I know I haven't updated in a while. It has been difficult with two kids, especially since both have many special needs.
My baby is now 5 months (can't believe we are almost at half a year old). Her weight and height have caught up almost to the norm, though she still has a tiny head (common with the genetic syndromes).
She just learned how to roll from belly to back last weekend. I was shocked she learned this so quickly since for this whole time she has been a pretty immobile baby when placed anywhere (she still is). Of course this new found skill has made her naps horrible since she is so used to napping on her belly and now whenever she is on her belly she rolls over and can't get back to her belly. This then leads her to getting overtired and a long crying spell. On the days she does stay on her belly though she still naps a ton. Seriously there were some days last week where she slept at least 18 hours a day. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but totally different than dd1. At night she has been going 10:30-6 for months.
She also just started to really smile, not just doing the open mouth look that she has been doing for over a month, but now some real grins, and if I am real lucky I might get a few coos too. Still no laughing though.
One of my biggest worries right now is with her hearing since she was so delayed in language and social skills. She doesn't turn her head if I make noise out of her sight, even if it is a very loud noise. I have an appointment to get her hearing checked, but unfortunately it won't be for another 2 months because the place claims she has to be a certain age first. Don't understand this, but I guess since she passed her newborn screen they don't care to retest her just yet.
We go next Thursday to see a development pedi. I am glad we were able to get in so quickly. I am hoping this new doctor will be able to help us get services and help throughout dd2's childhood years. Right now she only gets EI once a month and even then her therapist has cancelled and rescheduled more times than not. Sometimes I think that they don't care since she is a baby and that they are limited in what they can do with her so they give her the short end of the stick.
DD1 is also getting therapy every week, which is especially needed now since she is out of school for the summer (something I still don't think should have happened giving that I have seen her regress when she was without ST for a month a year ago when she was in EI). Unfortunately her therapy hasn't been going very well and she has now become terrified when she is there. I don't know what happened and since dd1 doesn't have the communication skills yet like she should as an almost 3.5 year old she can't tell us what she is so upset about. It is getting to the point that I may have to make a decision of pulling her out of there, something I don't want to do because then she will get no therapy, but right now it is pretty useless since she is petrified whenever she is there so not getting anything out of the sessions.
We are also taking dd1 to a neurologist in Boston next week since her SLP thinks she may be having absent seizures. I don't know whether to believe it or not since everything that is currently happening with her therapy, but since there is a 1/3 chance of seizures with her deletion it is good to get her examined. DH also had seizures, though him and his mother refuse to blame it on the deletion, claiming it was because of the PDA surgery (ya right, I don't think so. Just like her doctors told her that dh and his brother's pinkies were curved because her uterus was too small. Well that was quickly disproven after I gave birth and we saw dd1 in the nicu with her pinkies severely curved).
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
A name
We met with the facial doctor today in Boston. After dealing with insurance hassle for the last number of weeks and being denied our request to go to Childrens, the pedi told us to try Tufts since they don't require any referral. Of course MIL wasn't happy about this news. She said she took dh there first when he was little and they wanted to do experimental surgeries on him. I told her that likely things have changed in the last 35 years (well I would hope they would have) and that we had no choice since I am not paying out of pocket for her to be seen at Children's. Personally I prefer Children's too since I hate driving to Tufts even more than I hate driving to Children's, but it isn't worth paying thousands of dollars though.
It was bad traffic going into Boston (even though it was midday) thanks to the left lane being closed. So it took us an hour and a half and then we had to wait an hour after our appointment time for the doctor to enter. All this made dh mad, but I told him this is what you have to deal with when seeing specialists. He doesn't know because he didn't come to all of dd1's appointments. I know if I am going to Boston it is an all day affair.
Chloe was also not very happy either because for 2 days now in a row she had to have doctor appointments and that meant no sleeping on her mat on the floor. Yesterday she had her renal u/s which thank goodness that was all normal. It is good because we already had to deal with all that with Caitlyn and Chloe has already gotten enough of the short end of the stick medical wise already.
I showed the doctor dh's childhood pictures and talked about his surgeries (which we only knew very limited about since dh was too little to remember much and I only get the 2nd hand account from his mother). We are lucky though that we do have his history to know that there is something abnormal there with the baby and to push for treatment.
The doctor says that she has a form of Binder's syndrome. Basically the main characteristic is a lack of nasal bone and that is the case for her and dh. This causes the nose to be broad and flat. Reading online it also says that the columella (this is the middle part between the nostrils which MIL says is the main problem with dh) is short and also the mouth is slanted downward. At first I thought no her mouth isn't downward, it is pulled up, but then I recalled the baby picture of dh that is the same face as the baby and the upside down U mouth and I can see what they are talking about.
The good news is that Binder's syndrome seems to only be a facial cosmetic problem - it doesn't appear to cause other issues beside the nose and upper jaw. The bad news is that she faces surgery (likely many) to correct things and if things aren't fixed by kindergarten age there is also the bullying factor as well. There is also the concern of this coming out in future generations since we know with her it is genetic. This I feel the worst about. Knowing that my grandkids may also face the same problem.
Right now though we are just playing things by ear. The doctor said it is up to us when we want to decide to correct it, but it is best to wait longer and do less surgeries. We go back at the end of September and then it will likely be check ups every 6 months after that.
It was bad traffic going into Boston (even though it was midday) thanks to the left lane being closed. So it took us an hour and a half and then we had to wait an hour after our appointment time for the doctor to enter. All this made dh mad, but I told him this is what you have to deal with when seeing specialists. He doesn't know because he didn't come to all of dd1's appointments. I know if I am going to Boston it is an all day affair.
Chloe was also not very happy either because for 2 days now in a row she had to have doctor appointments and that meant no sleeping on her mat on the floor. Yesterday she had her renal u/s which thank goodness that was all normal. It is good because we already had to deal with all that with Caitlyn and Chloe has already gotten enough of the short end of the stick medical wise already.
I showed the doctor dh's childhood pictures and talked about his surgeries (which we only knew very limited about since dh was too little to remember much and I only get the 2nd hand account from his mother). We are lucky though that we do have his history to know that there is something abnormal there with the baby and to push for treatment.
The doctor says that she has a form of Binder's syndrome. Basically the main characteristic is a lack of nasal bone and that is the case for her and dh. This causes the nose to be broad and flat. Reading online it also says that the columella (this is the middle part between the nostrils which MIL says is the main problem with dh) is short and also the mouth is slanted downward. At first I thought no her mouth isn't downward, it is pulled up, but then I recalled the baby picture of dh that is the same face as the baby and the upside down U mouth and I can see what they are talking about.
The good news is that Binder's syndrome seems to only be a facial cosmetic problem - it doesn't appear to cause other issues beside the nose and upper jaw. The bad news is that she faces surgery (likely many) to correct things and if things aren't fixed by kindergarten age there is also the bullying factor as well. There is also the concern of this coming out in future generations since we know with her it is genetic. This I feel the worst about. Knowing that my grandkids may also face the same problem.
Right now though we are just playing things by ear. The doctor said it is up to us when we want to decide to correct it, but it is best to wait longer and do less surgeries. We go back at the end of September and then it will likely be check ups every 6 months after that.
Monday, May 13, 2013
cardiology follow up and mystery caller
So dd2 had her post surgery check up today at the heart center. Her ekg and echo were much better. It was nice being there without the constant worry about her. She weighed in at 4.5 kg and still 22 inches (so weight gain is slow, but steady). I am no longer doing the increased calorie diet since it was such a pain to make up.
Unfortunately we couldn't get all good news. There is still a small left over PDA (not sure how that happened since they did surgery), but it is not ausctible so the doctor doesn't believe it will cause her any problems. Also there is some aortic valve regurg. He thinks it is because the left ventricular was enlarged due to the PDA and the hope that this will go back to normal eventually. We go back in 4 months with the plan to slowly extend the time between visits until she can finally be discharged.
On other news, I decided to write a note to dd1's school explaining about the cop visit and asking them to contact us the next time they are concerned about something instead of the cops. Well after her class ended I got a call from her teacher telling me no one at the school contacted anyone about dd1's ear except us to pick her up those 2 days and that they are as shocked as us about the police visit. So now I am left with trying to figure out who called on us. It had to be someone who saw dd1 in the past 2 weeks and also knows her age, our address, and the fact she goes out with FIL. I am at a complete loss and it is really bugging me. I also would like to know so I can explain to the person that her medical needs are being taken care of. I feel bad that we blamed the teacher by sending the letter, but really it was the most logical choice.
Unfortunately we couldn't get all good news. There is still a small left over PDA (not sure how that happened since they did surgery), but it is not ausctible so the doctor doesn't believe it will cause her any problems. Also there is some aortic valve regurg. He thinks it is because the left ventricular was enlarged due to the PDA and the hope that this will go back to normal eventually. We go back in 4 months with the plan to slowly extend the time between visits until she can finally be discharged.
On other news, I decided to write a note to dd1's school explaining about the cop visit and asking them to contact us the next time they are concerned about something instead of the cops. Well after her class ended I got a call from her teacher telling me no one at the school contacted anyone about dd1's ear except us to pick her up those 2 days and that they are as shocked as us about the police visit. So now I am left with trying to figure out who called on us. It had to be someone who saw dd1 in the past 2 weeks and also knows her age, our address, and the fact she goes out with FIL. I am at a complete loss and it is really bugging me. I also would like to know so I can explain to the person that her medical needs are being taken care of. I feel bad that we blamed the teacher by sending the letter, but really it was the most logical choice.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Diaper saga continues
So I have been dealing with problems getting dd1 diapers since she turned 3 in March. Masshealth will pay for diapers once a child is 3, so I had been waiting for that moment. The day after her birthday dd2 had a doctor's appt so I asked the doctor to write a script for diapers, which she did.
Unfortunately turns out that the doctor also has to write a letter of medical necessary to the insurance and then wait for insurance approval so the doctor's note alone was pretty useless to me.
I returned at the end of March with both kids in toll for their checkups and told the doctor this. The next day I spoke with the nurse who said she got everything all set and sent the script off to the pharmacy. Then I waited.
I knew insurance approval took almost a month so I didn't expect to hear anything for a while. 5 weeks past and dd2 finally went back for her 2 month check up. I asked the doctor what was going on with the diaper order since it had now been 2 months since dd1's 3rd birthday. They said they sent it to a pharmacy called Denmark and gave me the number to call saying once they send it to the pharmacy it is out of their hands.
So I go home planning on calling in a few days, but decided to call that day. Luckily I did, the lady on the phone said that they don't supply diapers and that was that. Now I was really raging. I had been waiting for 5 weeks for insurance approval for diapers that never was. I called back the doctor and told them this. They then wanted me to call the insurance to see what pharmacy they deal with. I am annoyed that I have to do all the leg work and wonder why they don't know what they are doing. She clearly can't be the only kid in the practice on Masshealth and still in diapers.
The insurance told me that the doctor needs to contact medical management and that there was no record of a diaper order being sent to them. I call back the doctors office again for the millionth time and had to continue to wait to speak with the particular nurse that I have been dealing with (for some reason it always ends up being the wrong nurse answering the phone and then it is back on hold I go). By this point I am beyond pissed. I tell the nurse all this and she asks for the insurance number. The next day I get a call saying they sent the stuff to Allcare pharmacy. The good news is this pharmacy has on their website all the steps in the process (wish I would have saw this 2 months ago) and does all the work of contacting the insurance, etc. That was last Thursday.
Tuesday I get a call from the Allcare rep saying they got the doctor's stuff and am sending to the insurance for approval and it takes 14 business days. I thought finally things are starting to happen and in a few weeks I should finally have diapers for dd1.
Well, today (2 days later) everything took a huge 180 degree turn when fedex showed up with 2 boxes addressed to dd1. I thought to myself who sent something to dd1. I open it up and it is 5 packs of diapers! Only problem is it is size 5 and the script was for size 6 (which also are on the tight side so size 5 would definitely not work). I think to myself, wow that is fast, they just got the order last week and sent it to the insurance 2 days ago. Only thing that was confusing was the name on the package was from a totally different place that I had never heard of before.
So I call up Allcare to tell them about the wrong size. They are shocked I got diapers all ready and said that it wasn't from them. They also said that insurance wouldn't approve of 2 pharmacies sending her diapers so now I have an even bigger problem then just a wrong size to deal with.
So I call the number on the script which is in New Jersey. The person who answers asks me where I am located. I say MA, she then transferred me to another company (name unknown), who later tells me they don't know why I got transferred to them since they just handle Rhode Island. Okay so now nobody knows what they are doing. The women said she doesn't know why they sent out 5 packages, saying they usually only send out one the first time to make sure the fit is right. She then said she will send out a size 6 and I should get it in 2-3 business days and will send a label for me to return the 5 size 5 packages (I was hoping she would say just keep them, but I guess not).
So there you have it, I should get a pack of diapers by early next week. Of course, this still leaves the issue about the order from Allcare. The diapers from this company is genetic brand, whereas Allcare said they send out name brand diapers. Of course that involves stopping the order from this pharmacy and praying that insurance doesn't screw up which I don't really want to risk. Seriously as long as the diapers work I don't care for name brand, though it would be nice to get for reward points though. Also the other thing what I don't understand is that the insurance said they never didn't have any record of any order as of last week when I called them so I don't even know if the insurance is even aware or not.
Unfortunately turns out that the doctor also has to write a letter of medical necessary to the insurance and then wait for insurance approval so the doctor's note alone was pretty useless to me.
I returned at the end of March with both kids in toll for their checkups and told the doctor this. The next day I spoke with the nurse who said she got everything all set and sent the script off to the pharmacy. Then I waited.
I knew insurance approval took almost a month so I didn't expect to hear anything for a while. 5 weeks past and dd2 finally went back for her 2 month check up. I asked the doctor what was going on with the diaper order since it had now been 2 months since dd1's 3rd birthday. They said they sent it to a pharmacy called Denmark and gave me the number to call saying once they send it to the pharmacy it is out of their hands.
So I go home planning on calling in a few days, but decided to call that day. Luckily I did, the lady on the phone said that they don't supply diapers and that was that. Now I was really raging. I had been waiting for 5 weeks for insurance approval for diapers that never was. I called back the doctor and told them this. They then wanted me to call the insurance to see what pharmacy they deal with. I am annoyed that I have to do all the leg work and wonder why they don't know what they are doing. She clearly can't be the only kid in the practice on Masshealth and still in diapers.
