Pictures of the clothes we bought on Friday

Results are in. We're having a baby.....

I was ready to go to our appointment by the time Phillip got home. He quickly got dressed and we were on our way to our u/s. We arrived at the Ob office at 2:45, signed in and were called back right away. The sonographer got the equipment set up and I handed her the cd that we brought so we could get the u/s session recorded. She asked us if we wanted to know the sex of our baby if she was lucky enough to see, and we quickly said yes. She put the wand on my belly and we immediately saw our baby swimming around! It was just awesome! She talked us through everything she was measuring and everything that we were seeing. We saw both hands with 5 fingers on each hand, feet and 10 little toes, all 4 chambers of the heart, the brain, both kidneys, the stomach, spine, skull and much more. She measured the upper and lower arms and legs. She let us listen to our baby’s heartbeat; it was strong at 154 bpm. Then she looked between the legs and saw a wee-wee! She pointed to it and said “it looks like you’re having a boy”!!! We were so happy! I knew in my heart that ‘Lil Bean is a boy, but to hear confirmation just made it that much more real! She said that based on the measurements she took, our baby boy is now weighing approximately 9ounces. She also looked at and took measurements of my cervix and ovaries. When she was done, I asked her if she was going to do a trans-vaginal u/s to look at my cerclage. She was not sure, so she stepped out to ask my Dr. She came back in and said that my Dr. did indeed want a trans-vaginal u/s, so she started right away. My cervix was measuring well and my cerclage was intact. She looked at the placenta and we were done. She had me get dressed so I could see my Dr. right away. I started to wonder what was wrong, since I wasn’t scheduled to see my Dr. until Monday.

She took us into an exam room where we waited for my Dr. She came in right away with my chart in her hands. She explained that the baby was in perfect health and measuring great. Then she said that I have placenta previa. It is when the placenta lies close to or is covering the cervix. I have what is called “complete previa”, my placenta is lying right on top of my cervix. Normally, the placenta is attached to the top of the uterus, but mine is attached to the bottom, covering my cervix. She went on to explain the course of action we need to take with this new diagnosis. I will be on bed rest (I already am), I will need to have an u/s at every appointment to watch my placenta (I am already having this done to monitor my cervix and cerclage), I will need a c-section (we already planned on a repeat c-section) and I will be at risk for bleeding and pre-term labor (new risks we should be looking out for). So, this new diagnosis doesn’t really change anything for us, except for the possibility of pre-term labor. But since I am on bed rest, the chances are pretty good that it will not happen. But just to make sure, they are monitoring everything with extra caution. This is indeed considered a high-risk pregnancy.

When we left the OB office, we were on mission to find some cigars to announce our news. We found the perfect ones and bought 20 of them. Then we headed to the mall to buy an outfit for our baby boy. We walked in to Macy’s and started to look for the perfect outfit. I was on cloud 9 looking at all the little baby outfits! We couldn’t make up our minds on which one to get, so we decided to each pick out an outfit. We finally decided on which ones we wanted. I picked out an adorable take-me-home outfit, and he decided on a really cute romper. We just couldn’t resist the yellow ducky bath robe, so we got that, too. It will be perfect in the kid’s bathroom (it is decorated in Rubber Ducky)! And we went ahead and grabbed some side snap shirts and another romper that says “Mommy loves me”! I can’t wait to go shopping again! There are so many things that I want to buy, but I will have to wait until after I have my baby shower.

We finally made all the phone calls we needed to make to announce our “big” news. Everyone was thrilled for us. And we couldn’t be any happier! We went out to eat at the Hard Rock Casino afterwards to celebrate.

Now we get to fix the nursery and pick out the bedding and all that fun stuff! We are also in the process of starting our baby registry. We plan on registering at Burlington Baby Depot(I already started an online resistry but it's far from completion) and at Babies R Us. Updates will follow as things happen. Be sure to look for them! And please keep us in your prayers for a healthy pregnancy and baby boy. Thank you for checking in!

U/S disappointment

We eagerly awaited March 25th to come. We were going to find out our baby’s gender. We had an appointment scheduled that day at 4:00 pm. But first, I had an OB check scheduled for 3:30. I was ready and waiting for Phillip to get off work and come home so we could leave for our appointment, and it was such a huge relief when he finally arrived! We arrived at our OB office 15 minutes early, signed in and waited for the nurse to call me back to get my vitals. It was 3:45 when she finally called me back. The nurse took my BP. weight and a urine sample. All was well. I gained 2 more pounds. My total weight gain so far is 10 pounds, which is really good. I really thought I would weigh heavier, but I am thankful that I’m not! I sure look like preggosaurus-rex!

