, K went ahead and checked my cervix since she was going to have to be in there to check for Group Beta Strep anyway. I had progressed to 4cm and she could feel Colton's bag of water and it was really tight. She basically told me that she wasn't sure I would make it through the weekend. I left the office with lab orders for the high blood pressure and orders that I wasn't to go to work anymore. I went home and laid on the couch for a little bit. I thought we were going to have company that night so I was trying to get some stuff clean in between resting on the couch. Well it turned out that there was a huge mix up and our friends weren't coming to our house, but we were supposed to go there!  Oh well... We ended up going to their house for dinner and played a board game. While we were eating dinner (which was wonderful), I felt so sick. I ended up throwing up at their house. What I didn't know was that was supposed to trigger my mind that something was going to happen.....  I felt better the rest of the night and we got home around 11 pm and went to bed.

I am going to continue Colton's story with another post as I am getting tired and it's late.

34 Week Update

Here's the weekly update!

How far along:  34 weeks! Only 6 weeks to go!

Due Date: December 31st, but he will come when he is darn good and ready.

How Big is Baby? According to the Bump, Beanie is the size of a butternut squash. 

 

Total weight gain? As of my OB appointment last week I have lost another 2 pounds. For those that are keeping track that's a total of 18 pounds so far. 

Maternity clothes? Yes. I have even had to start wearing a maternity top and scrub bottoms at work since my scrub tops no longer fit.  

Stretch marks? Yep, but who cares! He is growing and I'm good with that. 

Sleep: Yes and No. I sleep about an hour at a time and have to get up to pee and then go back to sleep for about another hour. Needless to say, I'm not sleeping well. 

Best moment this week:  Having 4 days off from work. Even though they are not truly days off since I continue to have things to do at home, it's nice to not be at work. Last week's OB appointment was good. I have been having lots of braxton hicks contractions and some pressure below, so Dr. K did check me to see if I am dilating at all and I'm not which is good. She also did a Fetal Fibronectin test to see if I'm going into preterm labor. It came back negative which is good. When she measured me she said she wanted to get an ultrasound at my next appointment to see if Beanie is in the right position for delivery and how big he is getting. If today is any indication, I think he's outgrowing his current space. I am sore. 

Miss anything? Sleep and Energy. 

Movement: Yep, as he is getting bigger, he's not able to kick me as hard, but I still feel him all the time.

Food cravings: Today I wanted a milk shake, which Nick obliged and ordered one so I could have a few sips. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope. I've been good lately. 

Gender: BOY!

Labor signs: None. 

Symptoms: 

• A bump :)
• Sore breasts: they are bigger and sometimes hurt to touch
• Exhausted: I want to sleep all the time
• Back pain/round ligament pain: I feel it most when I get up too fast. 
• Sciatic pain
• Braxton Hicks contractions 
• Beanie moving!

Belly Button in or out? In, but flattening out.

Wedding rings on or off? On when I remember to put it on, It's still pretty loose.

Looking forward to: This Friday the girls at work are throwing a baby shower for the 5 of us currently pregnant and one of the girls who just got back from maternity leave. Should be fun!

On the gestational diabetes front, I had my appointment with Dr. Grogg and he thinks my high sugars where probably a result of some medication I was getting for my shoulder during physical therapy. He did mention that he thought I may have to go on insulin closer to the end of my pregnancy but so far my sugars have been good except for a few here and there. So far I've been able to control it with diet. This morning I had my first low sugar. I felt like crap. 

I will try to keep up with the weekly updates from here on out, but with my work schedule sometimes I get a little tired. 

32 week update

Today is a bittersweet day. Today marks the 1 year anniversary of our miscarriage/tubal pregnancy. I will always remember him or her and I know he or she is looking down upon us and smiling. I am so thankful for this baby growing inside of me, but I will never forget our first. So, here's the weekly update! 

How far along:  32 weeks! Only 8 weeks to go!

Due Date: December 31st, but he will come when he is darn good and ready.

How Big is Baby? According to the Bump, Beanie is the size of a squash. 

 

or this big....

Sorry no picture this week. I've already changed into my comfy clothes for the night and I'm not willing to change back! 

Total weight gain? So in the two weeks since my last doctors appointment, I lost another 5 pounds. That's what happens when you restrict a girls carbs!

Maternity clothes? Yep, Those, yoga pants and tee shirts, and scrubs are what I live in. 

Stretch marks? Yep, but who cares! He is growing and I'm good with that. 

Sleep: Actually, it's not been too bad. I wake up about every hour to change position, and about every 3 to go to the bathroom. 

Best moment this week:  Last Saturday I was treated to the best baby shower by my Mother and Sister-in-law. Before the shower I went and got a pedicure and manicure. Both sorely needed. Here are some pictures from the shower. I had a great time and we received some wonderful gifts. 

Miss anything? Sleep and Energy. 