The insurance told me that the doctor needs to contact medical management and that there was no record of a diaper order being sent to them. I call back the doctors office again for the millionth time and had to continue to wait to speak with the particular nurse that I have been dealing with (for some reason it always ends up being the wrong nurse answering the phone and then it is back on hold I go). By this point I am beyond pissed. I tell the nurse all this and she asks for the insurance number. The next day I get a call saying they sent the stuff to Allcare pharmacy. The good news is this pharmacy has on their website all the steps in the process (wish I would have saw this 2 months ago) and does all the work of contacting the insurance, etc. That was last Thursday.
Tuesday I get a call from the Allcare rep saying they got the doctor's stuff and am sending to the insurance for approval and it takes 14 business days. I thought finally things are starting to happen and in a few weeks I should finally have diapers for dd1.
Well, today (2 days later) everything took a huge 180 degree turn when fedex showed up with 2 boxes addressed to dd1. I thought to myself who sent something to dd1. I open it up and it is 5 packs of diapers! Only problem is it is size 5 and the script was for size 6 (which also are on the tight side so size 5 would definitely not work). I think to myself, wow that is fast, they just got the order last week and sent it to the insurance 2 days ago. Only thing that was confusing was the name on the package was from a totally different place that I had never heard of before.
So I call up Allcare to tell them about the wrong size. They are shocked I got diapers all ready and said that it wasn't from them. They also said that insurance wouldn't approve of 2 pharmacies sending her diapers so now I have an even bigger problem then just a wrong size to deal with.
So I call the number on the script which is in New Jersey. The person who answers asks me where I am located. I say MA, she then transferred me to another company (name unknown), who later tells me they don't know why I got transferred to them since they just handle Rhode Island. Okay so now nobody knows what they are doing. The women said she doesn't know why they sent out 5 packages, saying they usually only send out one the first time to make sure the fit is right. She then said she will send out a size 6 and I should get it in 2-3 business days and will send a label for me to return the 5 size 5 packages (I was hoping she would say just keep them, but I guess not).
So there you have it, I should get a pack of diapers by early next week. Of course, this still leaves the issue about the order from Allcare. The diapers from this company is genetic brand, whereas Allcare said they send out name brand diapers. Of course that involves stopping the order from this pharmacy and praying that insurance doesn't screw up which I don't really want to risk. Seriously as long as the diapers work I don't care for name brand, though it would be nice to get for reward points though. Also the other thing what I don't understand is that the insurance said they never didn't have any record of any order as of last week when I called them so I don't even know if the insurance is even aware or not.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
past week update
A lot has been going on. It is funny how I thought my life was so busy with dd1 when she was a baby, but now having two is a whole other story.
First dd1 - developed her first ear infection last Monday. At first I thought she had just got something sticky in her hair, but when she got sent home from school the next day I realized that no, it wasn't anything she had put in her hair, but discharge coming out of her ear. Unfortunately this has led to a constant battle with her and me constantly bugging doctors on how to treat her. The nurse last Tuesday put her on ear drops. I called Wednesday morning after trying twice to get the drops in her ear with no luck to change to an oral med. They put her on Augmentum (horrible nasty stuff in liquid form as any vet would tell). Ya, that didn't go well so when I saw the doctor on Thursday for dd2's appointment I had her switch it to amoxicillin. I was hoping with it having a better taste dd1 would take it, but nope she spit it out just like the augmentum. So I then looked up online and found I can put it stuff so I put it in her juice or milk and this worked for a few days (sometimes too well - she wanted 2nds after finishing the drink), but then again she refused to take the meds.
Monday she returned to school, even though her ear was still draining, but she was physically fine. She did get a cold from Thursday-Saturday which she managed to give to FIL and then me so I have been battling it this week. On Tuesday the school called again about her ear discharge and said she had to be picked up. Don't know why they didn't have a problem with it on Monday. I figured I can't keep having this happen so I called the pedi office who said to call the ENT, so that afternoon FIL took her to the ENT. An hour later he calls me and says the ENT says she has to see the pedi and I need to give the pedi authorization for him to take her, which I did since I was too sick to get out of bed yesterday. They finally came home 90 minutes later, saying she got 2 shots in her legs to cover her dose for the next 24 hours and to try putting the amoxicillin in chocolate frosting tomorrow night.
I was praying this was the end of this, but then this morning a cop shows up at the door. FIL had taken dd1 out to the library and park and I thought something had happened to her when she starts questioning me if I have a 3 year old girl. She then says DCFS called her and I ask if it has to do about her ear and she said yes. I then tried to explain to her about how it is being treated and she has seen so far 3 medical professionals about it in the past week. At that moment FIL and dd1 come home and dd1 is covered in chocolate all over her mouth and pants. I about died. The cop then asked to look at her ear, which hadn't been cleaned recently since I have been sick so it still had the died bloody discharge. I then try to explain how this is normal with ear tubes when there is an infection. So then asked for my number to give to cps so guess who is likely going to get a call from them to come check up on us again. I feel September is repeating itself.
Now on with dd2. My May has basically been now filled up with appointments for her. She was suppose to have a renal u/s tomorrow, but the hospital just called me this morning to say I need prior authorization first since it is out of network in Rhode Island. I am really starting to hate Network Health. We can't see the geneticist anymore since the insurance has refused to grant any more follow ups. Luckily dd1 geneticist is in MA so it was easy to fix that problem, though left the doctor feeling horrible about the situation. But because of this I am reluctant to go to RI anymore for any treatment . So now her u/s is moved to the 23rd since we need time to get the authorization.
Then on Monday she goes back to the Cardiologist. I am curious how her heart looks now. She is eating much better - up to 4oz every 3-4 hours and is no longer doing that horrible heart failure cough.
Developmentally though I am concerned about her. She is still very much like a newborn - not meeting any milestones yet and just eats and sleeps all the time. EI is coming next Thursday to finish the 2nd half of her intake and then they will do a service plan and schedule.
The following Monday we have to take her up to Waltham for her cranial facial eval. I am surprised we got an appointment so quick - they actually had an opening for this Monday, but we can't because of the cardiologist appointment. I hate how we have to travel so far, but can't risk calling Hasbro and dealing with these insurance issues anymore, so Boston it is. Good news is is it is the chief of surgery who we will be seeing so the doctor seems to one of the big shots so hopefully we can get some definite answers of what is wrong with her and what to do about it. It is probably a good thing because you know what your stuff you would think there is nothing wrong with her face, but us family members know that there is something there that isn't right. I know it is nothing urgent, but would like it corrected by the time she starts school fulltime.
First dd1 - developed her first ear infection last Monday. At first I thought she had just got something sticky in her hair, but when she got sent home from school the next day I realized that no, it wasn't anything she had put in her hair, but discharge coming out of her ear. Unfortunately this has led to a constant battle with her and me constantly bugging doctors on how to treat her. The nurse last Tuesday put her on ear drops. I called Wednesday morning after trying twice to get the drops in her ear with no luck to change to an oral med. They put her on Augmentum (horrible nasty stuff in liquid form as any vet would tell). Ya, that didn't go well so when I saw the doctor on Thursday for dd2's appointment I had her switch it to amoxicillin. I was hoping with it having a better taste dd1 would take it, but nope she spit it out just like the augmentum. So I then looked up online and found I can put it stuff so I put it in her juice or milk and this worked for a few days (sometimes too well - she wanted 2nds after finishing the drink), but then again she refused to take the meds.
Monday she returned to school, even though her ear was still draining, but she was physically fine. She did get a cold from Thursday-Saturday which she managed to give to FIL and then me so I have been battling it this week. On Tuesday the school called again about her ear discharge and said she had to be picked up. Don't know why they didn't have a problem with it on Monday. I figured I can't keep having this happen so I called the pedi office who said to call the ENT, so that afternoon FIL took her to the ENT. An hour later he calls me and says the ENT says she has to see the pedi and I need to give the pedi authorization for him to take her, which I did since I was too sick to get out of bed yesterday. They finally came home 90 minutes later, saying she got 2 shots in her legs to cover her dose for the next 24 hours and to try putting the amoxicillin in chocolate frosting tomorrow night.
I was praying this was the end of this, but then this morning a cop shows up at the door. FIL had taken dd1 out to the library and park and I thought something had happened to her when she starts questioning me if I have a 3 year old girl. She then says DCFS called her and I ask if it has to do about her ear and she said yes. I then tried to explain to her about how it is being treated and she has seen so far 3 medical professionals about it in the past week. At that moment FIL and dd1 come home and dd1 is covered in chocolate all over her mouth and pants. I about died. The cop then asked to look at her ear, which hadn't been cleaned recently since I have been sick so it still had the died bloody discharge. I then try to explain how this is normal with ear tubes when there is an infection. So then asked for my number to give to cps so guess who is likely going to get a call from them to come check up on us again. I feel September is repeating itself.
Now on with dd2. My May has basically been now filled up with appointments for her. She was suppose to have a renal u/s tomorrow, but the hospital just called me this morning to say I need prior authorization first since it is out of network in Rhode Island. I am really starting to hate Network Health. We can't see the geneticist anymore since the insurance has refused to grant any more follow ups. Luckily dd1 geneticist is in MA so it was easy to fix that problem, though left the doctor feeling horrible about the situation. But because of this I am reluctant to go to RI anymore for any treatment . So now her u/s is moved to the 23rd since we need time to get the authorization.
Then on Monday she goes back to the Cardiologist. I am curious how her heart looks now. She is eating much better - up to 4oz every 3-4 hours and is no longer doing that horrible heart failure cough.
Developmentally though I am concerned about her. She is still very much like a newborn - not meeting any milestones yet and just eats and sleeps all the time. EI is coming next Thursday to finish the 2nd half of her intake and then they will do a service plan and schedule.
The following Monday we have to take her up to Waltham for her cranial facial eval. I am surprised we got an appointment so quick - they actually had an opening for this Monday, but we can't because of the cardiologist appointment. I hate how we have to travel so far, but can't risk calling Hasbro and dealing with these insurance issues anymore, so Boston it is. Good news is is it is the chief of surgery who we will be seeing so the doctor seems to one of the big shots so hopefully we can get some definite answers of what is wrong with her and what to do about it. It is probably a good thing because you know what your stuff you would think there is nothing wrong with her face, but us family members know that there is something there that isn't right. I know it is nothing urgent, but would like it corrected by the time she starts school fulltime.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Genetic appointment
Yesterday the baby had her genetic appointment and we got the results of her microassay that was taken right after she was born. She had a 50% of getting either of our bad chromosomes, 25% of getting both, and 25% of getting neither. Unfortunately she fell into the 25% chance of inheriting both. They still have my duplication as listed as unknown significance (probably because I - and now dd2 - may be the only people with it) so the doctor doesn't think it is important, but dh's chromosome 6 deletion is now listed as pathological known to cause development delay and other health problems. Of course neither dh nor his mother like to believe this despite me showing them the literature. She thinks since there isn't a nice sounding "syndrome" name like our nephew has then it means nothing. That upsets me because it basically makes like all the therapy I have been getting for dd1 and dd2 medical problems seem like nothing. I understand that she doesn't want to admit that there is a problem from her side of the family, but the fact is there is and denying that the deletion doesn't cause problems doesn't help anything. I mean the baby isn't even 10 weeks old yet and has already went through one surgery with likely many more to follow. She is also already developmentally delayed, though I don't know if it is related to the heart failure or the deletion. Anyways I am not taking any chances and have left a message with EI to make an appointment to get her evaluated. The genetisit also wants her to have a renal u/s since enlarged kidneys is common with the deletion. DD1 had that problem, though it was picked up at the anatomy scan. I think back to the anatomy scan I had with this pregnancy and all I recall is the doctor's words that she is perfect, there is nothing wrong. I can't believe that just 6 months later my baby was in CHF and undergoing cardiac surgery.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Day after surgery
We were lucky to avoid the ICU and be sent straight to the floor and I found out the ICU nurse who gave the tour was wrong. You can use cellphones in the room, just not use it to make calls. So I was relieved since I brought no other firm of entertainment. I did break the no cell call rule though by accident once because I forgot and luckily because I need to catch dh quickly. He had just left when I remembered we didn't take the bottle stuff out if the car.
The only bad thing is that the rooms are shared. When we first got in the room there was no one else so I was hoping it would stay that way, but unfortunately a few hours later I say that a name got placed on the door and by evening another baby got put in here. Of course the whole family was there when it arrived and the mother doesn't even speak English. I guess that is both good and bad. I won't be talking to her and I can talk about her and she won't know. I couldn't wait until 8pm when visiting hours ended so the rest of them would leave. However it just got worse at night. The pull out chair they make people sleep on is horrible (seriously I think the tile floor would have been better), but the worst was the freaking baby beside us that wouldn't stop crying and babbling. It is one thing listening to your baby, but another persons. I was lucky I was dead tired from not sleeping for 2 nights or else I wouldn't get a wink of sleep. I am lucky Chloe is a quiet baby. I would die if I had that kid for a child. And she wasn't even young like Chloe is, but 7 months old. By that age a baby should be sleeping through the night but no it was crying at 12, 3, 5 in the morning and maybe even more but I was to tired to notice.
The only bad thing is that the rooms are shared. When we first got in the room there was no one else so I was hoping it would stay that way, but unfortunately a few hours later I say that a name got placed on the door and by evening another baby got put in here. Of course the whole family was there when it arrived and the mother doesn't even speak English. I guess that is both good and bad. I won't be talking to her and I can talk about her and she won't know. I couldn't wait until 8pm when visiting hours ended so the rest of them would leave. However it just got worse at night. The pull out chair they make people sleep on is horrible (seriously I think the tile floor would have been better), but the worst was the freaking baby beside us that wouldn't stop crying and babbling. It is one thing listening to your baby, but another persons. I was lucky I was dead tired from not sleeping for 2 nights or else I wouldn't get a wink of sleep. I am lucky Chloe is a quiet baby. I would die if I had that kid for a child. And she wasn't even young like Chloe is, but 7 months old. By that age a baby should be sleeping through the night but no it was crying at 12, 3, 5 in the morning and maybe even more but I was to tired to notice.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Surgery day
Yesterday we had a full day of tests done for surgery. They said it would take 6-8 hrs but we were done after 5, which was good because I was dead tired after dd1 stayed up all night and caused me not to get any sleep.
