33 week update

i'm home!! it's so nice to be home even though i have mixed feelings about being here. of course i want to be here but being at the hospital just feels safe. but wherever i am, i know i am being taken care of and baby and i will be ok. if my uterus starts acting up again then i'll just head right back to the hospital. luckily, we don't live too far and i always have someone available to take me within 10 minutes of my calling them. today my uterus is being so good. it's nice and soft and i'm not having any of those annoying contractions. baby is moving around a lot which i love. we got to see him again on the ultrasound before they discharged us. it's still so weird to see this little person inside of me. it's pretty amazing. seeing his chest take in breaths of amniotic fluid is trippy. we saw his little heart beating, his eyelids blinking and he was sucking on the back of his hand. i can't wait to meet him. but i hope he stays put for a few more weeks. being that today is the last day of january, it looks like we're going to make it to february. i just can't believe it. i never thought we would get this far. 34 weeks is just around the corner. i totally thought baby was going to arrive last thursday when i was contracting (the pic above shows the baby's heart rate on the top line and the contractions on the bottom) and dilated to 3cm. john and i looked at eachother and said almost simultaneously, "i'm not ready". baby must have heard us because eventually the contractions just stopped and the drama was over. but it was pretty scary and it really HURT! the nurses kept asking me what my pain tolerance was and i have NO IDEA. i was guessing that my pain was around a level 5 but i have no clue. i just know it hurt when i was contracting and i have no idea how much pain i can take. i'm not against an epidural but how do i know if and when i'll need it if i don't know how bad it will get? i guess it's not something i should worry about until the time comes. i know that God has everything planned out for us and i just have to sit back and enjoy the ride. He's gotten us this far and i can't wait to see what's in store for us next!

side note: we took some 32 week belly pics before being admitted into the hospital and i just posted them on the blog (scroll down to see 'em).

she's going home...again!

Okay...i know i haven't updated in a couple of days, but that's because there's really not much to report (this is for you "neenie") :). They've been keeping a close eye on Kim and since there really hasn't been any change in her cervix (still dialated to 3 cm. & 75% effaced) and her contractions have pretty much stopped (every now and then, she'll have a very small one...but it was like that when she was still on Procardia), they've decided to discharge her tonight. She'll just be on bed rest at home again and i told her to call me if she feels ANYTHING happening, and we will come to the rescue and take her back to the hospital (if John's not home). Hopefully she can be at home without any excitement for a couple more weeks at least. We'll see...it's up to the baby, right?

another day closer!

this will be a quick update...we were really expecting something to happen during the night, last night or sometime today due to the fact that Kim's off of the Procardia. As far as the baby goes, not much is happening right now...which is good. As far as Kim goes, since she still has a little fluid in her lungs, they did a chest X-ray today & that came back pretty good. It just showed that there is still a little bit of fluid in there, but they're hoping that the oxygen will help clear that up soon...as well as the "inhaler-thing" they have her doing (sorry, that's not the official medical name for it,as you could've probably guessed). Also, they hooked her up to an EKG today to make sure that her heart wasn't affected from the Procardia she had been taking. The results came back good. As far as contractions go, she's been having small ones every now and then, but so far nothing big. I told her to call us anytime, day or night if it seems like it's "time". Hang in there Bennett's.

She's all hooked up!

Hey guys, it's Shannon again. So, here's the latest...we went to the hospital tonight to see Kim & John & got their video camera, so we could update her blog with this video that John took. As you can see, Kim's on oxygen...she was having shortness of breath (i believe they said that's due to the fact that she's not able to sit up and it's hard for her to take a full, big breathe as well as the amount of i.v. fluids she's been having). The oxygen mask will help the oxygenation in her lungs since she had a low oxygen percentage (it got down to 94% which isn't real serious but could have been if it got much lower). That as well as the amount of i.v. fluid she's been getting has caused her to have a little fluid in her lungs. They've taken her off constant i.v. fluids and they've stopped giving her Procardia for now...which means if contractions start, they're just gonna let them keep going & see what happens. Hopefully doing this helps the fluid in her lungs clear up. I guess we'll see how things are going tomorrow. For those of you who pray, please say a prayer for them & i'll update again soon! thanks~s

32+ week update!

Hi...it's Shannon doing a blog entry for Kim. Yes, that means she's admitted back into the hospital again. Here's what's happened the last couple of days:

*Wednesday: they had their appt w/ dr. montgomery on Wednesday and they had some good news and not so good news...

the good news is that the baby looks really good. he weighs approx 4 lbs 4 oz. and all organs seem to be in tact. As of Wed., her cervix was still around 1cm and appeared to be closed at that time.

The not so good news was that her FFN came back positive that time (which means that she has a 50+% chance of going into labor within the next week or so). to be on the safe side, her doc was gonna giving her another round of betamethizone shots (steroids) to help baby's lungs develop in case he chooses to arrive really soon. She was so elated after the appt and then so bummed after they got the positive result. She says, "i was on such a roll... what happened? that's what i get for being too overconfident. i totally thought that i was going to make it to March. now i'm just hoping for February! PLEEEEAASE baby, please make it to February."

back to the good news... as of Wednesday she was officially 32 weeks pregnant which is a HUGE milestone! now she just needs to get to 34 weeks and she'll feel much, much more comfortable with baby coming any time after that. Their doc says that if she gets to 34 weeks he will be ecstatic... but even if baby comes now at 32 weeks they'll be ok with that because they have come so far since first being put on bedrest and the baby has such a better chance of being healthy now.