Movement: Yes, Yes, and Yes. I absolutely love it. This afternoon he kick me so much that my entire belly moved! 

Food cravings: You know the saying "when you can't have something, that's what you want?" Yeah, carbs are what I want. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope. I've been good lately. 

Gender: BOY!

Labor signs: None. 

Symptoms: 

• A bump :)
• Sore breasts: they are bigger and sometimes hurt to touch
• Exhausted: I want to sleep all the time
• Back pain/round ligament pain: I feel it most when I get up too fast. 
• Sciatic pain
• Braxton Hicks contractions mainly when I am at work or doing too much. 
• Beanie moving!

Belly Button in or out? In, but flattening out.

Wedding rings on or off? On when I remember to put it on, It's still pretty loose.

Looking forward to: Getting Beanie's room finished. We worked on that today. I will get pictures up when it's about done. Here is Nick painting the Ikea spice racks that will become the book cases on the wall. 

Physical therapy is done!  I was discharged last Friday and can't be happier. One less place that I have to go during the week. 

Being gestational diabetic sucks. I can't imaging being a normal diabetic. I am starting to figure out what makes my sugars go too high.... Orange juice. Again, something I like that I can't have. We went to "training" last Friday and was given a meal plan that I'm supposed to follow. It shows breakfast, lunch, and dinner along with snacks in between each meal and before bed. They apparently don't understand what I do for a living. I'm lucky that I get lunch most days. Oh well, I'm managing. I have an appointment tomorrow with the endocrinologist so we'll see what he says. 

I will try to keep up with the weekly updates from here on out, but with my work schedule sometimes I get a little tired. 

30 Week Update!

Here's the weekly update! 

How far along:  30 weeks.

Due Date: December 31st, but he will come when he is darn good and ready.

How Big is Baby? According to the Bump, Beanie is the size of a cucumber. 

 

or this big....

Total weight gain? Well according to the doctor's scale last week weight was essentially the same. This mornings weight was up about 2 pounds from that weight. Who knows. Every scale is different, So I guess we will continue to go by what the doctors office says. 

Maternity clothes? Yep, Those, yoga pants and tee shirts, and scrubs are what I live in. 

Stretch marks? Yep, but who cares! He is growing and I'm good with that. 

Sleep: What sleep? :)  When I do sleep I wake up and have to move positions which is getting harder and harder. I think he is having a growth spurt and that's making me sore. 

Best moment this week:  Last Saturday we went to Miracles in Motion and had a 4D Ultrasound done. They have a viewing room so my parents, brother and sister-in-law, and my grandmother were able to come and see the little man. It was so neat to be able to see his chubby cheeks and watch him move. He was all tucked in on my left side with his head down. Halfway through I drank some orange juice to see if we could get him to move some more. Well all he did was put his feet above his head.  We got a disk with all of the pictures on it and a DVD of the session. Here are some pictures from the session. Sorry they are so blurry, they are pictures of pictures.

Miss anything? Sleep and Energy. 

Movement: All the time. He tends to take a nap in the afternoon, exactly when I would like to take one. He's most active right after dinner. 

Food cravings: Not really. Just enjoying the fact that I've been able to eat :)

Anything making you queasy or sick? Well, I was extremely queasy when I had to do my 3 hour glucose tolerance test yesterday. More on that later. 

Gender: BOY!

Labor signs: None. 

Symptoms: 

• A bump :)
• Sore breasts: they are bigger and sometimes hurt to touch
• Exhausted: I want to sleep all the time
• Back pain/round ligament pain: I feel it most when I get up too fast. 
• Sciatic pain
• Braxton Hicks contractions mainly when I am at work or doing too much. 

Belly Button in or out? In, but flattening out.

Wedding rings on or off? On when I remember to put it on, It's still pretty loose.

Looking forward to: My Chiropractor appointment on Monday. I can tell I am getting pretty tight and out of wack lately

My shoulder is getting better. I've been going to physical therapy two times a week and actually doing my exercises at home. I have an appointment next week for a checkup and hopefully I will be discharged from physical therapy.

The newest ailment is not as much fun. I mentioned that I had to have my glucose tolerance test last week. Well, I failed the first one. The 1 hour glucose is supposed to be less than 140. Mine was 191. This meant that I had to have a 3 hour test. I did my 3 hour test yesterday. To fail this test two of the values (out of the 4) have to be above the levels that they want. Well I nailed that one. My fasting level and the 3 hour level were ok, but not the 1 hour and the 2 hour. So this means that I am now a gestational diabetic. I get to go to the diabetes treatment center to get education on what I should and shouldn't be eating. I also get to start going to an endocrinologist so that they can follow my blood sugars. I have to keep my blood sugars under control or they will affect beanie. There are so many things that could happen that I am not going there unless they happen. Overall, this pregnancy has been wonderful and I wouldn't change anything for the world!