Unfortunately I couldn't get much sleep last night because we had to be here by 6.
They took her to the OR at 7:30 so now we just wait.
It has only been 10 minutes so far and I seriously want to kill the family sitting beside me. Here I am worried my baby will die and this family is not only acting like this is a social get together I also have to listen to the grandma talk in baby talk language showing pics and saying how cute so and so is. At first I thought they were talking about their pet and I was wondering why they would be going on and on about their pet. Then the young mother goes on and on about a baby Einstein toy this kid liked that was in the waiting room and then the grandma went on (in her baby talk language) of how she had to get this kid this toy and where to buy it and oh look it is at bed bath and beyond oh good so then I can use the 20% off coupon and then when she found out it was only $10 then she complained because it was too cheap. Seriously this conversation went on for 15 minutes if them repeating these same things over and over again. I can understand maybe their kid was going for some minor surgery but many of the families here likely aren't
Unfortunately I couldn't get much sleep last night because we had to be here by 6.
They took her to the OR at 7:30 so now we just wait.
It has only been 10 minutes so far and I seriously want to kill the family sitting beside me. Here I am worried my baby will die and this family is not only acting like this is a social get together I also have to listen to the grandma talk in baby talk language showing pics and saying how cute so and so is. At first I thought they were talking about their pet and I was wondering why they would be going on and on about their pet. Then the young mother goes on and on about a baby Einstein toy this kid liked that was in the waiting room and then the grandma went on (in her baby talk language) of how she had to get this kid this toy and where to buy it and oh look it is at bed bath and beyond oh good so then I can use the 20% off coupon and then when she found out it was only $10 then she complained because it was too cheap. Seriously this conversation went on for 15 minutes if them repeating these same things over and over again. I can understand maybe their kid was going for some minor surgery but many of the families here likely aren't
Sunday, April 21, 2013
We have a date
DD2 is having her surgery this Thursday for her PDA. We have to be up in Boston for 7:30am the day before for an intensive 6-8 hours of testing. That means getting on the road at 5, and since they are going to sedate her that morning for the echo I have to be up and feed her at 3 - since she can't eat after 3:30am. Can you say I will be tired that day! Since I refuse to go home that afternoon during rushhour only to return the next morning we have decided to stay in town that night. Not sure yet if it will be at dh's uncle's place or a hotel. Then Thursday-Saturday I will stay with her in the ICU.
I am looking forward to her finally getting fixed. Everyday she just gets worse. A couple of weeks ago she started coughing badly despite being on the lasix and now in the past 2 days she has been feeding really poorly - only drinking like 2oz at a time instead of her normal 3. Yesterday was her 2 month birthday so it really concerns me how small she is. She likely went from being 30% on the chart at birth to now not even being on the chart.
It is hard to realize that all I wanted was for her to be born so she would be safe and it was this act of being born that caused her to go into heart failure :(
I am looking forward to her finally getting fixed. Everyday she just gets worse. A couple of weeks ago she started coughing badly despite being on the lasix and now in the past 2 days she has been feeding really poorly - only drinking like 2oz at a time instead of her normal 3. Yesterday was her 2 month birthday so it really concerns me how small she is. She likely went from being 30% on the chart at birth to now not even being on the chart.
It is hard to realize that all I wanted was for her to be born so she would be safe and it was this act of being born that caused her to go into heart failure :(
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Cardiology appt #2 (7 weeks old)
Todays appt was pretty low key. She gained 1/2 lb from 2 weeks ago and didn't grow any length so not sure how effective the added calories is. She now has a cough, but the doctor didn't seem too concerned. She is already getting the proper dose of lasix and with the slow growth the doctor doesn't think she will outgrow it anytime soon.
Still haven't heard from Boston about when she can have surgery. The doctor said he has been hoarding them everyday, but that the stuff has been sitting in the mail room for the last number of days and no one has transported it from the basement to the cardiology department on the 7th floor.
He made another followup in a month's time, but hopefully she will be going to Boston before that. He said he originally wanted her to be done in April, and well who knows if that will happen now that April is half over.
We were also warned about keeping her out of public since if she ever got sick it could be very bad since she already breathes fast as is. So looks like it will be a long time before we can go back to church or other public places.
Still haven't heard from Boston about when she can have surgery. The doctor said he has been hoarding them everyday, but that the stuff has been sitting in the mail room for the last number of days and no one has transported it from the basement to the cardiology department on the 7th floor.
He made another followup in a month's time, but hopefully she will be going to Boston before that. He said he originally wanted her to be done in April, and well who knows if that will happen now that April is half over.
We were also warned about keeping her out of public since if she ever got sick it could be very bad since she already breathes fast as is. So looks like it will be a long time before we can go back to church or other public places.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
cardiology appt
So today the baby had her follow up appt with the cardiologist after being diagnosised with a PDA and valve regurge at 2 days of age last month. I have been patiently waiting for this appt to finally get some answers to the symptoms she has been having and get a game plan on what needs to be done. I was hoping that we could wait to do the cathetization surgery when she got to be a couple years of age, but unfortunately it turns out her PDA is a lot worse than was first thought and the only cure is open heart surgery where they can physically tie off the vessel. The cardiologist own words were this is the largest PDA he has seen (great) and she is in the early stage of heart failure. This is the reason for her increased breathing and why her pedi have been hearing crackles on her lung fields. Unfortunately the surgery is only done in Boston so we have to wait now for the records to be sent and for they to call for an appt, but it is looking like it will be done some time in the next month.
In the mean time she is going to start on lasix to help the breathing and I have to increase the calorie content of her milk to a 24 calorie/oz diet. She weighed in at 7lb 9oz today and 20.5 inches long so it looks like she is gaining 0.5 oz or less each day.
I am trying to remain calm, but it is hard. I know that she needs to have the surgery to get better, but it is so hard to agree to have your newborn baby have such major surgery. I also worry about what this means for our family and their future kids. I know very likely she has this because of dh (we got very lucky with dd) and if this is true than what is the chance that their kids may end up having PDAs too and needing surgery as a baby.
In the mean time she is going to start on lasix to help the breathing and I have to increase the calorie content of her milk to a 24 calorie/oz diet. She weighed in at 7lb 9oz today and 20.5 inches long so it looks like she is gaining 0.5 oz or less each day.
I am trying to remain calm, but it is hard. I know that she needs to have the surgery to get better, but it is so hard to agree to have your newborn baby have such major surgery. I also worry about what this means for our family and their future kids. I know very likely she has this because of dh (we got very lucky with dd) and if this is true than what is the chance that their kids may end up having PDAs too and needing surgery as a baby.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
pp appt
So today I had my pp appt. Was suppose to go in 2 weeks, but on Thursday they called saying the doctor was going to be away that day and they were rescheduling me for this Thursday. Only problem is Thursday is the baby's cardiology appt and there is no way I want to be out all day with the baby and dh. It then took until yesterday until I could finally reach someone to talk to about this. The woman on the phone then said that there is no other appts available until May 13. WTF, I gave birth Feb 20. She then asked if I wanted to speak to her supervisor which I said ya, I mean if I have to wait until May 13, I might not as well even go to the appt. After leaving a message and waiting for a call back the supervisor said there is a cancelation for tomorrow if I want. I really didn't want to go out this morning since it was prime time to get work done around the house while dd was in school, but had no choice so I took the appt. The only reason why I even care to go to the appt is because the insurance will send me a $10 gift card (of course after doing the math and figuring out that it costs $20 in gas and $4 in parking and 2 hours of time that $10 gift card doesn't sound as good anymore) and to find out if they determined a cause for the bleeding. I asked the doctor about the placenta and she said it was small (10% in size), the cord was off to the side, and there were some clots, but overall nothing really significant or noteworthy in case I ever do get pregnant again. So there you have it, still really no answers, of course it does make me surprised the baby wasn't iugr.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Party fail
Last year on my dd's birthday party I found out our ET the next day was cancelled because all our embryos had died. I then had to put on a happy face while entertaining the guests.
This year we finally have our baby here in our arms, but because her birth is close to dd's birthday I pushed out her party a couple of weeks. So because Easter is early this year that meant having the party today - St Patrick day. We spent over a hundred dollars on food and party supplies and sent out 7 invitees to family and friends. Dh's cousin and aunt/uncle refused because it is St Patrick day and a parade was more important. His brother's wife had a test today so his brother claimed he could not bring their 2 kids by himself. My one friend wanted to come, but then cancelled this morning because her husband was being released from the hospital today and he didn't want to wait a couple extra hours so she and the kids could come to the party. My other friend was suppose to come with her son, but was said she was going to be late. Well guess she must have changed her mind because she wasn't only late, but never came period. Not to mention this friend owes me her little tyke playset that I brought off of her last June. The only 2 people who did show up were dh's parents, and even that almost didn't happen thanks to a stupid mathron happening today and the city closed down all the main streets. I must say I really hate St Patrick day now.
To make matters worse is MIL confirmed the baby does have dh's messed up nose. When she was born I thought her nose looked funny, but MIL reassured me it was ok and I also read that newborn noses can look flattened. Well now she tells me she can see it in the pictures we just did. This confirms dh's nose problem wasn't just a fluke, but is a genetic condition and now the baby is going to face multiple surgeries to likelyt correct the defect, not to mention it can likely be passed on to future generations. This along with the PDA pretty much confirms to me that she has the same chromosome 6 deletion. We will find out for sure next month. I guess we got lucky with dd1 that even though she too has the deletion she didn't have to face all these physical problems.
This year we finally have our baby here in our arms, but because her birth is close to dd's birthday I pushed out her party a couple of weeks. So because Easter is early this year that meant having the party today - St Patrick day. We spent over a hundred dollars on food and party supplies and sent out 7 invitees to family and friends. Dh's cousin and aunt/uncle refused because it is St Patrick day and a parade was more important. His brother's wife had a test today so his brother claimed he could not bring their 2 kids by himself. My one friend wanted to come, but then cancelled this morning because her husband was being released from the hospital today and he didn't want to wait a couple extra hours so she and the kids could come to the party. My other friend was suppose to come with her son, but was said she was going to be late. Well guess she must have changed her mind because she wasn't only late, but never came period. Not to mention this friend owes me her little tyke playset that I brought off of her last June. The only 2 people who did show up were dh's parents, and even that almost didn't happen thanks to a stupid mathron happening today and the city closed down all the main streets. I must say I really hate St Patrick day now.
To make matters worse is MIL confirmed the baby does have dh's messed up nose. When she was born I thought her nose looked funny, but MIL reassured me it was ok and I also read that newborn noses can look flattened. Well now she tells me she can see it in the pictures we just did. This confirms dh's nose problem wasn't just a fluke, but is a genetic condition and now the baby is going to face multiple surgeries to likelyt correct the defect, not to mention it can likely be passed on to future generations. This along with the PDA pretty much confirms to me that she has the same chromosome 6 deletion. We will find out for sure next month. I guess we got lucky with dd1 that even though she too has the deletion she didn't have to face all these physical problems.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Due Date
Today is my due date. Hard to believe it has only been 3 weeks since giving birth. It feels like an eternally since being pregnant. Maybe it is because the pregnancy went by so fast, or that I was so scared, or that it was my last, but it feels like those 8 months hardly even happened.
I am enjoying being on bedrest now, though I still have a few more weeks before I can lift things again. I have recovered very well from the surgery, my feet are no longer swollen and I am only 10lb left to lose until I am back to prepregnancy weight, though it may be longer before my pants fit good again.
It is also such a nice relief to have such an easy baby that only eats and sleeps and never spits up like dd1 did. Of course it would be easier if she would bf, since I am still doing the bottle feeding and pumping. Of course part of it is my fault now for not even attempting to put her to breast, but I am just too tired to add in another step to the process.
Tomorrow we are going to get pictures done - 3 year birthday pictures for dd1 and newborn pics of the baby, as well as Easter pics of the 2 of them. Hopefully things go pretty smoothly, but since how the past year has gone with dd1, I doubt it.
Oh and the baby is now over 7lb and as of last week has grown 1/4 inch in length. We are still wearing preemie clothes though and some smaller newborn stuff. At least she is getting use out of the clothes.
I am enjoying being on bedrest now, though I still have a few more weeks before I can lift things again. I have recovered very well from the surgery, my feet are no longer swollen and I am only 10lb left to lose until I am back to prepregnancy weight, though it may be longer before my pants fit good again.
It is also such a nice relief to have such an easy baby that only eats and sleeps and never spits up like dd1 did. Of course it would be easier if she would bf, since I am still doing the bottle feeding and pumping. Of course part of it is my fault now for not even attempting to put her to breast, but I am just too tired to add in another step to the process.
Tomorrow we are going to get pictures done - 3 year birthday pictures for dd1 and newborn pics of the baby, as well as Easter pics of the 2 of them. Hopefully things go pretty smoothly, but since how the past year has gone with dd1, I doubt it.
Oh and the baby is now over 7lb and as of last week has grown 1/4 inch in length. We are still wearing preemie clothes though and some smaller newborn stuff. At least she is getting use out of the clothes.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
First day with 2 kids
So MIL dropped dd off this morning after having her for the past week. I soon realized that things are going to be harder than I thought. DD immediately got jealous of the baby and wanted to feed her and when she was refused she starts this crying fit on the couch. It wasn't a tantrum cry, but a really "hurt my feelings" cry. So I decided to have her sit down and get a clean bottle to help feed the baby. Then she took one of her toys and almost hit the baby in the head with it trying to show me. Of course this started the crying fit again. Then when dh was trying to get her ready for school and I needed to feed the baby again, she wanted to sit on my lap as well.
I can't really blame her for acting this way. None of it was done to be mean and most of the time she is trying to help, though it doesn't end up helping at all. Also with not seeing me for a week it must be hard for her. I really do feel bad for all the changes she is going through right now. Today she had her last day of toddler group. Next Tuesday she turns 3 so she will no longer be able to go to her class that she has been going to since she was 17 months and will start preschool. So a new school, new teachers, and new kids. Then with all the changes at home, it is a lot for a little girl that is already having issues.
Luckily the baby has been pretty easy so far, though I am not doing well with the lack of sleep and this pumping business is starting to take it toll. Not to mention my stomach issues continue to happen so I have to force myself to eat and then all morning long today I was in and out of the bathroom having diarrhea. I guess buying the milk of magnesium wasn't a good idea Sunday night.