This is what their doctor told them at the appt. on Wednesday, "he thinks that she will have a really short labor. "about 4 hours front to back" were his exact words. i guess this is because of her cervix and how it likes to dilate when she has contractions. anyway, his point for saying this is that she'll need to come in right away if she starts noticing anything different happening with her body. so they're paying extra special attention to every little thing she was feeling. so far so good except MAJOR HEARTBURN".

anyways...i guess you'd say that he spoke too soon cuz, Wednesday evening, they went to the doctor to get the 1st (of the 2) betamethizone shot (steroid)...and everything still seemed fine, until Thursday...

*Thursday: so, this brings us to yesterday (Thurs.)...i talked to Kim yesterday around noon to see how she was doing & she said that she was doing fine but she hadn't felt the baby move a lot that day. when they went in for the 2nd betamethizone shot and she also mentioned to them that she hadn't felt a lot of movement that day, so they hooked her up to hear the baby's heartbeat & as soon as they did, he started moving a lot and she started having pretty strong contractions. It all seemed to snowball from there...they checked her cervix and she had dialated to 3 cm! they kept her on the Procardia (the medicine to help stop contractions), but decided not to give her anything else to stop labor since she's 32 weeks and also, since she had just had a steroid shot. Anyways, to sum yesterday up... last night, it really was looking like baby was coming, but finally the contractions slowed down and pretty much stopped.

*Friday: we went to see Kim and John at the hospital this morning & everything still seemed pretty calm. She's still dialated to 3 cm., so it seems like things kinda came to a halt...for now. We've just kinda stopped "guessing" what's gonna happen, cuz this baby is full of surprises. :) i just feels good knowing that she's in the hospital and is being monitered constantly, since things are so unpredictable. As soon as i hear anything else worth blogging about, i'll do another post for Kim...i hope that things stay "boring" for a few more days at least!

belly pic 32 weeks

these were taken before i was admitted back to the hospital. yay for 32 weeks!

Thank goodness for health insurance!

we just got a notification letter from our insurance company saying that the charge for the ambulance ride i took on christmas day was $1701. wow. but the good news is that our portion is $0. nada. thank goodness for health insurance!

Bedding set / cramping

here's a pic of the bedding that we used. it's called "Baby Cocoa" by Lambs & Ivy. i found it at babies r us and i'm really happy with it and would definitely recommend it to anyone expecting a little bundle of joy. it's very cute in person! :)

on another note... i've had some menstral-like cramping today. after drinking a ton of water and laying on my left side all day it seems to have gotten better. if it continues we'll have to go back to the hospital to get checked out. last time this happened it was uterine irritability and they had me drink tons of water and take it easy. i hope that's the case this time. i have an appt with dr. montgomery on wednesday. i really hope i don't have to go in before then. :(

Baby Bennett's Room

disclaimer: these pictures do not do the room justice. it's so much cuter in person. we went with a baby jungle theme. we found a really cute bedding set (you can't really see it in these pics but trust me, it's cute) and based the rest of the room around the animals from the bedding. my super-talented sister-in-law, shannon, painted the adorable animals on the walls. i love they way they turned out! THANKS SHANNON! (i still think you could earn a living doing this sort of stuff!) john, along with the help of my dad, shannon and my mother-in-law painted the walls and shelves. john HATES painting with a passion so their help was greatly appreciated. :)

we are so lucky because everything in this room was a hand-me-down so we didn't have to spend a ton of money on baby furniture. the shelves were once my grandma's, the toybox (the thing between the shelves) was john's when he was little, the changing table and rocking chair/glider (not pictured) were used by my neices (kaia & leia - derek & shannon's girls), the crib belonged to my other neice (justice - john's sister elizabeth's daughter) and the dresser (not pictured) used to belong to john's dad when he was growing up. pretty cool, huh?

we've still got a few things left to do but we (hopefully) have some time before baby arrives. remember, my goal is to make it to march! i'm really happy with the way the room turned out and i think baby will love it too! :)

Due date and ramblings

after we got a positive pregnancy test result but before my first OB appt i went online to find out my due date. based on the first day of my last period the website i went to said that my due date was march 20th. my OB said it was march 22nd. then several weeks ago another doc told me that it was march 19th. it seems to me that it should be a no-brainer since i was doing all the infertility stuff and i know the exact dates for my last period (june 14th) and IUI (june 27th). i guess it really doesn't matter though since the chances of baby arriving on that day are slim to none. my doc says that i will almost most definitely deliver early, just how early is the big question. my goal is to get to at least march 1st. think i can do it? i really hope so. it seems so far away.
i'm still feeling pretty positive about everything. i just feel bad for john since he has to do pretty much everything for me. he's got so much on his plate these days and even though i know he doesn't mind doing it, i wish i could do more around here to help out. i know i have a very important job doing the best i can to keep baby inside me but sometimes i feel so useless. but i know it could be worse. i'm so thankful to be in the position i'm in - even if i wish my situation was different.