We were then taken to a waiting area in the back to wait for an exam room, and we were told that the Dr. I was scheduled to see has been called out for an emergency surgery and that I was going to see another one of the doctors there. It was almost 4:00. I went to see the lady at the front desk to ask her if I needed to reschedule my OB check for another day since my u/s was supposed to start at any minute. She assured me that they would make sure that we got our u/s that day before they closed. So I went back to the waiting area, where they showed us to the exam room. We waited for the doctor to come, and waited, and waited. 4:30 came and went, still no sign of the doctor. 4:45 came and still no doctor. It was close to 5:00 when Phillip peeked out the door and flagged a nurse down and asked her if we could just go ahead and get the u/s done and then come back to see the doctor, that way we weren’t wasting our time just waiting. She said she would check for us. The office manager came and told us that the sonographer had left for the day, and that she was sorry but to stop by and see her on our way out to reschedule our u/s. I was so upset that I had to leave right away without seeing the doctor (thanks to pregnancy hormones!). On our way out, I stopped by to see the lady about rescheduling our appointment. She got us an appointment to come back Friday the 27th at 3:00 pm. We went home to get ready to go to Kaleb’s t-ball game. We had to let everyone know who were just as excited as us, what had happened. Everyone was so upset, but happy to hear that we got another appointment scheduled.

We find out in 3 days!!!

We have our anatomy u/s scheduled for March 25th, that’s this Wednesday!!! We are only 3 days away from finding out just who our ‘Lil Bean is. I have been hoping for a girl, and surprisingly, Phillip has, too. His family is also rooting for Team Pink since there are NO girls in their grandbaby department yet. And of course, my family wants a little girl. Kaleb wants a little sister so bad, he even said if it’s not a baby sister then he doesn’t want to be a big brother. I just have this feeling though, that I am carrying a boy! I would be just as happy to have a boy as I would be to have a girl. The main thing is that we want a healthy baby. So I guess we will find out soon enough! And as soon as we find out, I will be posting an update, so be sure to look out for it!

One more thing....

On a positive note, ‘Lil Bean has been one very active baby today! Literally, just yesterday, I was sitting here wondering when I would start to feel our baby kick. I tried so hard to remember how it was when I was pregnant with Kaleb, but I couldn’t remember exactly when the kicking began. I mean, I have felt flutters and some movement, but nothing that definitive. But today, oh my! It was such a wonderful feeling! I can’t wait until the kicking gets to be pretty steady and I can let other people feel them, too. I thought I’d share this wonderful news that definitely brought tears of joy to my eyes :)

A note on my follow up appointment

I forgot to mention in my previous post that during my follow-up appointment my OB and I touched base on my abnormal pap and our decision to do a colposcopy at 20 weeks. I asked her if this is still our planned course of action, taking into consideration the recent scare we all had arising from the bleeding of my cervix. She said it was not a wise decision to do a biopsy anymore, all things considered. So the plan now is to do a non-abrasive colposcopy (a colposcopy without a biopsy), basically just to do another pap, and see if there is any progression to the abnormal cells. If there is no sign of progression, we will plan on doing a complete biopsy when ‘Lil Bean is born, just to see where the abnormal cells were coming from. If signs of progression are apparent, we will try and control the progression over the next 20 weeks, until I deliver, when a complete biopsy can be performed safely. Our fingers are crossed that no signs of progression are found. And since the pap I had in June 2008 was normal, my OB is pretty optimistic that if there is any progression, it wouldn’t be that severe.

Either way, we are bracing ourselves for what can happen. I am putting all my faith in the Lord that He will see me through this time, and those to come.

My Busy Birthday Weekend!

Oh boy! I had a very busy birthday weekend! Let’s see, where should I begin? I will pick up my journey from the time of my last post.

So after the cerclage, I was sent home with instructions of limited activity. Very hard to follow when you have a 6 year old boy at home! I tried to take it easy, no heavy lifting or strenuous activities. Or so I thought. Kaleb had just started T-ball; his first game was February 25th. He has practice on Mondays and games on Wednesdays and Saturdays every week. I of course wanted to be there for every practice and game. The games are very entertaining and lots of fun! You can’t buy that kind of entertainment anywhere!

I also had a birthday coming up (March 1st) and Phillip and I had planned to go shopping on Saturday, February 28th after Kaleb’s game. We had planned to go to the Ellenton Outlets in search of a new Coach purse from the Coach outlet and some cute maternity clothes from the Motherhood outlet. Then we had plans to meet up with his family for pizza night (we have pizza night every Sunday night with his parents) to celebrate my birthday instead of having it on Sunday. Sunday, for my birthday, we had brunch plans at a restaurant on the beach then dinner reservations at the Texas Cattle Company for a steak dinner. I was really looking forward to the steak dinner.