I was going to call the doctors, but looked it up and I guess GI issues can happen post csection so I am hoping it is just my body trying to work itself out then me actually having caught a bug.
Luckily the incision pain is mostly gone, though my feet is making up for that. My poor feet, ankles, legs, and even knees are so swollen it hurts to do anything.
I can't really blame her for acting this way. None of it was done to be mean and most of the time she is trying to help, though it doesn't end up helping at all. Also with not seeing me for a week it must be hard for her. I really do feel bad for all the changes she is going through right now. Today she had her last day of toddler group. Next Tuesday she turns 3 so she will no longer be able to go to her class that she has been going to since she was 17 months and will start preschool. So a new school, new teachers, and new kids. Then with all the changes at home, it is a lot for a little girl that is already having issues.
Luckily the baby has been pretty easy so far, though I am not doing well with the lack of sleep and this pumping business is starting to take it toll. Not to mention my stomach issues continue to happen so I have to force myself to eat and then all morning long today I was in and out of the bathroom having diarrhea. I guess buying the milk of magnesium wasn't a good idea Sunday night.
I was going to call the doctors, but looked it up and I guess GI issues can happen post csection so I am hoping it is just my body trying to work itself out then me actually having caught a bug.
Luckily the incision pain is mostly gone, though my feet is making up for that. My poor feet, ankles, legs, and even knees are so swollen it hurts to do anything.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Going home
Today is discharge day. I am actually looking forward to going home and hopefully not seeing another hospital room for a long time. Before I became a mother I was never admitted or stayed overnight in a hospital, now it seems like a 2nd home some times, this was especially true last pregnancy where I spent 3 weeks on hospital bedrest. I am happy this time though that the baby will be coming home with me and not staying in the nicu.
BF has gotten better, but it is still not going perfect and I am still pumping and bottle feeding every 3 hours which if things don't change, I can't see bf lasting long term. DD isn't expected home until Tuesday and then she will be at school Tuesday afternoon so I will have a couple of days with just the baby to contend too.
As for her health, the heart murmur turned out to be due to a PDA. It is funny that my premature dd doesn't have a PDA, but my full-term baby does. Of course this raises the questions in us that she may have inherited dh's chromosome problems. A genetisit came by on Friday morning because of our history and they took blood to run the microassay so we should find out in 3-4 weeks if there is anything abnormal in terms of chromosome makeup for the baby. We also have to f/u with the cardologist in a month's time too because of the PDA. He suggested since she wasn't premature that they wait a few years before correcting the PDA and do it by femoral cathetization. When dh was 2, the only option was open heart surgery which had a 50% survival, so I am glad pediatic cardiology has come a long way since the 70s. Of course it does worry me waiting so long to correct the problem. By the time dh was 2, he was turning blue and collapsing. I don't want the baby to get to that stage. I think that isn't another concern of mine when feeding her, that I don't want to try and stress her too much and bf isn't easy.
BF has gotten better, but it is still not going perfect and I am still pumping and bottle feeding every 3 hours which if things don't change, I can't see bf lasting long term. DD isn't expected home until Tuesday and then she will be at school Tuesday afternoon so I will have a couple of days with just the baby to contend too.
As for her health, the heart murmur turned out to be due to a PDA. It is funny that my premature dd doesn't have a PDA, but my full-term baby does. Of course this raises the questions in us that she may have inherited dh's chromosome problems. A genetisit came by on Friday morning because of our history and they took blood to run the microassay so we should find out in 3-4 weeks if there is anything abnormal in terms of chromosome makeup for the baby. We also have to f/u with the cardologist in a month's time too because of the PDA. He suggested since she wasn't premature that they wait a few years before correcting the PDA and do it by femoral cathetization. When dh was 2, the only option was open heart surgery which had a 50% survival, so I am glad pediatic cardiology has come a long way since the 70s. Of course it does worry me waiting so long to correct the problem. By the time dh was 2, he was turning blue and collapsing. I don't want the baby to get to that stage. I think that isn't another concern of mine when feeding her, that I don't want to try and stress her too much and bf isn't easy.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
She is here
My c-section was suppose to be at 1:30 yesterday,
but got pushed back until 3 thanks to an emergency (wasn't very pleased
since I had been off food and drink from 10pm the night before). The
start of surgery wasn't very good - I got very sick when laid on my back
probably from the uterus preventing blood to return to my heart. I
never experienced this last time, maybe because I was only 31 weeks
then, I don't know. Anyways, I had trouble breathing and got very
nauseous and ended up spitting up a few times and blacking out for
probably the first 5 minutes of surgery. I don't know - I woke up and
heard them talking about how my uterus looked so they must have already
opened my abdomen.
After that things went alright. It took about 10 minutes of tugging to get the baby out. I don't recall that really being a problem with my last c-section either. The good part was when they did get her out the warming bed was directly to the left of us so I got to watch them examine her while being sewed up - with dd's birth the newborn area was on the other side of the OR behind the sheet so I didn't get to see anything. The baby weighed 6lb 10oz and is 19 inches long so not too bad for being 3 weeks early. She had some trouble breathing at first, but they said it was due to the c-section. Her apnea scores were 2, 8, and 9.
I spent 2.5 hours in recovery which was pretty easy except for the constant belly checks - the nurse doing me seemed to really like to press down as hard as she could on my belly button (I hate having my belly button area touched anyhow) and even though she was only suppose to check every 15 minutes, it seemed like she was checking every 5.
Got a room at 7 last night and was finally able to drink, but by 8:30 I had massive vomiting episode that came out of no where so I was off drink again until midnight and then had to take things easy. Of course this meant that today my kidneys were hardly working since not having any liquids for over a day so instead of them pulling my u-cath at 12 hours it was kept in until almost 24 hours.
She is a very quiet baby and likes to sleep a lot. Unfortunately this means she is not a good nurser - and even refuses to open her mouth and try and suck. I thought there was problem at first until I finally tried a bottle and after much effort she finally picked up a suck, but bf isn't happening right now so that means I have to pump if I have any hopes to ever take her to the breast. I was really hoping for an easy bf experience this time since I didn't have a good experience with dd since she was so premature. I thought this time with being full-term would fix things, but I guess she is still too immature in that department.
She does have a heart murmur and may be developing jaundice (her bilirubin is still fine today, but I read that it peaks between 3-5 days) so they are going to monitor her over the next few days for these things. She also have webbed toes on both feet. The doctor said it may be nothing, but can also be seen in some genetic syndrome. I don't know why they always have to find things wrong so now I am worried about this. I know it is best to pick up on these things now, just wish I could have a perfect healthy baby.
After that things went alright. It took about 10 minutes of tugging to get the baby out. I don't recall that really being a problem with my last c-section either. The good part was when they did get her out the warming bed was directly to the left of us so I got to watch them examine her while being sewed up - with dd's birth the newborn area was on the other side of the OR behind the sheet so I didn't get to see anything. The baby weighed 6lb 10oz and is 19 inches long so not too bad for being 3 weeks early. She had some trouble breathing at first, but they said it was due to the c-section. Her apnea scores were 2, 8, and 9.
I spent 2.5 hours in recovery which was pretty easy except for the constant belly checks - the nurse doing me seemed to really like to press down as hard as she could on my belly button (I hate having my belly button area touched anyhow) and even though she was only suppose to check every 15 minutes, it seemed like she was checking every 5.
Got a room at 7 last night and was finally able to drink, but by 8:30 I had massive vomiting episode that came out of no where so I was off drink again until midnight and then had to take things easy. Of course this meant that today my kidneys were hardly working since not having any liquids for over a day so instead of them pulling my u-cath at 12 hours it was kept in until almost 24 hours.
She is a very quiet baby and likes to sleep a lot. Unfortunately this means she is not a good nurser - and even refuses to open her mouth and try and suck. I thought there was problem at first until I finally tried a bottle and after much effort she finally picked up a suck, but bf isn't happening right now so that means I have to pump if I have any hopes to ever take her to the breast. I was really hoping for an easy bf experience this time since I didn't have a good experience with dd since she was so premature. I thought this time with being full-term would fix things, but I guess she is still too immature in that department.
She does have a heart murmur and may be developing jaundice (her bilirubin is still fine today, but I read that it peaks between 3-5 days) so they are going to monitor her over the next few days for these things. She also have webbed toes on both feet. The doctor said it may be nothing, but can also be seen in some genetic syndrome. I don't know why they always have to find things wrong so now I am worried about this. I know it is best to pick up on these things now, just wish I could have a perfect healthy baby.
Monday, February 18, 2013
36w5d
Well dd had a massive vomiting session last night at 5pm. After that I swore I was going to be throwing up all night with her, but luckily that didn't happen and today she has been fine all day. And apart from some queasiness this morning, so have I. Though I will feel better if I can make it another day without getting sick.
This morning I had to go to the hospital for pre-op blood work. It really sucks having to drive 30 min to a hospital just to have some blood taken, and then also being charged $4 for parking because by the time you park, walk to the building, go to the information desk, then the registers desk, then the lab, have the blood taken and then walk back to your car the free 15 minutes is up. I don't understand why they don't give the first 30 minutes for free, instead of only 15 min. You can't do anything in 15 min time.
The good news is I was able to run some errands though and my bag is 50% packed. Also mine and dd's room is now clean. Tomorrow I have my last monitoring appt and will do the finaling touches on mine and dd's bag so everything will be all set for Wednesday morning. We will have to be out the door that morning at 9 in order to drive dd to dh's parent's who live in the complete opposite direction of the hospital.
It is hard to believe in less than 48 hours this baby will be here.
This morning I had to go to the hospital for pre-op blood work. It really sucks having to drive 30 min to a hospital just to have some blood taken, and then also being charged $4 for parking because by the time you park, walk to the building, go to the information desk, then the registers desk, then the lab, have the blood taken and then walk back to your car the free 15 minutes is up. I don't understand why they don't give the first 30 minutes for free, instead of only 15 min. You can't do anything in 15 min time.
The good news is I was able to run some errands though and my bag is 50% packed. Also mine and dd's room is now clean. Tomorrow I have my last monitoring appt and will do the finaling touches on mine and dd's bag so everything will be all set for Wednesday morning. We will have to be out the door that morning at 9 in order to drive dd to dh's parent's who live in the complete opposite direction of the hospital.
It is hard to believe in less than 48 hours this baby will be here.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
36w4d
So been trying to keep myself busy since I have a lot of things to do before Wednesday. Unfortunately whenever I try and do stuff I start getting contractions and the spotting picks up. I don't know what to do. At least my pressures have been good this past week, though they were up again today so don't know what to think.
The 2nd half of the night hasn't been good. DD threw up 4 times from 12:30-7:30 am. She has been acting fine otherwise, running around as normal, but I can't explain why she would vomit so much like this. It is really getting me worried because I have 3 days to the c-section and I can't have the stomach flu in the house.
The 2nd half of the night hasn't been good. DD threw up 4 times from 12:30-7:30 am. She has been acting fine otherwise, running around as normal, but I can't explain why she would vomit so much like this. It is really getting me worried because I have 3 days to the c-section and I can't have the stomach flu in the house.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
36 weeks
So my 24 hr urine came back fine so I was released last night at 8:30pm. Now I am just trying to get everything ready for next week which isn't easy since dd messes everything up. I came home and her room is a disaster, which wouldn't be such a big deal, but because it is shared with the baby's stuff it is a very very big deal. Forget about even having a crib set up, now the bedroom looks like a natural disaster hit it and I don't know what to do about it. I spent a few hours trying to pick things up and organize stuff, but it is no use and won't stop dd from doing it again tonight.
I also don't understand why my pressures were so low in the hospital. I feel like they think I am lying about my home pressures. My pressures there would be 117/70 - the lowest they have ever been. Of course this is lying down and using my right arm. Today at home just sitting up in bed my pressure was 135/90 in my left and to show that my right arm is 10 points lower it was 132/82. So either someone's machine is off or my pressures are labile. I am so glad that I only have another 7 days to go, so if they start to shoot up and stay there hopefully it won't happen before the baby comes. Also hopefully I can avoid getting PE this time, though I do know there is still a chance up to 6 weeks pp.
I also don't understand why my pressures were so low in the hospital. I feel like they think I am lying about my home pressures. My pressures there would be 117/70 - the lowest they have ever been. Of course this is lying down and using my right arm. Today at home just sitting up in bed my pressure was 135/90 in my left and to show that my right arm is 10 points lower it was 132/82. So either someone's machine is off or my pressures are labile. I am so glad that I only have another 7 days to go, so if they start to shoot up and stay there hopefully it won't happen before the baby comes. Also hopefully I can avoid getting PE this time, though I do know there is still a chance up to 6 weeks pp.
Monday, February 11, 2013
35w5d
So I got to see my old doctor again today thank goodness. My pressure at home this morning was 139/97, but in the office it was 130/92 and only trace protein in the urine. Luckily my doctor isn't playing around with things and diagnosed me with gestational hypertension and is making me repeat the lab work. He says if it comes back bad then I would immediately deliver. I asked what happens if it is good because I am not being seen again until the 21st. He confirmed there is no openings before then. Anyways he left to get the lab forms and then came back and said I would deliver next Wednesday at the latest. Sot here you have it. I have a repeat c-section scheduled for next Wednesday at1:30, unless things go bad before hand.
Right now I am at the hospital waiting to be seen to do my urine. He asked if I wanted to go home to do it or go over to the hospital and I said the hospital is easier for me, of course it involves waiting forever. And it doesn't help that the admitting nurse took my pressures with my right arm so they were 10 points below each value.
Right now I am at the hospital waiting to be seen to do my urine. He asked if I wanted to go home to do it or go over to the hospital and I said the hospital is easier for me, of course it involves waiting forever. And it doesn't help that the admitting nurse took my pressures with my right arm so they were 10 points below each value.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
35w4d
Well looks like my up/down bp are finally settled high. Last night's reading was 149/86 and this morning's was 142/96 - it did come down to 141/91 after lying on my left side for 20 minutes.
Both these readings were after lying down for hours and just getting up to go to the bathroom and then come back into the room.
Unfortunately I am home bound today because my car is still snowed in. I plan on continue checking throughout the day and if they start going over 150/100 I will have no choice but to go in tonight, otherwise I will wait for my doctor's appt tomorrow morning.
I cancelled my house call for today, though I don't know if the owner got the message since her phone went straight to voice mail. I am guessing she is without power. I was planning to reschedule it for later this week, but with these pressures now and the spotting I don't think that would be a good idea so hoping we can do it at the end of March instead then. That is if she finally listens to the message and calls me back.
