31 weeks and 2 days pregnant!!

We made it another night! Last night I had a few contractions but after only a short while they subsided. So again a pretty uneventful night. Vitals continue to be where they should be and baby's heartbeat is perfectly strong. We woke up this morning hoping to find out right away what time the ultrasound was at but they were not able to tell us when it would be. Around 9:00am my nurse told us that at some point today someone would be coming to take me up to radiology for the u/s. As soon as she walked out someone else walked in the room saying they were here to pick me up to take me upstairs. It's such a different world here...no way to plan what is happening at what time. Derek wasn't able to get here in time but Jess was still here with me. We spent about 1/2 hour getting the ultrasound. One of the first presses on my belly showed the baby's face. It appeared to have chunky cheeks!! Let's hope there are a lot of chunks on those cheeks!! It was so fun to see the baby moving around. At one point it even looked like the baby was waving at us. "Hi mommy, see you in a few weeks!" Hopefully that is what that wave meant! They of course were not able to give us any information about what they were seeing but they made a few comments that seemed encouraging.

The resident just came in to give us a brief overview of the u/s. The doctor will be stopping in later today to discuss it more thoroughly but she said she wanted to stop in to let us know the general overview. The amniotic fluid is low but not overly concerning. Everything else looked exactly how it should at this point. The weight that are guessing is around 3 pounds 10 ounces. Of course it's a guess and I keep hoping that they are guessing too low! A few more days will mean a few more ounces. That would be so exciting! Hopefully I'm just hanging out here for quite some time!

Don't all come running at once...but the verdict is that Jess thought the air mattress was pretty comfy last night!! The schedule is all set to babysit me for the week! :) I'm kind of like a kid and scared to be alone at night. Derek will be here tonight before he starts his first day of school tomorrow. Mom and Jess joining me for the rest of the week taking turns on the mattress. Such a great support system is going to make this 1000 time less stressful...I'm so lucky!

Hopefully another uneventful post tomorrow...and the day after...and the day after!

31 weeks and 1 day pregnant!!

Another day has come and gone and the day seemed overall pretty uneventful. My vitals still are staying right where they should be (no temp!!!), the baby's heartbeat sounds perfect, and I had very few contractions throughout the course of the day. Derek stayed over last night and we woke up this morning to a morning wheelchair ride outside in the crisp, fresh air. Well, I sat in the chair and Derek got to push me around!! :) What beautiful weather this morning. I am able to get three 30-minute wheelchair rides per day. It was definitely needed today when we woke up and saw the sun shining right in...we had to get out there and enjoy it. The doctor that I saw Wednesday night after getting to the hospital stopped in this morning during his rounds. He sounded quite surprised that I have not had the baby yet after seeing what was all going on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. This baby must just know that it's not quite time.

My mom brought Tessa in to visit which is always a special treat. We watched her bear movie and Dora while we snuggled on my bed and then she put together her animal puppets with her daddy (thanks Leah...Tessa loved them!!). We had snacks and I just tried to soak up every second that she was here. It's so hard to have her leave but soon enough I'll have my arms all over her again. After my mom, Derek, and Tessa left, dad and Grandma "Grape" stayed for a while and were able to be my support system as they moved my IV. It wasn't nearly as bad as getting the IV on Wednesday...that was painful! I suggest always being hydrated when needing an IV! :)

Thanks to all who stopped by today to visit! It sure makes the day go quickly when friends stop by. Thanks for all of the yummy treats, funny stories, support, and offer to assist in whatever it is that we need. We really appreciate what everyone has done for us. Derek will be starting school again on Tuesday so things will get a bit more complicated. Luckily, we have the best family in the world who are putting their lives on hold to assist us with everything that we need right now. Jess has heard how comfy the extra bed is in the room so she wanted her chance to try it out. She'll be staying overnight tonight and may even get the chance to give me one of my three wheelchair rides in the morning...her lucky day! We'll be having an ultrasound tomorrow to check the amniotic fluid level and the size of the baby. Keep your fingers crossed for all good news! Still hoping for many more days of sitting around waiting!