So we went to Kaleb’s game, and then came home to get dressed to head out to the outlet mall. We left at about 11:30 am and stopped at Applebee’s to grab lunch. We got to the outlet mall at around 1:00 pm and I headed straight to the Coach store. I was torn between so many choices; I couldn’t make up my mind. So off we went to another store. We stopped and looked in several stores before we came upon Motherhood. I had so much fun trying on preggo clothes and found a few good pieces to purchase. Then off we went in search of shoes and cleats for Kaleb. We finally found some good buys at the Nike outlet. We got a baseball glove for Phillip, some shoes for Kaleb and a new baseball bag for him and his cousin Chase. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any cleats in Kaleb’s size. As we stood in the checkout line, I felt a warm gush and knew I needed to get to a bathroom and soon. So I left Phillip in line and went to the restroom. I was so scared at what I saw next. There was blood, bright red blood just gushing out. I cleaned up as best as I could then went back to tell Phillip. I called the afterhours to my OB and one of my OB’s called me back right away. He told me to hang up and call 911 and have an ambulance take me to the nearest hospital since we were about 45 minutes away from home. I decided that I really didn’t want to be that far away from my family and my own doctors, so we decided to go ahead and drive back home and go to the emergency room at out hospital so we can be closer to our family and our doctors.

We were on the interstate in no time, and on our way to the hospital (where I will be delivering). We arrived there in half the time it would normally take us to drive. Phillip was speeding down the highway; I could tell he was nervous and scared. Honestly, so was I. I just didn’t want him to see it because I knew it would just make him that much more scared. As soon as we got to the ER, it was about 3:45 pm, I registered at the front desk while Phillip parked the car. I was taken in by the triage nurse and she put all my information in to the system. We were sent to the lobby to wait for an available room. Phillip wheeled me into the lobby (yes, I was sitting in a wheel chair) and we waited. And waited. And waited. Every time I had to go potty, there was still lots of blood, so I tried not to move around or get up much. The on-call Dr. from the OB practice I go to called me several times to check and see how I was and if I had been seen yet, of course I told him I was still bleeding, and no, I have not yet been seen. He was so mad! He told me he was finishing up a few things and that he was close by, but would meet me at the ER. He personally wanted to check me and not have to rely on the ER doctors. Shortly before I was taken back to an exam room, my doctor called me to let me know he had arrived to the ER. It was 7:00 pm when I was finally taken to an exam room. The nurse started an IV immediately after I dressed into a gown. I explained to the nurse that my doctor would be coming to check me personally, but she did not believe me. She told me that’s not how things work in the ER. The ER doctor came in and asked me a few questions, then did an internal exam to check and see if the cerclage was still in place, which it was, thank goodness! As soon as he left the room, my doctor came in and surprised the nurse! He asked her for some supplies, as she went to get them he asked me a few questions. He also mentioned to me that it took him calling the Head Nurse to get them to take me back to an exam room. He explained to me that he would be looking at my cervix through a speculum (a plastic tool used in a pap smear). He walked me through everything he was looking at and how things looked. The cerclage was still intact and there were signs of heavy bleeding, but it appeared that the active bleeding had finally stopped! He removed a couple of blood clots, and yes, they looked gross! I’m not gonna lie, the exam was very painful! I still cringe just thinking of it. He went on to explain that he ordered an ultrasound and that someone should be coming shortly to take me to the u/s room, and he would be back to let me know the results.

My sister Dana arrived to be with us at the exam room and that made me feel a bit better. It didn’t take long for someone to come and take me to the u/s room. Phillip couldn’t go with me because it was the u/s room in the ER, not the u/s room in Labor & Delivery. The technician was very nice. It was such a relief to see ‘Lil Bean moving around on the screen! And I saw ‘Lil Bean’s heart beating away strong! I couldn’t stop thanking God. She look at my ovaries, the placenta, my uterus and the baby to see if she if the bleeding was coming from any of them. Of course, she wouldn’t tell me what she saw. All she said was that my doctor would get a report and tell me. The u/s lasted probably only 10 minutes, but that was all I needed to finally start calming down. I was taken back to the exam room where Phillip and my sister were waiting for me. My doctor came soon enough to tell us what the u/s had revealed. He explained that the bleeding was not coming from anywhere in my uterus (placenta or baby) and that the bleeding was caused by the extensive walking I did that day. All the walking was too much on my cervix and cerclage, and he wanted to admit me for observation in the Labor & Delivery wing of the hospital for a day, maybe two. He wanted to make sure I would go 24 hours without any signs of bleeding before he would discharge me. It was 9:00 pm and our dogs needed to be let out. They have been pinned up since we left for the outlet mall! I sent Phillip home to get some things for me for our stay at the hospital, and to pick up some food. He made it back to the hospital by 10:30 pm, and my sister needed to get home. She left, and we were on our own.

