Growing, Growing.....and Shrinking

So....Sarah had her first doctor's appointment today. When she left the hospital last week she weighed 6 lbs, 13oz. Today she was back up to 7 pounds, 6 oz. She is growing and doing really well. She has a really great personality too- from what we can tell so far. She gets upset when she needs something but otherwise is a very content, alert little baby. Last night she slept 5 hours in a row, got up, ate and slept 3 and a half more hours. I know this won't happen every night but I will take it when I get it!

The picture with Alex and his lizard is the other "growing" part of this post. He bought this little plastic lizard that was probably 8 inches long or so. When you put it in water (for 3-7 days) it grows up to 36 inches long. Some of you have already met Alex's lizard but I thought I'd post a picture of him with it since he was so excited it actually worked!

Onto the shrinking. I am proud (ok shocked is a better word) to report that I am wearing regular pants (with a zipper!) today. I thought I'd try some pre-pregnancy pants just to see how far off I was still and by some miracle I was able to not only pull them up and put them on but they are not even uncomfortable. As Chris says, this must be the benefit of being too sick to gain as much weight this time. I still think I would have rather gained more weight and felt better but wearing something without elastic is definitely a nice treat! Dont' get me wrong, I still have not lost all of my "baby weight" but enough must have left my stomach area to allow for this unexpected surprise. Ok...enough about me....hope you enjoy the new pictures of Sarah. We are comfortably settling into a routine at home and will likely be just hanging out for awhile so if anyone wants to stop by, just give us a call. We have a few more doctor's appointments this week (me- not Sarah this time) but otherwise will be around. Thanks for all the calls, emails, cards, presents, visits, etc. I will continue to post new pictures- I've certainly taken a lot of them!

Making Progress

Just wanted to write a quick update on how things are going. The kids are absolutely in love with Sarah- even Alex has finally come around. They are fighting over who gets to hold her and for how long. Sarah seems to like her new home. She definitely likes being held- it's a rare moment when she is not being held- I'm sure we'll pay for that soon. Right now we are just enjoying having a sweet little baby around again.

Home Sweet Home

Just a quick update to let everyone know that we are home now. Everyone is adjusting well. Alex is still refusing to hold the baby although tonight he did sing her a lullaby so I think he'll cave in soon. Anna on the other hand does not want to stop holding the baby. They are both glad to have us home. Jazz is still trying to figure out the newest member of the family but seems pretty unimpressed at this point. More updates soon....hope you enjoy the pictures. The nurses at the hospital loved Sarah's little bunny holders on her car seat- they said it looked like she was holding on tight getting ready for her first car ride- too cute!

More Pictures

Resting and Recovering

Chris was nice enough to bring the laptop today so with the handy dandy wireless connection, I can finally post an update. Things are going very well- much easier than I thought or than with Anna's C-section. I was able to get all of my "tubes" out very early yesterday morning and have been up and about quite a bit, just taking some oral pain meds occasionally. Sarah seems to have her days and nights mixed up a bit so we are just doing a lot of napping. She is happiest when held so my arms have been pretty full these last couple days. Everything at the hospital has been very nice, overall a good experience. My platelets are still low- 69,000 today so I now officially have a hematologist. He thinks that everything will go back to normal but in the meantime it just means more lab tests for me and a few extra doctor visits. Sarah also gets an extra poke just to check her blood- poor thing. She's pretty dramatic with diaper changes, temperature, etc so I'm sure she'll really enjoy the lab! Chris made me homemade chicken noodle soup last night so I'm looking forward to that for lunch. The baby is letting me know that this blogging is taking up wayyy too much of her time so I better go. Enjoy the new pictures!

Sarah Ellen Tveit

Born 7-21-08 at 9:10 am....7 pounds 8 oz. 20 1/2 inches long...Both Cheryl and Sarah are doing great.... :)

Sleepless

The C-section is only about 10 hours away and I know I should be getting as much sleep as I can right now, but I just can't seem to fall asleep. I had a dream last night that the hospital called me today and told me they were just too busy to do the C-section and I'd have to reschedule it. I think I won't truly believe it's going to happen until I get to the hospital and know that everything is ready to go! It's strange knowing exactly when she will be born. I do like things to be planned though so you'd think that part of it would make me less nervous. Chris has agreed to post to the blog for me tomorrow so pictures should be up by evening time. Here's hoping for a few hours of sleep (the last uninterrupted for awhile I'm sure!).

