I must have drama or I'm not happy! Apparently...

Happy July 4th!! Some baby news updates...we now have NST's three times a week and a Biophysical Profile (NST + ultrasound measuring fluid, baby breathing motion, fetal movement and something else) every week. That is supposed to start on Monday, BUT, and there's always a "but" isn't there, since the office was closed this Friday for the July 4th holiday, we were scheduled to have our NST done over the weekend at the hospital. So today we went in and did the NST, and I always show with an "irritated uterus," but the contractions were showing up as huge waves on the monitor every 2 minutes. The tech was concerned and called the on-call high-risk doctor, who we have seen before, and we went in for another Ffn test and ultrasound to see how everything was going. Luckily the Dr was right there and waiting for us and we had a fun conversation and ultrasound.

The Ffn test came back negative again, so I won't be going into labor in the next few days, and the ultrasound looked great, except...and here's the drama that my life cannot lack...the fluid is on the high side. The baby looks great and has put on another pound in a little under two weeks, 4 pounds 7 ounces :) and doesn't seem to be affected by any of this! But normal measurements for amniotic fluid at 32 weeks is up to 25 depending on what chart is used. I measured a little over 25, then was measured again and it was a little over 21. He said his cutoff is 25 while my doctor's is 20, so that's something we're supposed to be watching. I read online about having high amounts of amniotic fluid and of course freaked myself out, so I am really ready for Monday to come around to talk to my regular doctor about all of this. Insert scream and pulling of hair here.

I keep telling myself, just 5 more weeks, just 5 more weeks! But we'll be happy with two more weeks, then we'll be at 34 weeks, and the baby should be over the premature weight, meaning over 5.5 pounds. So, for the praying types out there, please keep us in mind! :) I'll give a report after Monday's biophysical!

We made it to the big 3-0!! Weeks, that is

Today we are 30 weeks pregnant! We've been worried about whether we'd ever see this number in any pregnancy, and here we are! We had our 30 week ultrasound today, and everything was measured and scrutinized, and baby looks fabulous :) He is estimated to be 3 lbs, 6 oz which means he's growing steadily. If he keeps this up, when he comes around 37 weeks, he'll be over 6 pounds, a respectable newborn weight for 3 weeks early! Our NST went well today and although I'm still contracting, things seem to be holding up well. My cervix is a little shorter so they did another fFN test today to see if I'm at risk for pre-term labor. Fingers crossed its negative tomorrow! Here are his latest pictures...his hands were all over his face, so we only got two good pictures, but I'll take them!!

Here's his profile again

Here's more of a front shot, but because he was moving around, it's a bit stretched out looking, but his cheeks are coming in nicely, don't you think? And he almost looks like he's smiling :)

69 Degrees with the fan on, and it's still too hot...

We have had quite an exciting time!! A few scary moments and some funny little things going on in this pregnancy...

It started on May 28 at our second non-stress test (NST - monitering the baby's heartrate, movement, my heartrate, and uterus movement) where the nurses noticed that my uterus was contracting slightly, but rhythmically, and was termed an "irritated uterus." I wasn't feeling any cramping, but they decided to check things anyway and did an fFN test (fetal fibronectin) where they are looking for a certain protein that is present when labor is beginning, then they did an ultrasound of my cervix to see if it was starting to shorten. My cervix was still a good 4 cm long and closed, but was starting to funnell, meaning it looked like it was starting to try and open up. That evening my fFN test came back negative for the protein and not likely to go into labor for 10-14 days, so I went on home, relaxed. Until that night...I started feeling contractions, here and there, some uncomfortable, others just tight but not travelling all the way up my uterus. So I went to bed hoping things would calm down. 6 AM and still contracting, and now about every few minutes. Some lasted just a few seconds, other's over a minute and by 8:00, they were pretty strong and every 1 1/2 minutes. So in we went for an emergency NST.

Indeed, contractions were there and I was put on a 48 hour medication to stop them and sent on home and told to stay off my feet. I did as told, and although things calmed way down, I still felt "tight" and had occasional contractions that would start down low and work their way up, warping my uterus into a baby shape on the right, and a bulge on the left.

Saturday night, Nich was at a gig at the lake, and two sweet friends in his class, Laura and Lisa, were at the house hanging out and making sure everything was ok. At 5:00 PM I had gotten the familiar tightness and called Labor and Delivery where I was told to drink a liter of water and give it an hour. I did better :) I drank all I could, kept my bladder empty, and layed around until 9 when it was clear it wasn't going away. Another phone call and Laura, Lisa, and I went to the hospital. Sure enough, contractions! By the time Nich got to the hospital around midnight, I was admitted and had a cozy room for 23 hours.

23 hours turned into 4 days, 3 medications, 8 NSTs, 2 super painful steroid shots to help develop the baby's lungs in case he decided to come early, lots of blood drawn, a cervix that was funnelling on and off, and several ultrasounds to check amniotic fluid. And now, I'm HOME! This medication is working quite nicely and I only have a few contractions a day! It is sooo nice to not feel a constant tightness, and so nice to sleep more than 30-45 minutes at a time! I was getting my 9 hours of sleep over a 24 hour period, and now I'm getting 9 in about 10 hours during the actual NIGHT. How awesome!! Of course, I am on "modified bedrest" which means I don't have to be horizontal, but have to be leaned back at least, and I have bathroom privileges. But my whole life is on the couch, and poor Nich has to do EVERYTHING. He's studying for Step I about 12 hours a day while having to feed me every hour and a half (my blood sugar has to stay up all day now), take care of 3 dogs, run errands, do cooking, cleaning, water plants, laundry, all that fun stuff. I can't carry anything heavier than a water bottle, so he's in charge of moving all my stuff from bedroom to living room twice a day too.

BUT, baby's doing GREAT! If all goes to plan, we only have 9 weeks more, and it's totally worth it :) If only my dreams would stop being so scary these days...that would be nice - I'm sure it has NOTHING to do with the added stress...ha ha ha!

Here's our little angel who just has to stay happy and healthy in there for a few more weeks. This is from one of the ultrasounds checking the fluid, which was always a good amount:

So, on a side note, I'm one hot chick. Ha ha ha! We're convinced it's my medication, but I am HOT. Hotter than a regular pregnant lady hot. I used to be wrapped in a blanket at 73 degrees, and now that I'm back from the hospital, I'm dying at 69 degrees with the fan blowing on me. I can't even sleep under sheets, and I am constantly flushed. That must be the infamous "glow"... We refuse to turn the air down more, since it'll already cost a fortune to keep this house at 69 all day, in June and July! Also, I've noticed my butt...it has shrunk! Ha ha ha! I think it melted off.