Status Quo

Well, baby brother and I are down 1 week and a few days of our hospital stay.  We are so thankful and encouraged by all the outpouring of love and prayers we have received throughout our first week here.




The weekend was mostly uneventful and that is just what we needed it to be!  My BP has stabilized and I have had normal to low readings since Saturday with no erratic elevations (they check my BP hourly during the day and every 4 hours during the night).  It appears the BP medicine they have me on is now working around the clock which is great news.  We pray this pattern of good and controlled BP continues.  My labs have remained clear of any issues which is also great news.  So at this point we are just happy to basically be status quo.  I have pushed back and asked the doctors many times if I could rest at home versus here in the hospital, however they have not backed down from my current plan of care.  They feel it's necessary to have me here in this controlled environment with medical care near by at all times should something change with mine or baby's health.  What can I say, I am persistent and will continue to try and ask the right questions to the doctors.  It's my opinion that we are our own biggest advocates and I would rather ask than not ask.




Baby brother is doing fabulously!  We monitor him twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening to see how his little heart and movements are doing.  And although he likes to kick up a storm during our regular checks, its such a sweet sound to hear his little heart beating away.  I have also had 3 ultrasounds since being admitted to check on his growth, movements, fluid levels etc.  Each time he has scored an 8 out of 8.  He even went ahead and did us a favor and flipped from a breech position (on Friday 9/23) to his current head down position as of yesterday morning (Monday 9/26).  His position doesn't mean much since I will be having a repeat c section, however its still good to know that he is getting himself ready.  Interestingly:  Beau was breech until 37 weeks, when I went in to my 38 week appointment, he had flipped.  So I guess I have late flippers, ha.


Blake and Beau are doing well and visit mommy daily.  Beau is getting spoiled with all the extra attention that the grandparents have given him.  Mimi has stayed over at our house a few nights to help Blake out and I know both of my boys appreciate some of the home cooking.  I am usually the cook and so this is a great help.  My parents watched Beau overnight on Friday night so that Blake could stay for a while with me at the hospital.  Friday was our dating anniversary so we had take out and hung out in the hospital room.  And Saturday, the doctor approved me for wheelchair time in which I get to leave my room for about 30 minutes a day (this is so HUGE to me!)  I hadn't been outside in a week so I cherish this time to break away from the 4 walls I stare at all day long.  Sunday, Beau got to take a ride with me and he loved it but I think I loved it more.  Spending time with him is the highlight of my day.




We continue to ask for prayers and specifically ask that I remain healthy enough to surpass the planned 34 week delivery date.  I pray the doctors will allow baby brother to grow and develop as long as possible before they force delivery.  For the time being we will try to patiently wait and then cross that obstacle when it arrives however we believe it might be possible to surpass the 34 week mark if I remain stable.  For all who are interested, 34 weeks is Saturday 10/8.


Below are some pictures of life lately:
 

His favorite hospital pastime, pushing the linen basket around and finding anything and everything to drop into it :)

Relaxing in Mommy's hospital bed



Coloring with Nauni at the hospital




Mimi stayed over and was there in the morning to play with me!

Mimi makes some yummy Spaghetti!

Back in Mommy's hospital bed, I feel like such a big boy!

Hanging out and having a snack.



Take out, date night in the hospital. Love this husband of mine, 



Baby Brother's ultrasound showed his breech position on Friday.



Surprise! I was busy over the weekend flipping into position. 

 

Lunch with Papi and Nauni.  Such a big boy in his big boy chair.

Nauni and Papi took me to run around at the art festival at market street over the weekend!!

 



Baby brother is growing! Ignore mommy's tired face here.

Update: Baby Brother DeArmond

Hi Everyone,


As many of you have probably heard, Blake, Beau and I have enlisted the help of our prayer warriors in recent days...thank you to all who are praying for us and for baby brother!  I decided to go ahead and create a blog in order to streamline our updates for all who are interested.


Since this is the first update, I will give a bit of a historical update to catch everyone up to speed.  In March of this year, Blake and I were blessed to find out we were expecting our second baby.  We have been extremely overjoyed and for the most part, my pregnancy has been going incredibly smoothly, excluding all those months of nausea and the regular pregnancy side effects :).  Now fast forward to this past Friday. 