I am 10 days away from term and 24 days away from the earliest c-section date - though I don't think I will make it that long. Right now I don't even know if I will make it the next 10 days.
Both these readings were after lying down for hours and just getting up to go to the bathroom and then come back into the room.
Unfortunately I am home bound today because my car is still snowed in. I plan on continue checking throughout the day and if they start going over 150/100 I will have no choice but to go in tonight, otherwise I will wait for my doctor's appt tomorrow morning.
I cancelled my house call for today, though I don't know if the owner got the message since her phone went straight to voice mail. I am guessing she is without power. I was planning to reschedule it for later this week, but with these pressures now and the spotting I don't think that would be a good idea so hoping we can do it at the end of March instead then. That is if she finally listens to the message and calls me back.
I am 10 days away from term and 24 days away from the earliest c-section date - though I don't think I will make it that long. Right now I don't even know if I will make it the next 10 days.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
35w1d
So I am really getting tired of the uncertainity of everything with this pregnancy.
I had my doctor's appt today and was really hoping to get some answers, instead I am left with more questions. When I went to give the urine sample I noticed my pad was pretty full with brownish red blood. This is after only 2 hours and a larger amount than what I have been spotting for the last 4 days. I would only spot a little bit on the pad over 24 hours. I told the doctor this when I first saw him so he did a pelvic exam which all he did was confirm yes there is some blood, but it is brown so he wasn't very concerned. No answer on why I am having this. I am pretty sure this is a sign my cervix is changing since it is totally different from the bleeds I had the last 2 months, but he never measured or checked anything. That was pretty much it for my doctor's appt.
I was hoping the monitor would show some signs, maybe contractions or something, but nope it was another normal NST with no contractions at all so I don't know what to think.
The good news is I only have to wait until Monday to be seen again since the doctor is away next week I will be put with my old doctor. The bad news is that then the following appt means I will have to wait 10 days to be seen again so I will have two 35 week appt and no 36 week appt. Not very happy about this. It looks like the only way I get any help is to keep going to the hospital and monitor things at home.
In other bad news, Saturday's plans are now cancelled due to the storm coming tomorrow. I am so pissed because I wanted for this class for dd since November. They rescheduled it for the 23rd, but I am not sure if I will make it to then. Also not sure what to do about dh's course. This storm couldn't come at a worst time. Of course it also means if anything happens to me I will have to go to St. Luke's since there is no way I will be able to drive to Providence in a blizzard.
On better news, my cold is on the mend, thank goodness. Still feel sick, but at least I don't feel like death like yesterday.
I had my doctor's appt today and was really hoping to get some answers, instead I am left with more questions. When I went to give the urine sample I noticed my pad was pretty full with brownish red blood. This is after only 2 hours and a larger amount than what I have been spotting for the last 4 days. I would only spot a little bit on the pad over 24 hours. I told the doctor this when I first saw him so he did a pelvic exam which all he did was confirm yes there is some blood, but it is brown so he wasn't very concerned. No answer on why I am having this. I am pretty sure this is a sign my cervix is changing since it is totally different from the bleeds I had the last 2 months, but he never measured or checked anything. That was pretty much it for my doctor's appt.
I was hoping the monitor would show some signs, maybe contractions or something, but nope it was another normal NST with no contractions at all so I don't know what to think.
The good news is I only have to wait until Monday to be seen again since the doctor is away next week I will be put with my old doctor. The bad news is that then the following appt means I will have to wait 10 days to be seen again so I will have two 35 week appt and no 36 week appt. Not very happy about this. It looks like the only way I get any help is to keep going to the hospital and monitor things at home.
In other bad news, Saturday's plans are now cancelled due to the storm coming tomorrow. I am so pissed because I wanted for this class for dd since November. They rescheduled it for the 23rd, but I am not sure if I will make it to then. Also not sure what to do about dh's course. This storm couldn't come at a worst time. Of course it also means if anything happens to me I will have to go to St. Luke's since there is no way I will be able to drive to Providence in a blizzard.
On better news, my cold is on the mend, thank goodness. Still feel sick, but at least I don't feel like death like yesterday.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
35 weeks
Well I feel a million times worse today with this cold so I had to reschedule my WIC appt until Friday. I can hardly ever get out of bed. I hope I feel better tomorrow because I need to go to the doctor's and I will likely be there all morning long. I don't understand why I am so sick when dd never seemed that sick. She has been coughing on and off for a couple of weeks, but only bad at night and only had one day of a runny nose. I have already gone through 2 kleenix boxes in the past 2 days due to this cold. Then dh had the nerve to pick a fight with me saying he is just as sick, but he has to be up to do his school work and some housework. I told him there is no way he can be as sick as me because I can't even leave my bed. It also doesn't help that my whole abdomen and half my chest is being taking up by the baby and I can't take any meds to make me feel better.
His mother also tried to call today, but it was during the one time that I got up to get some food.
Guess she wants to take dd out on Saturday afternoon. She can't pick a worse time. One we will be out with dd all morning in Providence, two his father is home here on the weekends to help, and three we are expected to get a snow storm Friday and Saturday - so you know MIL would then use that as an excuse to not so up on Saturday. She knows we need help during the weekdays cause FIL isn't here, not the freaking weekend. I am not very impressed with her right now. Then dh goes into how he is sick and I won't get out of bed and help. No mention that I am severely sick and also spotting. No he refuses to tell his mother these things so I look like a lazy no good mother.
The one piece of good news is dd stayed in her room until 6 this morning. Thank goodness because I really wasn't in the mood with having to share the bed with her last night when I felt so rotten.
Just 4 more weeks until they will do a c-section, though I don't think we will make it that far since I have already lost my plug and having some bloody show.
His mother also tried to call today, but it was during the one time that I got up to get some food.
Guess she wants to take dd out on Saturday afternoon. She can't pick a worse time. One we will be out with dd all morning in Providence, two his father is home here on the weekends to help, and three we are expected to get a snow storm Friday and Saturday - so you know MIL would then use that as an excuse to not so up on Saturday. She knows we need help during the weekdays cause FIL isn't here, not the freaking weekend. I am not very impressed with her right now. Then dh goes into how he is sick and I won't get out of bed and help. No mention that I am severely sick and also spotting. No he refuses to tell his mother these things so I look like a lazy no good mother.
The one piece of good news is dd stayed in her room until 6 this morning. Thank goodness because I really wasn't in the mood with having to share the bed with her last night when I felt so rotten.
Just 4 more weeks until they will do a c-section, though I don't think we will make it that far since I have already lost my plug and having some bloody show.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
34w6d
So I am pretty positive I lost my mucus plug overnight. I started having really mucusy brown discharge yesterday, some of it even went on the pad after sneezing. Since it was a small amount and brown and everything looked good with my appt yesterday, plus the fact I had a digital exam on Friday I decided not to be too concerned about it.
Overnight the mucus picked up and I eventually passed a thumb sized glob of brown mucus. After this I continued to spot a bit on the pad, but it seems to have stopped now for today.
I read online what this could mean and it really doesn't say. Basically it is a sign that labour is close, but the time until then can be viable anywhere from hours, to days, to weeks. I really hope it is weeks. Though I know if the baby was born now things would be okay, I would at least like to make it to as close to fullterm as possible.
In other news, I feel horrible today thanks to the cold I caught from dd. I really hate this because after today I have a real busy week. Tomorrow morning going to the WIC office, then Thursday at the doctors all day, and then Saturday dd's hospital tour then we have to get together with one of my friend's so dh can do one of his school projects on her son (since dh has no friends I had to run through my list to find people), then Sunday I have a housecall and then the week starts again. All I want to do is lie here and rest and cut off my nose since it is bothering me so much.
Also I don't know what to do about dh anymore. Everyday his father isn't here to help is a nightmare and it is really getting me concerned especially with how he treats dd. I even called his mother up to complain saying I can't trust dh with dd anymore and that she will need to watch her for half a week when FIL isn't here. Of course she didn't want to hear this and she denies that dh could be that bad and says that we both yell. I may yell but not in my dd's face at the top of my lungs and I don't kick and break things. She even doesn't believe me that I would trust FIL with dd way more than I would dh. It pisses me off she can not see how her son is and how much of a problem it is. Of course she also refuses to help at all (even if we even drove dd to her house a few days a week and drop her off for the day) so I don't know what to do. I wish I was in the hospital because then she would have no choice but to buckle down and help. As for dh, I don't know what to do with him anymore. He needs a stronger dose of meds, but still hasn't even looked for a psychiatrist yet even though his last one left 8 months ago. I can't handle his ADHD maddness anymore and seriously if things don't improve I may have no choice but to leave with dd and the baby because I can't subject dd to that.
Overnight the mucus picked up and I eventually passed a thumb sized glob of brown mucus. After this I continued to spot a bit on the pad, but it seems to have stopped now for today.
I read online what this could mean and it really doesn't say. Basically it is a sign that labour is close, but the time until then can be viable anywhere from hours, to days, to weeks. I really hope it is weeks. Though I know if the baby was born now things would be okay, I would at least like to make it to as close to fullterm as possible.
In other news, I feel horrible today thanks to the cold I caught from dd. I really hate this because after today I have a real busy week. Tomorrow morning going to the WIC office, then Thursday at the doctors all day, and then Saturday dd's hospital tour then we have to get together with one of my friend's so dh can do one of his school projects on her son (since dh has no friends I had to run through my list to find people), then Sunday I have a housecall and then the week starts again. All I want to do is lie here and rest and cut off my nose since it is bothering me so much.
Also I don't know what to do about dh anymore. Everyday his father isn't here to help is a nightmare and it is really getting me concerned especially with how he treats dd. I even called his mother up to complain saying I can't trust dh with dd anymore and that she will need to watch her for half a week when FIL isn't here. Of course she didn't want to hear this and she denies that dh could be that bad and says that we both yell. I may yell but not in my dd's face at the top of my lungs and I don't kick and break things. She even doesn't believe me that I would trust FIL with dd way more than I would dh. It pisses me off she can not see how her son is and how much of a problem it is. Of course she also refuses to help at all (even if we even drove dd to her house a few days a week and drop her off for the day) so I don't know what to do. I wish I was in the hospital because then she would have no choice but to buckle down and help. As for dh, I don't know what to do with him anymore. He needs a stronger dose of meds, but still hasn't even looked for a psychiatrist yet even though his last one left 8 months ago. I can't handle his ADHD maddness anymore and seriously if things don't improve I may have no choice but to leave with dd and the baby because I can't subject dd to that.
Monday, February 4, 2013
34w5d
So after my episode at the hospital on Friday night the doctor told me that I would experience spotting due to the digital exam. I was feeling good not seeing any bleeding at all, but that all changed yesterday when I noticed the toilet paper looked pinkish. Of course I didn't know if it was just due to it being new toilet paper and just looked pinkish. Then today I had some brown blood mixed with mucus first thing this morning. So I am not sure what to think. No blood or spotting since. So either this is left over from the digital exam 3 days ago or I may be losing some of the mucus plug.
This afternoon I had monitoring and my 3 weeks growth scan. The baby wasn't co-operating well for the NST - moving around too much so I almost got a BPP, but the doctor came in and adjusted things. Of course this made for a very long NST appt, but it didn't matter because I still had to wait for my u/s afterwards and that ended being almost an hour wait. I forgot to bring something to drink with me so I was extremely thirsty, made worse with the fact I caught dd's cold so I'm not feeling very well today.
The u/s went alright. She went through the measurements quickly at the end so I never really got to see anything so I was glad I got to talk to the doctor before leaving. He also cleared things up for me from last u/s because I was concerned about the head and leg measuring behind. He said the baby went from the 35% last time to 50 something today. That the abdomen is still ahead, head a week behind and limbs a few days behind, but these aren't important. He said the head last time measured 30cm and they don't get concerned unless it is under 27cm so there is nothing to be concerned about. Because of this I decided to make the next scan for 3 weeks instead of 2 since I am not as concerned about growth anymore since the baby seems to be growing decently. Of course this may change and I may not even make it 3 more weeks, so we shall see how things go. My bp's have been all over the place this weekend. After being borderline high for the last few weeks they went down to values they were back in the Fall this weekend so I don't know. My guess is they are going labile, but who knows if it will lead to anything or not.
While I was out this afternoon I also got a call from the very first client I had needing a rabies vacc for her dog. I know I shouldn't be working, but figure since things are going well and it will be a quick appt of a long time client I have no choice, but to take it, so I made it for Sunday as long as all goes well. Of course if I start bleeding or getting high bp I will have to cancel the appt.
This afternoon I had monitoring and my 3 weeks growth scan. The baby wasn't co-operating well for the NST - moving around too much so I almost got a BPP, but the doctor came in and adjusted things. Of course this made for a very long NST appt, but it didn't matter because I still had to wait for my u/s afterwards and that ended being almost an hour wait. I forgot to bring something to drink with me so I was extremely thirsty, made worse with the fact I caught dd's cold so I'm not feeling very well today.
The u/s went alright. She went through the measurements quickly at the end so I never really got to see anything so I was glad I got to talk to the doctor before leaving. He also cleared things up for me from last u/s because I was concerned about the head and leg measuring behind. He said the baby went from the 35% last time to 50 something today. That the abdomen is still ahead, head a week behind and limbs a few days behind, but these aren't important. He said the head last time measured 30cm and they don't get concerned unless it is under 27cm so there is nothing to be concerned about. Because of this I decided to make the next scan for 3 weeks instead of 2 since I am not as concerned about growth anymore since the baby seems to be growing decently. Of course this may change and I may not even make it 3 more weeks, so we shall see how things go. My bp's have been all over the place this weekend. After being borderline high for the last few weeks they went down to values they were back in the Fall this weekend so I don't know. My guess is they are going labile, but who knows if it will lead to anything or not.