Thanks for the Visit

This post is from Derek...so reader beware.

Anywho, thanks to the lovely ladies that visited tonight and brought us snacks and movies. The burger was great and since we only have three more weeks max I am going to need to begin watching the pile of 73 movies they brought. I will start with "Something's Gotta Give" and end with "Old School: Unrated Version" (I'm sure Emily will be impressed). I will also watch Rudy eleven times and cry every time.

I will be back in school on Tuesday with students. I plan on taking all of my stress out on the kids. Those poor things.

Gotta go..."Something's Gotta Give" is about to start.

31 weeks pregnant today!

We are officially 31 weeks pregnant. A pretty uneventful night last night. When I was pregnant with Tessa I was always under the impression that once my water broke that the baby needed to be delivered within 48 hours. Because I am so early this changes that fact. At this point I will not be induced because the risk of prematurity outweighs the risk of infection. The chance of infection will be greater because the membranes are ruptured but the lungs having a chance to develop for a longer period of time while the baby is still in the womb is much more important now. My belly seems like it's grown since we got here on Wednesday. I'll be having an ultrasound on Monday where they will be able to figure out the weight of our little munchkin. We just keep hoping for more time and loving each minute that goes by just knowing how the baby needs time.

It's been a busy time trying to figure out who is supposed to be where at what time with Tessa. So far I've been lucky that I haven't had to be here alone yet. Derek stayed for the first two nights and mom stayed last night. We've had a few visitors throughout the day which definitely will help time pass by.

Tessa girl is thinking this is a party. She's been in once since we got here on Wednesday. I can't wait to see her again. She was very intrigued by my IV and loved our wheelchair ride. "Daddy go faster!" All of the nurses heard her coming and going...never a dull entrance for this girl! It's so hard to not be with her while at the same time I know that she is being well taken care of. It's working out really well for us that Jess and Beau are living with my parents while they are building. Tessa just joins right in with the house full of seven. Tessa is spending a lot of time at Grandpa and Grandma's being silly, sassy, and loving playing with her cousins (and of course Jess, Beau, Grandpa, and Grandma too!!). Can't wait to get home and begin our new life with the four of us.

Keep your fingers crossed for a bit more time.

30 weeks 6 days pregnant

So here we are just playing the waiting game, which is exactly where we want to be. It's been a very eventful 48 hours. Wednesday evening I thought that my water had possibly broken, which caused us to head to the hospital to see for sure that is what had happened. After a short exam...sure enough...it confirmed that my membranes had ruptured. This was concerning, but even more concerning was that I had a temperature of 100.8 degrees. A fever means an infection. If my temp were to reach 101.0 degrees we would have delivered immediately. We were taken to labor and delivery and spoke with doctors, nurses, and everyone in between within the first four hours of being in the room. Around 8:30pm on Wednesday I received my first steroid shot. The hope is that this shot will help the process of developing the baby's lungs. Ideally the shot will be in my system for at least 48 hours before delivering. I received a second steroid shot 24 hours after the first. They called this the icing on the cake. As Wednesday turned into Thursday my fever subsided...great news! I was being pumped with antibiotics in my IV every 4-6 hours. This will possibly continue until we deliver. Around 3:00am I started to contract every 4 minutes for about an hour. The contractions also subsided...another great thing. Because my water had already broke, when labor starts they will not try to stop it.

Thursday and Friday were much less eventful. Not many contractions, no fever, no signs of infection. Baby sounds great with a very strong heartbeat. We stayed in labor and delivery until around 10:00pm on Thursday where we were then moved to a different wing. The waiting wing where we hope to stay for a long time. We just keep praying for more time. We spent today keeping ourselves busy and listening to baby's strong heartbeat. Taking one day at a time and loving each hour that goes by knowing how much it's helping the baby.