I woke up Friday morning feeling a bit off however it didn't seem super abnormal since 3rd trimester exhaustion is not uncommon.  I went to work as usual and just couldn't get any "pep in my step" so I decided to head back home around lunch time and work from there for the remainder of the day.  Being home in a more relaxed setting helped me to gain some of my stamina back and we headed into the weekend ready to tackle some baby projects and family time.  On Saturday I was feeling mostly ok, yet still a bit tired however I continued on with some errands and adventures with Beau.  Then we capped off the day with our much loved game watching- Boo to OU's loss.  Sunday morning I woke up feeling crummy.  It's hard to describe however I just felt nauseous and foggy.  My sweet and supportive husband knew I wasn't feeling well so he took Beau for some park time and errands so I could rest and take a nap.  After waking from my nap I was feeling more poorly than I had been all day.  I had an intuition that something wasn't exactly right and my strong feeling was that my blood pressure might be up.  In order to gain some peace of mind, I headed over to the store to check my BP on the machine.  As expected, I got a pretty significantly high result.  After consulting with Blake and my family, I headed over to the fire station (thanks to my dad and his line of work) where the paramedics/ firemen could check it more accurately with their equipment.  Once again the results were high and it was strongly recommended that I go to the hospital.  


I was torn on if that was the right decision since I assumed they would just check me out and send me home with a  24 hour urinalysis kit to check for proteins.  However, knowing that my baby's health is most important, we decided I should go get checked out.  My mom headed over to be with Beau who was asleep for the night at this point and off Blake and I went to the hospital. 


And so the saga begins...I was admitted to the hospital on Sunday night, 9/18.  We were still not completely sure what the night or next day would hold, however I knew they wanted to monitor me closely and run some tests etc.  The night was long and left me with zero sleep.  I was having BP checks every 10-15 minutes, baby was being monitored closely which meant limited movements on my part so that he would stay on the monitor and a whole slew of additional interruptions and random tests.  To make matters more fun, I began contracting so I had nurses in my room on a constant basis to ensure we kept my contractions at bay.  To say the least, all the stress did not help my cause and I believe only encouraged any BP issues.


On Monday I was seen by my OB and by the hospital's high risk internalist as part of hospital policy.  Monday, was probably the biggest rollercoaster and whirlwind of everything thus far.  We were initially told that my urinalysis came back with proteins, then told that actually it did not, and then lastly told that they had previously incorrectly informed us and that I actually had high proteins.  So Blake and I went from feeling defeated with the first report,  to feeling completely elated that we were going to be in the clear, to devastation when we got the final word.  From there they set my plan of care.  This hit us like a ton of bricks.  It came to me as a complete surprise, however I remain confident that the Lord has a plan and that little brother and I are in His capable hands.


The plan of care:
I will remain in the hospital until I deliver.  The goal is to make it to 34 weeks at which time they will deliver baby.  After several days of discussions with the doctors, I finally feel more at peace with this plan.  Peace of mind has been my biggest struggle. 


At this time my BP is mostly stable however they have me on some meds.  I have labile BP induced by pregnancy which means most the time my BP is great and then at random it will jump up.  This can even be dependent on how I am positioned.  My labs are all perfect which is fantastic because that means that all my organs etc. are functioning properly and my latest urinalysis sample came back clear of protein.  Granted we were told that this is not a great tool and will not dictate my overall plan of care.  My labile BP is the greatest concern.


Today,  I ask for prayers of peace as we continue to trust in the doctors and their plan of care.  Prayers to know the right questions to ask.  Prayers for the doctors and nurses.  And prayers for little brother to grow and develop over these next few weeks.  Prayers that his lungs will develop and that he will be born strong and healthy.  Prayers that my contractions will stay at bay.  Prayers for Blake and Beau as they go on at home without mommy there to help. 


Thank you all for your loving thoughts and continued prayers.  And I could not close this update without a HUGE thank you to my incredible husband for all he is doing to care for me remotely and to care for our sweet Beau.  We are trying to keep life as normal as possible for Beau and Blake is such a wonderful father that he hasn't missed a beat.  I am amazed daily by his selfless heart.  Additionally, I am so thankful for my parents and my sweet mother in law, all who have stepped in to help where they can.  Including hospital visits, and helping Blake with Beau where and when they can. 


I will update this site so that family and friends near and far can stay in touch with updates.  Thanks again to everyone.  

Labor Day Weekend with my boys.

Beau drawing while visiting mommy in the hospital.

Beau loving on little brother!