5 More Days!!!

Sometimes things just work out.....I went in today to have the Biophysical Profile done of the baby and I also had an appointment scheduled with the nurse (my OB is back, but his schedule was booked). When I got there, they let me know that the nurse had called in sick so I'd have to see the doctor- funny how things just work out. Anyways, the baby looked great on the Biophysical Profile test- still a girl and just a little over 7 pounds, everything looked perfect. So, I finally got to see my OB again, he lightly scolded me for "scaring" the other OB while he was gone. Anyways, after reviewing everything he decided to move up the C-section date to this Monday, 7/21 (sorry uncle Bob- no birthday baby for you this time :( ). He then drew labs and said if those were concerning he'd just do it this week. My labs were pretty much the same as they have been though- my platelets have dropped to about 79,000 (normal is above 150,000) so it looks likely that I will need to have general anesthesia which I'm a bit bummed about, but have mentally prepared myself for the entire time. It'll just mean a longer recovery for me and Chris probably won't be able to be in there for the delivery. But, in the end we are just hoping for a healthy mom and a healthy baby as my OB always points out. I know he's right and I trust his judgment so I'm feeling a bit better about the new "birthday". In case I haven't let everybody know, we'll be at Woodwinds this time and I'm sure I'll be there most of next week for those in town who want to stop by. With having to have a general, I don't know how up for visitors I'll be on Monday, but I will be certain to have Chris make the phone calls. I've tried to convince him that he should update the blog with pictures for me but I can't promise anything. I did find out that Woodwinds has wireless internet though so maybe by Tuesday I'll be up to posting myself. Only 5 more days until the top secret name will be revealed...stay tuned :)

Family Fun

Many of you blog-followers were at the family reunion today, but I thought I'd post a few pictures that I took throughout the day. Also, since Marie couldn't make it I thought she'd appreciate the sweet pics of grandma and grandpa- they both cried! Thanks again to Kelly for the great gift idea, can't wait to hear about the adventures with their new Nintendo Wii- I really think they were surprised :) Amanda- see what I do when you steal my camera- now you're famous! Of course a big thank you to Jackie (aka event coordinator)- the day was a success and I'm really glad I was able to be there.

State of Confusion

Well, I have just returned from the OB. I think 3 visits in one week is plenty! Anyways, he seemed confused and really unsure what to do (very comforting!). If I were 38 weeks or if my blood pressure was high today (it was 128/88) the decision would have been easier. As he said though, he's not ready to "pull the plug" yet. In the meantime, I now have white and red blood cells (in addition to the protein) in my urine so I likely have either a bladder infection or a kidney infection so I get to take another round of antibiotics- the fun just never seems to end! I need to go in on Tuesday to have a biophysical profile of the baby (essentially an ultrasound to determine weight, lung maturity, etc). I then get to see my regular OB (yeah!) on Friday and if the biophysical profile looks good, it sounds like the C-section date will be moved up by 1 week. Of course, this is all just a guess from this other OB at this point, I don't know what my actual OB will decide to do. The good news from today's appointment is that he didn't see any reason why I needed to be on bedrest. He said that I should just take it easy if I feel lightheaded or dizzy but that being on bedrest is likely unecessary at this point. So, my plan is to return to work (again) on Monday. Perhaps the stress of that will just put me into labor on my own and end all of this guesswork and confusion! I'm just happy I won't have to miss the family reunion. Here's hoping for an uneventful weekend :)