While I was out this afternoon I also got a call from the very first client I had needing a rabies vacc for her dog. I know I shouldn't be working, but figure since things are going well and it will be a quick appt of a long time client I have no choice, but to take it, so I made it for Sunday as long as all goes well. Of course if I start bleeding or getting high bp I will have to cancel the appt.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
34w3d
So after putting dd to bed last night (well putting her in her room so she can cry and scream since she refuses to go to bed now) the cramping was still happening on and off so I decided to go to the hospital and get checked out. I ended up having to wait there for over an hour to be seen (I guess Friday night isn't the best time to go to the ER). Finally got taken back into a private room and hooked up to the monitors. A few minutes later I started to feel sick. Not knowing if it was the room being hot, or me just being hot because I was nauseous, but it was almost unbearable to lie there being hooked up. Finally after the nurse was near the end of asking all her questions and putting them in the computer she asked if I was nausous and I said yes, she gave me a kidney bowl and after a few heaves I threw up, and then threw up some more. I haven't vomitted all pregnancy and actually haven't vomitted for 3.5 years so I don't know why I became so sick there. Afterwards a felt better, but it was short acting and 15 minutes later I was nausous again and begging for some antinausea meds.
I didn't feel any cramping this whole time, though it could be that the nausea was too much on my mind. The monitor never picked up any contractions. The doctor came in did a digital exam said I was long and closed and therefore not in preterm labour. She did say that they couldn't run my urine sample because it had skin cells in it so I had to give another one and they decided to catherize me for it. That was not fun and I think the nurse most have poked something while doing it because the urine was very dark reddish brownish looking. They kept me on the monitor for a little while longer before sending me home. After the catherization I had a huge urge to pee so it was hard to concentrate on anything during this time. Of course when I was finally allowed to pee it strung from the trauma of the catherization. They said my urine was normal so must not be a UTI, but will be sent for further culture. I was just happy to finally leave there, by this time it was almost midnight.
Everything is back to normal today which is good. I do still wonder why I got so sick when I finally got in there though. It was hot in the waiting room, but not as bad as the doctor's office on Thursday so I don't know.
I didn't feel any cramping this whole time, though it could be that the nausea was too much on my mind. The monitor never picked up any contractions. The doctor came in did a digital exam said I was long and closed and therefore not in preterm labour. She did say that they couldn't run my urine sample because it had skin cells in it so I had to give another one and they decided to catherize me for it. That was not fun and I think the nurse most have poked something while doing it because the urine was very dark reddish brownish looking. They kept me on the monitor for a little while longer before sending me home. After the catherization I had a huge urge to pee so it was hard to concentrate on anything during this time. Of course when I was finally allowed to pee it strung from the trauma of the catherization. They said my urine was normal so must not be a UTI, but will be sent for further culture. I was just happy to finally leave there, by this time it was almost midnight.
Everything is back to normal today which is good. I do still wonder why I got so sick when I finally got in there though. It was hot in the waiting room, but not as bad as the doctor's office on Thursday so I don't know.
Friday, February 1, 2013
34w2d
So not to report about my doctor's appt yesterday. It was extremely hot in the waiting room and I felt like I was going to die. I really thought this would show my pressures being sky high, but the nurse said they were 116/84. I don't believe the 116 is accurate - she used my right arm instead of left, because I am not getting below 130s every time I take it at home twice a day for the past month.
I was 3lb more on the scale after not gainning for a month, but that may just be because she used the manual scale instead of the digital scale like I have been using the last number of times.
Have no idea what my urine dipped, but it was pretty concentrated, so I am guessing at least 1+.
While waiting for the doctor the social worker who I meant in the hospital came in for a consult on her dog. It is for this reason I try and keep my career a secret from people because once they know I am a vet out comes the questions. At least it helped past the time.
When the doctor came in I asked for my results from the 24 hr urine from last week. Turns out it wasn't only completely normal, but very low at 60. Not sure why it would be so low so now I am even wondering if the test was even run properly - I mean I had 90 at 11 weeks long before my pressures started to rise and how could I be coming up with 1 or 2 plus on the dipstick with a level of 60? Due to this my appt was pretty brief.
Then I went over the NSTs, but unfortunately they were full at the time so I had to wait, and wait, and wait. I ended up waiting for an hour and wouldn't have been as pissed, but after waiting for 20-30 min a couple showed up and they were then taken 15 min later while I still waited there. If I didn't need the NST I seriously would have walked out the door and went home at that moment. I know I said this before, but I really hate the way this clinic is run. I liked the single ob practice I had with my last pregnancy, instead of this place where you go from waiting in one line to waiting in another so one appt takes half your day, not to mention having to pay for parking so the longer I stay the more money it costs me.
Anyways, everything was fine on the NST, but it seemed the fluid was on the low side at just barely 10 - I blame this on waiting for 3 hours that morning. Anyways, the staff had the nerve to say that if the wait for the doctor's is long that we should come do the nst first if it is less busy. But that wasn't the problem. I didn't have to wait very low for the doctor's and definately not enough time to have a NST done and get back before missing my appt.
At least I only have to deal with this on Thursdays and hopefully not much longer.
Today I am having some major cramping so not quite sure what is up with that, but really don't want to go down to the hospital if they will stop on their own like they have done before.
I really think if I make it to 37 weeks I will my doctor to do an amino so we will know if there is any respiratory issues before hand. I have been thinking about things and really wondering what to do if I can not deliver early and have to make it to 39 weeks. The day I turn 39 weeks is the day after my twin's birthday. At first I was admirate against having this baby born anytime close to that date especially on the actual day, but now I don't know. I don't know how dd would feel. It would make it easier to just have one big celebration on the 5th for both girls than 2 separate days especially when they are so close, not to mention it might be a good thing when they are adults and share their birthdate, but then I also struggle with the fact that I was suppose to have 2 babies born on March 5th, but it wasn't suppose to be like this and dd was suppose to share her birthday with her twin brother not 3 year younger sister.
I was 3lb more on the scale after not gainning for a month, but that may just be because she used the manual scale instead of the digital scale like I have been using the last number of times.
Have no idea what my urine dipped, but it was pretty concentrated, so I am guessing at least 1+.
While waiting for the doctor the social worker who I meant in the hospital came in for a consult on her dog. It is for this reason I try and keep my career a secret from people because once they know I am a vet out comes the questions. At least it helped past the time.
When the doctor came in I asked for my results from the 24 hr urine from last week. Turns out it wasn't only completely normal, but very low at 60. Not sure why it would be so low so now I am even wondering if the test was even run properly - I mean I had 90 at 11 weeks long before my pressures started to rise and how could I be coming up with 1 or 2 plus on the dipstick with a level of 60? Due to this my appt was pretty brief.
Then I went over the NSTs, but unfortunately they were full at the time so I had to wait, and wait, and wait. I ended up waiting for an hour and wouldn't have been as pissed, but after waiting for 20-30 min a couple showed up and they were then taken 15 min later while I still waited there. If I didn't need the NST I seriously would have walked out the door and went home at that moment. I know I said this before, but I really hate the way this clinic is run. I liked the single ob practice I had with my last pregnancy, instead of this place where you go from waiting in one line to waiting in another so one appt takes half your day, not to mention having to pay for parking so the longer I stay the more money it costs me.
Anyways, everything was fine on the NST, but it seemed the fluid was on the low side at just barely 10 - I blame this on waiting for 3 hours that morning. Anyways, the staff had the nerve to say that if the wait for the doctor's is long that we should come do the nst first if it is less busy. But that wasn't the problem. I didn't have to wait very low for the doctor's and definately not enough time to have a NST done and get back before missing my appt.
At least I only have to deal with this on Thursdays and hopefully not much longer.
Today I am having some major cramping so not quite sure what is up with that, but really don't want to go down to the hospital if they will stop on their own like they have done before.
I really think if I make it to 37 weeks I will my doctor to do an amino so we will know if there is any respiratory issues before hand. I have been thinking about things and really wondering what to do if I can not deliver early and have to make it to 39 weeks. The day I turn 39 weeks is the day after my twin's birthday. At first I was admirate against having this baby born anytime close to that date especially on the actual day, but now I don't know. I don't know how dd would feel. It would make it easier to just have one big celebration on the 5th for both girls than 2 separate days especially when they are so close, not to mention it might be a good thing when they are adults and share their birthdate, but then I also struggle with the fact that I was suppose to have 2 babies born on March 5th, but it wasn't suppose to be like this and dd was suppose to share her birthday with her twin brother not 3 year younger sister.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
34 weeks
Another milestone reached. I am now 3 weeks past when I delivered last time and 3 weeks from being full-term, and have at most max 5 weeks left.
I really wish I could enjoy this pregnancy since it will be my last time being pregnant, but with being so tired, being on bedrest and not doing anything while the house just gets more and more messy and disasterous, and constantly worrying something is going to go wrong I can't help it.
Really, I am looking forward to it to all be over so I can be able to do things again (even if it means being tired down with an infant) and knowing she is here and safe. I am also upset I had to shut my business down early - today I got 2 calls and had to refer them to someone else (I bet the other mobile vet in town is starting to love me). I worry what turning all these people away will cost me in the end. At least money isn't as much of a problem. Found out dh is going to get $2000 in the TEACH grant on the 20th along with the rest of his left over loan money so I should be able to pay off all our credit card debit and we should have enough to get by until his loan money comes in again in the Fall and this is with him taking the whole summer off.
I go back to the doctor's tomorrow so hopefully it is a better experience than last Thursday. Still haven't heard the urine's result so I am guessing it is still normal, which I am not surprised about. My pressures are also staying around borderline, so either they will stay like this, but most likely in the coming weeks they will start to rise further to the point I will need to be delivered. Still no signs of PE, though my feet are starting to swell a little, it is very very mild and not noticable by sight (I just notice it by feel like the skin is stretching).
I really wish I could enjoy this pregnancy since it will be my last time being pregnant, but with being so tired, being on bedrest and not doing anything while the house just gets more and more messy and disasterous, and constantly worrying something is going to go wrong I can't help it.
Really, I am looking forward to it to all be over so I can be able to do things again (even if it means being tired down with an infant) and knowing she is here and safe. I am also upset I had to shut my business down early - today I got 2 calls and had to refer them to someone else (I bet the other mobile vet in town is starting to love me). I worry what turning all these people away will cost me in the end. At least money isn't as much of a problem. Found out dh is going to get $2000 in the TEACH grant on the 20th along with the rest of his left over loan money so I should be able to pay off all our credit card debit and we should have enough to get by until his loan money comes in again in the Fall and this is with him taking the whole summer off.
I go back to the doctor's tomorrow so hopefully it is a better experience than last Thursday. Still haven't heard the urine's result so I am guessing it is still normal, which I am not surprised about. My pressures are also staying around borderline, so either they will stay like this, but most likely in the coming weeks they will start to rise further to the point I will need to be delivered. Still no signs of PE, though my feet are starting to swell a little, it is very very mild and not noticable by sight (I just notice it by feel like the skin is stretching).
Thursday, January 24, 2013
33w1d
So I spent over 3 hours at the doctor's this morning so wasn't very happy. First I went in an hour early to drop off my urine. This resulted in the lab women telling me that she could not take the jug without it having a label and I needed to go across to the doctor's office to get a label. So I do this, they tell me I need to sign in right then before they could help me (good thing at least I was seeing the doctor today). So then I had to wait to be registered. Then when it is finally done the lady tells me they are out of labels and at best she could print it on a piece of paper to show that I was registered. So back to the lab I go and wait for a 3rd time. Finally get to go in and the lab women says that being registered wasn't the issue, it is the fact that she can't take the jug without my name on it and as long as someone even wrote on it with a marker or crayon or anything than it would be fine. By this point the hour was almost up and I was getting close to my appt time so she calls one of the nurses to come down and write my name on the jug. Then she says that she can't run anything until after I see the doctor and have him decide if he wants blood work, so I leave with my lab slip not getting any further than when I started an hour before.
Went to the doctor office and asked if they called me, the woman said no, but I was next on the list so I sit thinking I would be called in 5 or so minutes. Over 30 minutes go by before I am finally called and brought back and at first I didn't even know if I was being called because the woman pronounced my name as Chair-o, instead of Cheryl. My weight is still the same as last week (which is the pound less than it was 2 weeks ago) so I don't know what is going on there. My bp was 124/90. Surprised the systolic was so low when I haven't got anything below 130 for the past week. The diastyolic seems to like to stay around the low 90s now, instead of the low 80s or high 70s as it has been doing all along. There was 1+ protein on the urine, so I guess better than 2 weeks ago when I had 2+, the real deciding factor will be the 24hr urine though.
Luckily I only had to wait 5-10 minutes for the doctor instead of 45 like sometimes after I am brought back. The doctor starts off by saying it is good I am now 33 weeks and the baby would do well if born now. I then ask him about delivering at 37 weeks if I make it that far and he starts to balk saying that there is a chance the baby may have respiratory problems if that is done. I don't understand how at the start of the appt you can say 33 weeks is good, and then at the end make like 37 weeks is not good enough. Anyways he didn't totally set down the offer, but wouldn't agree to it yet saying that how I respond over the next 2 weeks will be the deciding factor. I can understand about not delivering too early and trust me it isn't that I don't want to be pregnant any longer, but me and my family really can't take this bedrest and constant worry that I may have another bleed, etc. DH starts school again tonight and I worry to death what this means in terms of him being able to watch dd. I also worry about the bedrest is doing to dd who doesn't understand why I keep going into my room and closing the door so she can't come in. I can understand waiting to 39 weeks with for a women with an uncomplicated pregnancy, but not someone who is high risk like me who already had 3 hospitalizations due to heavy bleeding and starting to be hypertensive. Really no study can tell me it is safer to keep this baby in past 37 weeks, the only thing that will increase past this time is my chance of another stillbirth, and I really can't go through that, not after coming this far.
So I wasn't really pleased with this new doctor. My appt only lasted 5 minutes and in that time he did nothing, but just talk. He didn't measure me or listen to the baby. He then says how it is good that I am no longer bleeding, like the fact that I am not bleeding this second means I won't bleed again. When I have a bleeding episode it happens out of nowhere, there is no warning and usually occurs during the middle of the night to make things harder with having to get dressed and the car cleaned off, etc. So no, I can't be 100% happy just because I am not bleeding right now because it may start again in an hour, 2 days, 2 weeks, etc. But I am pretty sure it will happen again and next time may be the big one that we will not be able to make through okay.
Before I left I had him look at my lab slip and he added the bloodwork so I tried going back to the lab, but it was packed, so I went and did the NST since they were going to close at 12. This was the only time all morning I didn't have to wait. During the test the baby's heart rate slowed down and dropped a few times very low so I was concerned, but the nurses weren't since she was reactive as well so passed the test. After googling a bit afterwards I guess the heart drops were probably okay because they were very brief - a few seconds and didn't get below 90-100, though did come close a few times. I don't have another NST until Monday so it is worrisome that I have to make it through the next 4 days worrying if things are okay.