Almost 31 weeks!

ok, so i may have jinxed myself after all... my goal was to not have to go to the hospital for anything until my next dr appt but i didn't quite make it. yesterday i started spotting... ugh. we headed to the hospital to get checked out. i am amazed at my cervix! it is STILL maintaining! i can't believe it. looking back at where we were a few weeks ago i never would have thought that we would get to 31 weeks (i'll be 31 weeks tomorrow - yay!) OR that i would have any cervix left at all. amazing. AND... last night's FFN came back negative! absolutely amazing. i am feeling so positive about getting to 32 weeks and i totally think i'm going to get to 34 weeks (at least that's how i'm feeling right now). even though bedrest is REALLY HARD it seems to be doing the trick and keeping baby safely inside me. my weekly appt with my doc was today and she is also feeling very good about everything. i see dr. montgomery next week to check on baby's development so hopefully everything looks great then. baby is still really active and loves to kick and punch me often! i don't mind though. i love feeling him move around. :)

Feeling better

yesterday i went to my parents' house and crashed on their couch for a change of scenery. i think it helped a lot. i still had a little case of the blues yesterday but i'm back to my normal self now. i feel much better. :)
i don't want to jinx myself but it's been over a week since i've had to go to the hospital for any unscheduled visits. we're on a roll! let's keep it up, baby!

Bedrest blues

today i have a serious case of the bedrest blues. i know it's completely normal to feel this way when on longterm bedrest but that's not helping me to feel better. i am so sick of being cooped up in the house. i have such mixed feelings about it and it's driving me nuts. i am so, so, so happy that i'm still pregnant and so thankful for every day that baby stays inside me. yet today i can't shake this feeling of sadness. i want to clean my house, organize the baby stuff, make enchiladas, take a walk around the neighborhood, drive my car, go to the movies, ANYTHING except lay here. i'm hoping that i'll wake up tomorrow feeling like my normal self. but for now, i have the blues.... :(

Negative!

woo-hoo! the FFN result was a big fat NEGATIVE! yay! my doc is planning on doing a new test every week so i'm praying that i'll be able to post the same results every week until march. dare i start to think that march is a real possibility? i don't want to get ahead of myself. i'm just so thankful that i'm going to make it in the 30s (weeks, that is). good job, baby! tomorrow marks the start of week 30!

Dr. appt update

we met w/ dr. connelly today and she checked my cervix and good news... it's maintaining! she also did another FFN test and we should have the results by tomorrow. she also measured the baby and he is still measuring about 2 weeks ahead of his age. so that's good news. most bennett babies are big so it's not a suprise that he's larger than average. my neice was born at 10 lbs. 9 oz.! i don't think he'll get to be that big! i'll update again once i have the FFN results. praying for a negative!

Spotting, contractions, back pain

yesterday at 2am in the morning i woke up to take my procardia and go pee and noticed some spotting. great. the last thing i wanted to do was go to the hospital at 2am in the morning. it feels like every 2 to 3 days we have to go to the hospital for some reason or another and i'm so over it!! but, it's not about me, it's about this little baby inside me so off to the hospital we went. by the time we got there i was having pretty strong contractions and lower back pain. was it back labor? i think so. once they got the contractions to stop (another dose of procardia) the back pain went away. apparently i'm taking a hefty dose of procardia for my size. the nurses on duty always want to give me 10mg every 6 hrs so i have to make sure they know to give it to me correctly. 20mg every 4 hrs. they are always shocked. but i don't seem to be having any major side effects from it so if the doc wants to give me 40mg every 2hrs i'll do it if it keeps baby from coming. they monitored me for several hours and checked my cervix (no change - whew!) so once it was safe to go they sent us home.
yesterday was a rough day. i think the bedrest is really starting to take its toll on me. i hate to be like this, but i'm having a hard time not being bitter. i think of all the people in the world that get pregnant without trying, have easy pregnancies and healthy babies. why can't i be one of them?? i would love to be able to enjoy this time in my life. i've wanted it for so long. we've been through so much to get here..... but this is my life and i'm thankful for it. enough of this pity party. i hope today is better and that yesterday was just a bad day. besides, looking at the big picture, it's really not that bad. it could be worse. i'd do it all 100 times over if it means that baby will be ok. please God, let my baby be ok.

No change is a good thing...

we met w/ dr. connelly today and she checked my cervix and everything is still the same. no change is a good thing. i don't need any more changes right now unless it's something like my cervix growing back which is not gonna happen. i seem to have had fewer contractions since i started taking the procardia every 4 hrs instead of every 6 hrs. i'm scheduled to see dr. connelly every week for the next 4 weeks so hopefully i will be able to make all of those appts with baby still safely inside of me! i'm also supposed to see dr. montgomery (the perinatologist) some time soon so i'm looking forward to that. he is an awesome doctor. john and i both feel like we are in very capable hands and that's a good feeling. :)