Back to the Couch

And....my short lived freedom has ended. The OB called me today at work (yes, I did manage to go back for a whole 6 hours!) to let me know that my 24 hour urine showed concerning levels of protein. A sign of preeclampsia again and a sign that my kidneys are starting to be affected. I was instructed to go right to the hospital. My blood pressure was good today though, 130s/80s- not necessarily good compared to my norm, but good in that he was still not willing to say that I definitely have preeclampsia. The baby continues to look good and interestingly enough the urine sample they took today was negative for protein. Go figure. It's all a bit of a mystery at this point. All I know is I can't wait for my regular doctor to get back because I'm feeling a bit lost as I'm not sure I completely trust this other OB. I'm sure he's qualified and knows what he's doing, but I really think he's about 25 years old and the encounters I've had with him make me think he's still trying to figure out this world of OB medicine. I will just continue to be my own advocate as best I can and trust that if she is ready to come or if my body needs her to come early that that is what will happen- I have to just give up all control and trust that it will all work out for the best. Anyways, the end result of my fun day was that I was put back on bedrest as that will give the placenta the optimal amount of oxygen in the event that I do develop worsening blood pressure. I said before that my blood pressures were good, but those were all taken while lying on my side for more than a half an hour- they are higher when I'm up walking around for long periods of time. Anyways, he's not being as strict about the instructions as I'm not forced to lie on my left side continuously but I do need to take it easy until I see him again on Friday. The goal has always been 37 weeks and technically (according to Ultrasound) that is Sunday- my OB is back Monday so maybe he'll be more inclined to move up the C-section date. Chris' birthday is tomorrow so I thought maybe he'd get a new daughter for his birthday, but as that doesn't seem to be the case, I'm feeling bad that I can't even go and get him a cake- what a sad situation. Poor guy, at least he isn't the feeling sorry for himself kind of person so he won't complain, but I just feel bad that everything can't just so smoothly. I'm looking forward to having some kind of normalcy back to our lives, that's for sure! Well, I'm off to read for awhile- at least my mom has me hooked on a new book series so that should help fill some of the hours. I'm sure I'll have an update on Friday- hopefully no more bed rest because I really want to make it to the family reunion!

Freedom

I don't think I can quite accurately describe how hard it has been for me to be on bedrest. I'm typically not one to just sit around and these past few days have been extremely hard on me! However, I went to my appointment today and things are looking better than last week. The OB that I saw said that I did not meet the criteria to be categorized as having preeclampsia so he was not worried enough to deliver yet. The non stress test looked really good today- she's active and healthy. My labs are not all back and won't be until tomorrow so I won't know definitively until then but he sounded optimistic that I was just unfortunate enough to have pregnancy induced hypertension- but not preeclampsia. This is good news, I suppose, although I don't physically feel any better. Anyways, he said that I do NOT need to be on bedrest anymore and that I could be up as I feel like it. It's quite liberating to be able to actually sit at the computer even or walk out to get the mail. I still feel a bit dizzy and lightheaded at times though so I'm trying to take it easy. I'm hoping to go back to work on Wednesday (so- yes Kate, I will hopefully be at patient ed :) - I need to get the final lab results which won't be back until sometime tomorrow, otherwise I could probably go back tomorrow. It'll most likely do me some good to have a day in between bedrest and working 10 hour days anyways so tomorrow I'll slowly increase my activity. Anyways, I lost 4 pounds since my appointment on Thursday- my mom seems to think that means I'm going to go into labor soon. I attribute it to the fact that it's really hard to eat much when you have to lay down all the time- makes you pretty nauseated. We'll see- if anyone is able to predict those types of things it would be her. Personally, I think the little one is quite cozy in there and will most likely stay that way for 20 more days until her eviction date. Thanks to everyone for their continued support, phone calls, emails and especially to Amanda for her wonderful backrub- it was much appreciated! Here's hoping for some exciting news soon :)

A Posting From the Couch

So.....last week my 35 week checkup was so uneventful that apparently I needed to make up for it with my not so fun 36 week checkup. Earlier in the week I had an episode at work where I felt like I was going to pass out, my blood pressure was about 149/99 at the time. I went to the hospital to be monitored and everything was fine so I was sent home after a couple hours. Yesterday, I saw the nurse practitioner and my blood pressure was up again and also I'm starting to show protein in my urine (sign of preeclampsia) and the non stress test showed that the baby is not as "reactive" as she should be. They want her heartbeat to fluctuate with activity and contractions and it's kind of just staying the same for too long. So....end result is I get to be on bedrest (on my left side to give the placenta the most oxygen). I can get up to eat and go to the bathroom but that's it. I then have to collect a 24 hour urine sample and go in on Monday morning to have labs drawn. Then I see the OB (not mine since he's out of town) Monday afternoon to see how to proceed. I don't think the labs will actually be back until Tuesday or early Wednesday though so I probably won't know anything until then. If the labs are off she's coming next week instead of in 3 weeks, if they are fine I will have to be monitored closely with more nonstress tests and if they are concerning they will do the C section early regardless of the lab results. Anyways, not exactly how I wanted to spend the holiday weekend! So....for those of you in town if you feel like stopping by, I'm sure Chris could use a reprieve so feel free to come wait on me hand and foot :) (just kidding). Amanda- I could use one of your famous massages though, this laying in the same position for so long really starts to hurt after awhile! Also, anyone who has some good movies I could borrow- I can only take so much television. Alright, well, stay tuned as I think my next post could be big news!