After this was over I went back to the lab since they still had my urine sitting there - luckily I put ice packs in when I left this morning since it was now 3 hours later since I first dropped it off at the lab. Of course the place was packed again so I ended up waiting almost an hour to finally be seen. Go in and the woman says I should have had the doctor fill out a new form (instead of just adding to it)because my form was from Sunday and that my lab order is not in the computer. By this point I am beyond annoyed since I have no control over people not doing their jobs. She ended up calling again to one of the nurses who hopefully will get the matter staightened out and put the stuff in the computer. If they don't run my urine I will be very pissed since I spent all day yesterday and all night collecting it and it isn't easy when we have one bathroom upstairs and the kitchen is downstairs and I am suppose to be on bedrest so not going up and down the stairs every hour to get the jug to pee in.
Went to the doctor office and asked if they called me, the woman said no, but I was next on the list so I sit thinking I would be called in 5 or so minutes. Over 30 minutes go by before I am finally called and brought back and at first I didn't even know if I was being called because the woman pronounced my name as Chair-o, instead of Cheryl. My weight is still the same as last week (which is the pound less than it was 2 weeks ago) so I don't know what is going on there. My bp was 124/90. Surprised the systolic was so low when I haven't got anything below 130 for the past week. The diastyolic seems to like to stay around the low 90s now, instead of the low 80s or high 70s as it has been doing all along. There was 1+ protein on the urine, so I guess better than 2 weeks ago when I had 2+, the real deciding factor will be the 24hr urine though.
Luckily I only had to wait 5-10 minutes for the doctor instead of 45 like sometimes after I am brought back. The doctor starts off by saying it is good I am now 33 weeks and the baby would do well if born now. I then ask him about delivering at 37 weeks if I make it that far and he starts to balk saying that there is a chance the baby may have respiratory problems if that is done. I don't understand how at the start of the appt you can say 33 weeks is good, and then at the end make like 37 weeks is not good enough. Anyways he didn't totally set down the offer, but wouldn't agree to it yet saying that how I respond over the next 2 weeks will be the deciding factor. I can understand about not delivering too early and trust me it isn't that I don't want to be pregnant any longer, but me and my family really can't take this bedrest and constant worry that I may have another bleed, etc. DH starts school again tonight and I worry to death what this means in terms of him being able to watch dd. I also worry about the bedrest is doing to dd who doesn't understand why I keep going into my room and closing the door so she can't come in. I can understand waiting to 39 weeks with for a women with an uncomplicated pregnancy, but not someone who is high risk like me who already had 3 hospitalizations due to heavy bleeding and starting to be hypertensive. Really no study can tell me it is safer to keep this baby in past 37 weeks, the only thing that will increase past this time is my chance of another stillbirth, and I really can't go through that, not after coming this far.
So I wasn't really pleased with this new doctor. My appt only lasted 5 minutes and in that time he did nothing, but just talk. He didn't measure me or listen to the baby. He then says how it is good that I am no longer bleeding, like the fact that I am not bleeding this second means I won't bleed again. When I have a bleeding episode it happens out of nowhere, there is no warning and usually occurs during the middle of the night to make things harder with having to get dressed and the car cleaned off, etc. So no, I can't be 100% happy just because I am not bleeding right now because it may start again in an hour, 2 days, 2 weeks, etc. But I am pretty sure it will happen again and next time may be the big one that we will not be able to make through okay.
Before I left I had him look at my lab slip and he added the bloodwork so I tried going back to the lab, but it was packed, so I went and did the NST since they were going to close at 12. This was the only time all morning I didn't have to wait. During the test the baby's heart rate slowed down and dropped a few times very low so I was concerned, but the nurses weren't since she was reactive as well so passed the test. After googling a bit afterwards I guess the heart drops were probably okay because they were very brief - a few seconds and didn't get below 90-100, though did come close a few times. I don't have another NST until Monday so it is worrisome that I have to make it through the next 4 days worrying if things are okay.
After this was over I went back to the lab since they still had my urine sitting there - luckily I put ice packs in when I left this morning since it was now 3 hours later since I first dropped it off at the lab. Of course the place was packed again so I ended up waiting almost an hour to finally be seen. Go in and the woman says I should have had the doctor fill out a new form (instead of just adding to it)because my form was from Sunday and that my lab order is not in the computer. By this point I am beyond annoyed since I have no control over people not doing their jobs. She ended up calling again to one of the nurses who hopefully will get the matter staightened out and put the stuff in the computer. If they don't run my urine I will be very pissed since I spent all day yesterday and all night collecting it and it isn't easy when we have one bathroom upstairs and the kitchen is downstairs and I am suppose to be on bedrest so not going up and down the stairs every hour to get the jug to pee in.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
32w4d
So I am back in triage, though this time for bp issues instead of bleeding. I did start brown spotting again overnight after being spot free for 4 days but didn't think it was a big deal. My diastolic pressures started to rise yesterday 93 last night then 95 and 90 this morning so I called the hospital and was told to come in. On check in here it was 96. The systolic has been hovering in the 130s which is normal and the only reason why I think they are not high is because I haven't been doing anything due to being on bedrest.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
32 weeks
Not having a very good day today. I started having lots of mucus with brown blood around 4 this morning. Passed a few brown clots. At 7 there was a streak of red spotting, then brown. I started cramping. Left for my doctor's appt shortly after 7:30. My appt was for 8:45 and it is a 30 minute drive so figured I would have plenty of time for traffic and parking.
What I didn't figure on though was that it was going to be sleeting and people refused and the roads would be so packed that the whole way I drove from 0-10 miles an hour instead of 65. I finally arrived at 9:20 - so almost 2 hours later and more than 30 min late for my appt. Also of course there was no first floor parking or even close 2nd floor parking so I didn't to park on the 3rd floor ramp, almost slipped coming out of my car since the 3rd floor isn't covered and having to walk down the stairs and make the track to the doctor's office. I really wish I could take advantage of one of the millions of handicap spots on the first floor, but doubt I could get a temporary sticker quick enough to be able to use it.
Luckily I didn't have to wait long at the doctor's office, but then I found that my doctor doesn't work on Wednesday, only Monday mornings so I was put in with the resident which I was not happy about since I really need to speak to my doctor about some things. To make matters worse is he is also not in next week because Monday is a holiday and then we run into the same problem for half of February. The one nurse is going to see if I can switch to the Tuesday doctor so will call tomorrow if that is possible. Really don't want to be switching doctors this late in the game, but I can't keep seeing a resident.
I then started the first round of NST due to being 32 weeks now. At first they claimed I am only down for once a week which I got upset about and told them no my doctor said I would be having them twice a week. I specificly remember this conversation with him back in August because I thought it was crazy that that was the best he would offer is twice weekly NST starting at 32 weeks when last pregnancy I had them 3 times a day starting at 29 weeks and didn't even make it to 31w1d.
After much bitching the nurse finally letted me come twice a week if it makes me feel better so I will be going back Friday afternoon. I don't really like the drive or parking costs, but I am not having less monitoring than what my doctor told me he was going to do, especially now since I am having problems. Heck I don't even know if I will make it another week.
I am pretty positive of 2 things though. I will have another bleed, likely by the weekend, and I will get PE and iugr in the next month if I make it that long. I just have a feeling on these things. I also am right now only about 75% positive we will make it out of this pregnancy with a live baby. I hate saying that, but since this bleeding incidents I don't feel very confident and I can't look at any baby stuff right now or even try planning for this baby. I had another nightmare last night that I was severely bleeding and my placenta was fully abrupting. This is the 2nd such nightmare I have had in the past 3 days. I can't even get away from this crap in my sleep!
What I didn't figure on though was that it was going to be sleeting and people refused and the roads would be so packed that the whole way I drove from 0-10 miles an hour instead of 65. I finally arrived at 9:20 - so almost 2 hours later and more than 30 min late for my appt. Also of course there was no first floor parking or even close 2nd floor parking so I didn't to park on the 3rd floor ramp, almost slipped coming out of my car since the 3rd floor isn't covered and having to walk down the stairs and make the track to the doctor's office. I really wish I could take advantage of one of the millions of handicap spots on the first floor, but doubt I could get a temporary sticker quick enough to be able to use it.
Luckily I didn't have to wait long at the doctor's office, but then I found that my doctor doesn't work on Wednesday, only Monday mornings so I was put in with the resident which I was not happy about since I really need to speak to my doctor about some things. To make matters worse is he is also not in next week because Monday is a holiday and then we run into the same problem for half of February. The one nurse is going to see if I can switch to the Tuesday doctor so will call tomorrow if that is possible. Really don't want to be switching doctors this late in the game, but I can't keep seeing a resident.
I then started the first round of NST due to being 32 weeks now. At first they claimed I am only down for once a week which I got upset about and told them no my doctor said I would be having them twice a week. I specificly remember this conversation with him back in August because I thought it was crazy that that was the best he would offer is twice weekly NST starting at 32 weeks when last pregnancy I had them 3 times a day starting at 29 weeks and didn't even make it to 31w1d.
After much bitching the nurse finally letted me come twice a week if it makes me feel better so I will be going back Friday afternoon. I don't really like the drive or parking costs, but I am not having less monitoring than what my doctor told me he was going to do, especially now since I am having problems. Heck I don't even know if I will make it another week.
I am pretty positive of 2 things though. I will have another bleed, likely by the weekend, and I will get PE and iugr in the next month if I make it that long. I just have a feeling on these things. I also am right now only about 75% positive we will make it out of this pregnancy with a live baby. I hate saying that, but since this bleeding incidents I don't feel very confident and I can't look at any baby stuff right now or even try planning for this baby. I had another nightmare last night that I was severely bleeding and my placenta was fully abrupting. This is the 2nd such nightmare I have had in the past 3 days. I can't even get away from this crap in my sleep!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
31w6d
So my u/s yesterday gave no answers, personally I don't think the tech really spent the time to look since the scan only took 5 min and she also had to measure the growth and fluid levels. The doctor thinks I should be happy that nothing was found, but all it does is just makes me even more frustrated. I know something is wrong, so telling me the scan is normal doesn't answer my questions and just makes me worry even more, not to mention it likely makes me look crazy to people - some people already think I am crazy about this bleeding and don't believe me, like I would make something like this up.
I hope my doctor appt goes well tomorrow because none of us can take this anymore. I was up every 2 hours last night going to the bathroom worrying that I will start bleeding again and dh is starting to lose it having to take care of everything around the house.
Tonight we have the hospital tour. Don't feel like going, but we won't get our money back if we cancel now so have no choice. I need to sit in a wheel chair though since I can't walk around. Not sure if anything will be helpful. I only signed up for the tour since I have never been to the hospital before, however now after being admitted 3 times in the past month I know pretty much all the routine that is done.
I hope my doctor appt goes well tomorrow because none of us can take this anymore. I was up every 2 hours last night going to the bathroom worrying that I will start bleeding again and dh is starting to lose it having to take care of everything around the house.
Tonight we have the hospital tour. Don't feel like going, but we won't get our money back if we cancel now so have no choice. I need to sit in a wheel chair though since I can't walk around. Not sure if anything will be helpful. I only signed up for the tour since I have never been to the hospital before, however now after being admitted 3 times in the past month I know pretty much all the routine that is done.
Monday, January 14, 2013
31w5d
So the bleeding stopped until 4am when I tried to go #2. I then passed a bloody clot and started brown spotting that tapered quickly. They refused to give me am u/s here - yet they have no problem running useless tests like an EKG and a drug screen. Luckily I got the good nurse on this morning who I had back with my 1st admission last month, who knows my profession and thinks it is crazy they would even bother.
So like before they are letting me go, so I begged for it to be before 1:30 so I could at least make my u/s appt (which was rescheduled from last week). I hate leaving because I know this isn't the end of the bleeding issues, but I can't bare another day not having an u/s and knowing what is going on.
They rescheduled my dr appt though until Thursday which I AMA bit preened about since I was suppose to be seen this morning and now I have to wait 3 days - and we all know I may not even make it 3 days before bleeding again.
So like before they are letting me go, so I begged for it to be before 1:30 so I could at least make my u/s appt (which was rescheduled from last week). I hate leaving because I know this isn't the end of the bleeding issues, but I can't bare another day not having an u/s and knowing what is going on.
They rescheduled my dr appt though until Thursday which I AMA bit preened about since I was suppose to be seen this morning and now I have to wait 3 days - and we all know I may not even make it 3 days before bleeding again.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
31w4d
So I made it 2.5 days after being released before I started bleeding again. Luckily I was up at 3am when it started with a big gush of blood. I immediately got dressed and went to the local hospital again. It took them a while to find the baby which was real nerve wracking. Also in the few minute drive over I filled the whole pad with blood. I then had to wait 2 hours for the doctor to check me since they wanted the lab results back first. I was also cramping during this time so it wasn't fun. The doctor did a digital exam and pulled out an exam glove filled with blood and then proceeded to to me I wasn't really bleeding red and to go home and rest.
I told him to call Providence that they would wang to see me and have me sent by ambulance but he refused and said it isn't necessary and that if I felt like going there I could drive myself. I was ferious by this point and couldn't believe this doctor was going to send me home with heavy red bleeding just because I wasn't contracting and refused to call my hospital to speak to the high risk team.
I told the nurse to get the stuff off of me and thanks for wasting 2 hours of my time. I then showed her the pad on the bed and after wiping and said this is red. I don't know if they are color blind or what, but I think I know what bright red blood looks like since I have had almost every color of blood under the rainbow. I immediately exited the hospital and since I never the l&d floor before except in a stretcher I had no idea where I was outside. It took me 15 min of walking to find my car(I am duppose to be on bedrest). I was yelling help I don't know where I am but unfortunately since it was 5am the streets and outside hospital was completely vacant. I was so worried that the walking was going to make the bleed more. Finally found the ER entrance and my car and drove the 30 mile drive to Providence going 90 miles an hour in decent fog. I am lucky I didn't get killed but since they refused to send an ambulance I had no choice.
Of course by the time I got there my heart rate was in the 150s and the bleeding died do to a medium flow. The doctor seemed more concerned about my heart than the bleeding and it pissed me off because it was heavy but by then 3 hours had passed. She then tells me they will admit me but it is only because of my heart and says that I need to stop worrying and then asks if there is violence at home. This really pissed me off. The only this I am worried about is having another bleed. There was no reason for this bleed this morning. I was on full bedrest at home. I was doing nothing when this happened and I felt itching before the gush happened and the bleeding started.