Third Trimester... YEAH!

Here's the weekly update! 

How far along:  28 weeks!  We are officially into the 3rd trimester. I can't believe it. I am so grateful that I've been able to experience all of this so far. Only 12 weeks to go!

Due Date: December 31st

How Big is Baby? According to the Bump, Beanie is the size of an eggplant! 

 

or this big....

Total weight gain? I got on our home scale this morning and entered it into an app that I have that keeps track of my weight from the beginning and according to it, I have lost another almost 2 pounds in the last month. We have a doctor's appointment next Tuesday so we will see what their scale says. 

Maternity clothes? Absolutely. We attended a function last night and I had to go and buy some more clothes. What girl doesn't like that?! 

Stretch marks? Yep, but who cares! He is growing and I'm good with that. 

Sleep: I could sleep all the time. When I do get sleep its in spurts. I have had the last 3 days off and have enjoyed getting to sleep in. 

Best moment this week:  Like I said, we attended a function last night. It was for the March of Dimes, a wonderful group who raises money to help prevent prematurity. The event we went to was called the Signature Chef's Auction. It was so much fun!  There was great food, a silent auction, and a live auction. There were so many neat things to bid on. We bid on three things and actually won one!  It was the one we really wanted. We couldn't believe it. 

It's a Peg Perego GT 3 for two stroller. It comes with a rain cover and a warm cover. I can also attach any car seat to it. I'm hoping it will inspire me to take Beanie for many walks when he's born! We were so happy to put money toward such a good cause.

Miss anything? Sleep and Energy. 

Movement: All the time. I love the times when I get a kick and a punch. I know he needs to sleep too, but I get anxious when hes quiet for a period of time. 

Food cravings: Not really. Just enjoying the fact that I've been able to eat :)

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope, I was a little queasy last night when we inadvertently turned to heat on too high in the car. 

Gender: BOY!

Labor signs: None. 

Symptoms: 

• A bump :)
• Sore breasts: they are bigger and sometimes hurt to touch
• Exhausted: I want to sleep all the time
• Back pain/round ligament pain: I feel it most when I get up too fast. 
• Sciatic pain
• Braxton Hicks contractions mainly when I am at work or doing too much. 

Belly Button in or out? In, but flattening out.

Wedding rings on or off? On when I remember to put it on, It's still pretty loose.

Looking forward to: Next week for our next OB appointment. I have to do my 28 week labs on Tuesday, also known as the lovely glucose tolerance test. Here's praying I pass! Another thing I'm looking forward to is the delivery of our new washer and dryer tomorrow morning. The ones that we have are approximately 14 years old. It's amazing they lasted this long! 

On another note, I mentioned last week that I was going to physical therapy for my shoulder. Well I went last Friday and sure enough, they are pretty sure it's my rotator cuff and that I probably have some micro-tears. They are hoping that with just the therapy I will get relief and we won't have to go any further. They gave me some medicine through a patch to help with inflammation and I've started to do some exercises. I went again today and got a few more exercises and did some stretching while I was there. I haven't had anymore pain and that's a good thing.  

27 Week Update

Here's the weekly update! I figured that I would wait a couple of weeks since not much is changing right now. Didn't want to bore anyone. :)

How far along:  27 weeks! 

Due Date: December 31st

How Big is Baby? According to the Bump, Beanie is the size of a Rutabaga! 

Total weight gain? Went to our family doctor yesterday to have him look at my shoulder and I was up about 1 1/2 pounds from the last time I was weighed. 

Maternity clothes? All the time now. 

Stretch marks? Yep, but who cares! He is growing and I'm good with that. 

Sleep: I am exhausted. I don't sleep well at night due to the fact that beanie likes to make me pee all the time. When I'm not working I usually take a nap in the middle of the afternoon. 

Best moment this week:  I absolutely love getting to feel the little one moving around inside of me! I will never get tired of that!

Miss anything? Sleep and Energy. 

Movement: Yes and Yes!!!  Beanie moves a lot especially after I eat. He really likes evening too. 

Food cravings: Just the water. I've been eating a lot of string cheese here lately too. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? No food, but sometimes when Beanie really gets moving I get queasy.

Gender: BOY!

Labor signs: None. 

Symptoms: 

• A bump :)
• Sore breasts: they are bigger and sometimes hurt to touch
• Exhausted: I want to sleep all the time
• Back pain/round ligament pain: I feel it most when I get up too fast. 
• Sciatic pain
• Braxton Hicks contractions mainly when I am at work or doing too much. 

Belly Button in or out? In, but flattening out.

Wedding rings on or off? On when I remember to put it on, It's still pretty loose.

Looking forward to: Going to physical therapy on Friday for my shoulder and seeing if they can get rid of the pain that I've been having. Last week was really bad with shooting pain. Hopefully this will help or I think I'm looking at having to go to an orthopedic doctor later. Yuck!