At around 11:00 pm, I was taken to pre-admitting where we waited for our room to be prepared. The IV that I had was empty and I didn’t need another, but they left the hook-up in my arm just in case I needed more later on. I was starving by then. Phillip asked one of the nurses if I could eat and she looked at my chart and said “she sure can”. He walked out to the car to get the food he picked up (I wanted Chinese) and we finally ate! Not too long after we ate, we were taken up to our room. It was 11:57 pm when we got there. 3 minutes until my birthday! Phillip walked down to the car again to get all our supplies (toothbrush, tooth paste, contact lenses holder, pillows, etc.) and when he came back it was officially my birthday! The nurses all wished me “Happy Birthday”. My nurse came back and explained the dos and don’ts for me to abide by while I was there and what medication I could get, one of which was to help me sleep. After my vitals were taken and I brushed my teeth, I asked for the Ambien so I could sleep. Shortly after that, I was out until the tech came in to take my vitals again. I slept good ‘til morning with a few interruptions from the nurses and techs. My doctor came in to check me when he was doing his rounds and told us the news that he needed to keep me there for another day, maybe 2, until I stopped bleeding for 24 hours straight. Earlier that morning I had some spotting, and he said that was a risk he was not willing to send us home with. Phillip had to leave to let the dogs out after my sister Dana got there to bring me my birthday breakfast from Cracker Barrel. I wanted Chicken Fried Chicken so bad, and she brought me some! When Phillip returned, he had some goodies for me! He got me Pineapple Express to watch while we were there, a card and a BIG bag of peanut M&M’s! My nephew Brandon also came to see me that afternoon and brought me a Snickers Blizzard from Dairy Queen. A few more people came by to visit me. Sadie and Junior, my son’s grandparents came and brought some food. Phillip’s parents, his sister Denise and her son, Chase also came by and brought me a birthday cake! My birthday turned out wonderful! And Phillip even went to get me a prime rib from Jesse’s! It was so good! The same routine took place that night as the previous night. After I was given the Ambien, the nurse came in to try to listen to ‘Lil Bean’s hear rate, but was unsuccessful. She called for backup. Three more nurses came in to help until they finally decided to try with the belly monitor machine, but still was unsuccessful. These nurses tried for almost 2 hours, until finally I could no longer stay up. The Ambien kicked in and I was ready to go to sleep. So they finally left me alone to get some rest, and that I did.

Monday morning when I woke up, it was more of the same. We waited for our doctor to come and check in on me while doing her rounds and she came early, around 8:30 am. She gave us good news that I would get discharged by 1:00 pm if I didn’t show anymore signs of bleeding or spotting but I needed to remain on bed rest with bathroom privileges only until further notice, but most likely for the duration of the pregnancy. The nurse came back in to try to listen to the heartbeat, again unsuccessful. So she called my doctor and asked her if she wanted me to get an u/s before I left, and she of course said yes. So we were taken to the u/s room in the maternity wing and we got a Level II u/s. It was amazing! We got to see our ‘Lil Bean and all of baby’s body. We got to hear a strong heartbeat, see all parts of the legs, arms, head, brain, kidneys, all 4 chambers of the heart and much more! We were told our ‘Lil Bean is perfect measuring 6.5 inches and weighing approximately 4 ounces! Measuring a bit big for the gestational age, but considering that my 6 year old son was born 9 lbs 3 ozs, it’s ok. We got to take home a few profile pictures. It was still too early to find out the sex mainly because the baby had legs crossed the whole time. But we go for an anatomy u/s on March 25th, so it’s ok, hopefully we will find out then.

I was finally discharged and allowed to go home, which was a huge relief. There’s no place like home! I was so happy to be able to sleep in our bed and it felt so good! I pretty much stayed upstairs in our room lying in bed until Phillip came home from work. Tuesday was more of the same. On Wednesday, I had a follow-up appointment with my OB, which went very well. No more bleeding, but will remain on bed rest until my next appointment on the 25th then they will re-evaluate, but most likely I will stay on limited activity until ‘Lil Bean is born.

Now I’m just taking it a day at a time trying to get used to the idea that I can’t do any of the things that I’m supposed to be doing like sweeping, moping, dishes, cooking and laundry. I hate relying on others to do my work, but for now I will have to follow doctor’s orders. Please continue to pray for us and thank you for checking on us. I will post an update soon :)