Snyder the time I got brought up to a room another 3 hours had passed and the bleeding pretty much stopped to just a few x ant amounts on the pad. I am in her til tomorrow though.
I really don't know why this is happening. It is really nerve wracking and I don't know what to about it. Not to mention the doctors here don't realize how serious it is when it starts because by the time I get here it is on its way of stopping. I don't know why it does that. Like there is a pocket of blood that pools and then releases at once. I cs think of no other explanation.
I told him to call Providence that they would wang to see me and have me sent by ambulance but he refused and said it isn't necessary and that if I felt like going there I could drive myself. I was ferious by this point and couldn't believe this doctor was going to send me home with heavy red bleeding just because I wasn't contracting and refused to call my hospital to speak to the high risk team.
I told the nurse to get the stuff off of me and thanks for wasting 2 hours of my time. I then showed her the pad on the bed and after wiping and said this is red. I don't know if they are color blind or what, but I think I know what bright red blood looks like since I have had almost every color of blood under the rainbow. I immediately exited the hospital and since I never the l&d floor before except in a stretcher I had no idea where I was outside. It took me 15 min of walking to find my car(I am duppose to be on bedrest). I was yelling help I don't know where I am but unfortunately since it was 5am the streets and outside hospital was completely vacant. I was so worried that the walking was going to make the bleed more. Finally found the ER entrance and my car and drove the 30 mile drive to Providence going 90 miles an hour in decent fog. I am lucky I didn't get killed but since they refused to send an ambulance I had no choice.
Of course by the time I got there my heart rate was in the 150s and the bleeding died do to a medium flow. The doctor seemed more concerned about my heart than the bleeding and it pissed me off because it was heavy but by then 3 hours had passed. She then tells me they will admit me but it is only because of my heart and says that I need to stop worrying and then asks if there is violence at home. This really pissed me off. The only this I am worried about is having another bleed. There was no reason for this bleed this morning. I was on full bedrest at home. I was doing nothing when this happened and I felt itching before the gush happened and the bleeding started.
Snyder the time I got brought up to a room another 3 hours had passed and the bleeding pretty much stopped to just a few x ant amounts on the pad. I am in her til tomorrow though.
I really don't know why this is happening. It is really nerve wracking and I don't know what to about it. Not to mention the doctors here don't realize how serious it is when it starts because by the time I get here it is on its way of stopping. I don't know why it does that. Like there is a pocket of blood that pools and then releases at once. I cs think of no other explanation.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
31w1d
So they are going to release me. Though I would rather be at home, I am not happy about this news. The bleeding died down, but I don't know if that is just because I am in bed. I did start dark red bleeding again with clots this morning after going #2 but that eventually stopped. I don't know what to think and frankly just annoyed that I have been dealing with this bleeding crap all pregnancy and just because the baby is fine on the moniter, my pressures are normal and the bleeding died down (both likely due to the fact I am on total bedrest here) they won't keep me and to make matters worse they refuse to give me an u/s even though I was suppose to have one yesterday.
They say I should just wait until MIT doctor appt on Monday and have him reorder one meaning I would have another week or two wait. Well that isn't going to happen. I called up the place and got an appt Monday afternoon. Of course this means now having to be out all day on Monday and getting through the next 3 days without being scanned it is the best I can do. I am so pissed off and if there is something seriously wrong and I lose this baby they are going to pay.
Oh and in other bad news I broke my 6 month old laptop last night - yep 4 hrs after having dh come down with it. Thank goodness I brought an accidental plan when we brought it so the repair should be covered but I am just pissed because it shouldn't have broke at ll. I pressed the screen with my thumb to try and move it and immediately the screen broke and is 100% unusable. I don't get it. My old laptop I stepped on by accident and hot a small crack but still able to use it, this time I just touched it with my thumb, there is no bisable crack. But the whole screen is messed up with lines and colors. I don't understand how my thumb could cause that much damage. At least I have my phone to use, but seriously it isn't the same.
They say I should just wait until MIT doctor appt on Monday and have him reorder one meaning I would have another week or two wait. Well that isn't going to happen. I called up the place and got an appt Monday afternoon. Of course this means now having to be out all day on Monday and getting through the next 3 days without being scanned it is the best I can do. I am so pissed off and if there is something seriously wrong and I lose this baby they are going to pay.
Oh and in other bad news I broke my 6 month old laptop last night - yep 4 hrs after having dh come down with it. Thank goodness I brought an accidental plan when we brought it so the repair should be covered but I am just pissed because it shouldn't have broke at ll. I pressed the screen with my thumb to try and move it and immediately the screen broke and is 100% unusable. I don't get it. My old laptop I stepped on by accident and hot a small crack but still able to use it, this time I just touched it with my thumb, there is no bisable crack. But the whole screen is messed up with lines and colors. I don't understand how my thumb could cause that much damage. At least I have my phone to use, but seriously it isn't the same.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
31 weeks
I was going to make a good post today about reaching my birth date last pregnancy and about my growth scan that was suppose to be done today but I can't.
I woke up at 4:30 this morning to pee. Noticed my pj bottoms were wet. At first I thought great I am bleeding again but it wasn't red so then I thought great I peed my pants when I need to collect every drop of urine for the 24hr test. Then when I went to the toilet that was bright red blood. I immediately woke dh up and tried throwing on clothes to drive over to the local hospital but my car was frozen so instead of spending 5 min trying to scrap it I called 911. Of course then it took the ambulance 15 min to show up and then another 15 min inside to get an iv and everything in. And all this time I didn't feel any mom cement so I was freaking out.
When I arrived at the hospital 45 min later (the hospital is only a few min drive away) my heart rate was in the 140s and my pressures were high. At first they didn't know if they were picking up mine or the baby's heart rate since I was so tachycardia. Luckily they finally distinguished between the 2 and I felt the baby move. One of the women from my lost group lost her son this way so it was a big relief to know the baby was still alive.
It took an hour for my heart rate to come down and my pressures were normal lying down. I passed a quarter sized clot 2 hours later when going to the bathroom again. After that the bleeding slowed down and the baby was responding well on the moniters but because I am seen in Providence they then transferred me over there for further care so by 8 this morning I was in my 2nd ambulance of the day.
At Providence they did the same thing again. The bleeding was now spotting. Finally at 11 they told me that I was going to be admitted again for continuous monitoring so that is how things stand right now.
I have to be on the moniters 24 hours a day, they don't know the cause of the bleeding, I didn't get an u/s since I missed growth scan appt, and I don't know how long I will be in here for. To make mattrs worse a client called this morning so now I have to call them back since I likely will not be working until April now. I can't take the risk even if I get out of the hospital. Yesterday was the first day in the past month that I went shopping since I need to do things (buy stuff for the hospital and put money in the bank to pay the bills) and I seriously wonder if that is why this happened.
My urine is also in the lab so hopefully I will find out the results soon on if I have PE or not. Of course I don't know how accurate the sample I'd now with blood in it and if I did pee my pants overnight. I asked at St Luke's if it could be my water but the doctor says no because my cervix is closed so we shall see.
This is not how I had envisioned reaching 31 weeks! Oh we'll guess I can be happy that I am not delivering today like last time.
I woke up at 4:30 this morning to pee. Noticed my pj bottoms were wet. At first I thought great I am bleeding again but it wasn't red so then I thought great I peed my pants when I need to collect every drop of urine for the 24hr test. Then when I went to the toilet that was bright red blood. I immediately woke dh up and tried throwing on clothes to drive over to the local hospital but my car was frozen so instead of spending 5 min trying to scrap it I called 911. Of course then it took the ambulance 15 min to show up and then another 15 min inside to get an iv and everything in. And all this time I didn't feel any mom cement so I was freaking out.
When I arrived at the hospital 45 min later (the hospital is only a few min drive away) my heart rate was in the 140s and my pressures were high. At first they didn't know if they were picking up mine or the baby's heart rate since I was so tachycardia. Luckily they finally distinguished between the 2 and I felt the baby move. One of the women from my lost group lost her son this way so it was a big relief to know the baby was still alive.
It took an hour for my heart rate to come down and my pressures were normal lying down. I passed a quarter sized clot 2 hours later when going to the bathroom again. After that the bleeding slowed down and the baby was responding well on the moniters but because I am seen in Providence they then transferred me over there for further care so by 8 this morning I was in my 2nd ambulance of the day.
At Providence they did the same thing again. The bleeding was now spotting. Finally at 11 they told me that I was going to be admitted again for continuous monitoring so that is how things stand right now.
I have to be on the moniters 24 hours a day, they don't know the cause of the bleeding, I didn't get an u/s since I missed growth scan appt, and I don't know how long I will be in here for. To make mattrs worse a client called this morning so now I have to call them back since I likely will not be working until April now. I can't take the risk even if I get out of the hospital. Yesterday was the first day in the past month that I went shopping since I need to do things (buy stuff for the hospital and put money in the bank to pay the bills) and I seriously wonder if that is why this happened.
My urine is also in the lab so hopefully I will find out the results soon on if I have PE or not. Of course I don't know how accurate the sample I'd now with blood in it and if I did pee my pants overnight. I asked at St Luke's if it could be my water but the doctor says no because my cervix is closed so we shall see.
This is not how I had envisioned reaching 31 weeks! Oh we'll guess I can be happy that I am not delivering today like last time.
Monday, January 7, 2013
30w5d
Well not a very good doctor appt this morning. I was feeling good that my pressures were back to normal this weekend, but this morning it was back up to 129/93 on my machine. An hour later at the doctor's office it was 130/90, guess I could be happy that my machine is working properly.
I also had 2+ protein on the dipstick compared to trace every other time. So I had to go have blood drawn to check my liver and kidney values and do another 24 hr urine tomorrow and drop it off when I go for my u/s on Wednesday. I am not feeling confident about things and am sure that my urine will likely come back with the start of PE. I guess the only thing I can be happy about is that it is happening much later this time. I am 2 days away from when I delivered last pregnancy and by that point I had severe PE for the past month and a half. If I get diagnosised now maybe I can still make it to my 1st goal of 34 weeks. Of course I am worried what this means for this month. DH is going to be away from the 17th-25th house sitting for MIL and FIL so they can go on a cruise. Of course if I am in the hospital I don't know what we are going to do. I am right now very mad at my inlaws for going on this cruise when I am 7.5 months pregnant, knowing I am high risk and need help.
I am now seeing my doctor weekly so I go back next Monday unless something happens before that.
I also had 2+ protein on the dipstick compared to trace every other time. So I had to go have blood drawn to check my liver and kidney values and do another 24 hr urine tomorrow and drop it off when I go for my u/s on Wednesday. I am not feeling confident about things and am sure that my urine will likely come back with the start of PE. I guess the only thing I can be happy about is that it is happening much later this time. I am 2 days away from when I delivered last pregnancy and by that point I had severe PE for the past month and a half. If I get diagnosised now maybe I can still make it to my 1st goal of 34 weeks. Of course I am worried what this means for this month. DH is going to be away from the 17th-25th house sitting for MIL and FIL so they can go on a cruise. Of course if I am in the hospital I don't know what we are going to do. I am right now very mad at my inlaws for going on this cruise when I am 7.5 months pregnant, knowing I am high risk and need help.
I am now seeing my doctor weekly so I go back next Monday unless something happens before that.
Friday, January 4, 2013
30w2d
The only thing worse than having a cold is having a cold while pregnant. I really have no idea how we got sick. The only time dd has been in public was on the Sat Dec 29th and then Mon Dec 31.
DD started becoming sick the night of the 29th with vomiting, fever, and very tired. However the next day she was fine. Then she had another occasion of falling asleep in the late afternoon on Wednesday as well as an occasional cough each day. I start getting a scratchy throat Wed evening and yesterday it had turned into a headache and overall sick feeling and nausea as well as the scratchy throat. By the end of the day I was coughing and sneezing a bit. I was hoping it would be over for today, but nope my head is killing me and I have 0 energy. It is already hard enough to have energy being 7 months pregnant, but now with being sick it is a million times worse. Not very good when I have a very demanding toddler, a dh with uncontrolled ADHD, and a FIL that is a compulsive liar and pretends to be working all day when he really doesn't have a job. Also I got a call yesterday so now I have a client I have to see tomorrow. I was really hoping to rest this weekend, but I guess that isn't going to happen :(
I am making dh pick me up some tylenol today since it is the only thing it says that I can take and this headache is killing me. If it didn't start when I got sick I would be worried it was a sign of PE. My bp was high last night 136/93, but I think that being sick may have something to do with it, also I got into a fight with FIL about his lying which didn't make him happy and get very defensive since he now knows his lies are coming back to bite him in the ass - of course this still didn't make him confess, instead he tried to slam me with issues about mine and dh's marriage and dd's special needs.
The good news is my pressure was back to normal this morning or else I was likely looking at having to go into the hospital for monitoring.
DD started becoming sick the night of the 29th with vomiting, fever, and very tired. However the next day she was fine. Then she had another occasion of falling asleep in the late afternoon on Wednesday as well as an occasional cough each day. I start getting a scratchy throat Wed evening and yesterday it had turned into a headache and overall sick feeling and nausea as well as the scratchy throat. By the end of the day I was coughing and sneezing a bit. I was hoping it would be over for today, but nope my head is killing me and I have 0 energy. It is already hard enough to have energy being 7 months pregnant, but now with being sick it is a million times worse. Not very good when I have a very demanding toddler, a dh with uncontrolled ADHD, and a FIL that is a compulsive liar and pretends to be working all day when he really doesn't have a job. Also I got a call yesterday so now I have a client I have to see tomorrow. I was really hoping to rest this weekend, but I guess that isn't going to happen :(
I am making dh pick me up some tylenol today since it is the only thing it says that I can take and this headache is killing me. If it didn't start when I got sick I would be worried it was a sign of PE. My bp was high last night 136/93, but I think that being sick may have something to do with it, also I got into a fight with FIL about his lying which didn't make him happy and get very defensive since he now knows his lies are coming back to bite him in the ass - of course this still didn't make him confess, instead he tried to slam me with issues about mine and dh's marriage and dd's special needs.
The good news is my pressure was back to normal this morning or else I was likely looking at having to go into the hospital for monitoring.
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