getting back online

so i, jeramy/hubby have been designated to take this part of our journey over at this point to give tracee some time to continue to relax and focus on what is most important right now: taking care of baby gavin and tracee.
as a rule of thumb moving forward we are asking that each and every person read our blog first before coming to visit. when people are here we aren't going to answer medical related questions as it is too much to repeat and re-repeat ourselves over and over again regarding the health of tracee and gavin. please pass this blog on to any and everyone who would like to know our status and this will serve as the most up to date information and a way that people can continue to pray for us and love on us.
let me start where we left off - or if not, this is the best you guys are gonna get ;-):
monday afternoon we had our scheduled ultrasound at phoenix perinatal. earlier before this appointment at 4pm, tracee had gone over to see her o.b. and get her urine checked as well as her blood pressure. tracee called me just before 4 to check on my status as i was heading over from work. i met her there and we did our "very regular" weekly ultrasound. the doctor came in (who happens to be tracee's o.b's brother-in-law) and he went over everything with us. he let us know that he started phoenix perinatal back in the day and he was responsible for hiring most of the dr's. who are there. that was very reassuring for us. gavin's biophysical profile was 8 out of 8 again (measures his movement/breathing/fluid levels, etc) go gavin! his recommendation was to do ultrasounds on monday's and thursday's moving forward and continue to chart gavin's growth and do his biophysical profiles to make sure all was well with him. just as all 3 of us had been in agreement about what the plan would be, tracee brought up the fact that her doctor's assistant had called to tell her to mention to the dr. doing our ultrasound that her urine was at a "3+." once tracee gave the perinatologist this information his demeanor changed and he said "oh, ok. well that changes everything then." based on what he now knew, tracee's protein levels in her urine were on the rise and that was a major symptom of preeclampsia. he described preeclampsia like that of a snowstorm. it can come on and be upon you before you even now it. with that information he discussed things with tracee's doctor and decided to admit tracee to scottsdale shea hospital and we have been here ever since. the initial plan was to do a 24 hour urine screen to make sure that they weren't getting false results on what the urine was telling them. about 5:30pm we got over to the hospital and by about 8pm she had begun her testing. in addition to that they hooked gavin up to a fetal monitor to track his heart rate and monitor for contractions and tracee's blood pressure. tracee's doctor came in late that night about 11pm and discussed with us that her thoughts were that this baby was going to be coming to us sooner rather than later and that at this point tracee being released after 24 hours wasn't going to be an option any longer. bummer! however, we knew that this was the best possible place for her to be as we wouldn't have the stress of wondering whether he was doing good or not from home.
that first night was a rough night of sleep. tracee had about 12 pillows on her bed trying to get comfortable. the nurses kept coming in to put her back on her back as they kept losing gavin on the monitor. being stuck on your back and pregnant in an uncomfortable labor and delivery bed was not a good mix. it wasn't any better for me either. i slept on this "slightly padded" bench/couch and got about 2.5 hours of sleep.
tuesday was filled with continued monitoring and blood draws and of course complete bed rest. the dr's and nurses continue to evaluate the best plan of attack for keeping tracee and gavin safe at the same time. tracee's doctor was in on her day off and explained that gavin had done some funky stuff for about a 4 minute period with his heart rate and so she wanted to continue to monitor him to make sure they didn't see anything else like that or a continued pattern that may warrant delivery. continued prayer!
we were greeted with lots of visitors on tuesday and tracee felt compelled to entertain them all and be as good of a host as she possibly could. not only is she doing that for gavin but trying for everyone else. as you can possibly imagine that came to a head and tracee's emotions finally got the best of her in front of most of our family here. that was the signal to shut it down for the night and get to bed about 9pm. i got smart and opted for a blow up air mattress! both of us slept much better - probably tracee even moreso with the ambien. she always gets the good stuff!
bright and early on wednesday morning, tracee's doctor was at our bedside about 6am to let tracee know that the urine results were back: above normal is anything greater than 300 in terms of protein in the urine and she was at a 3815. ok, severe preeclampsia was the continued diagnosis and basically that was what they were now determining was a big contributing factor to gavin's growth restriction and some of the blood flow problems he has been having with his cord. at least at this point we had somewhat of a diagnosis as up until this point gavin had been labeled "a mystery."
Good news on her doctor's visit though - gavin's heart and activity had looked great and her blood pressures had come down and were much improved so tracee was taken off of constant monitoring for gavin and she was now allowed to take a once a day wheelchair trip around the hospital and enjoy a little more freedom! :-)
the nursing staff in addition to the doctors have been amazing and as it turns out, rachel, our 7pm to 7am nurse, is a Christian and prays for us and for baby gavin. thank you Lord for your guidance and provision. we visited the NICU for our tour about 11:30 but i will write about that in a separate post. we were greeted with our first meal being brought to us here in the hospital by some dear friends. thank you! we had a few more visitors last night but in a very relaxed environment. i stepped out for a bit with the boys and grabbed a beer and was able to relax a bit away from the hospital. mel and krystal stayed here with tracee and i know she really enjoyed that time with good girlfriends.
they continue to monitor gavin once every 12 hours to see how he is doing and every time they take him off after about 20-30 minutes as they are seeing everything they want to see!! yeah!! tracee has been doing hydrotherapy in the jetted tub here and continues to take it easy and is doing well. we are so thankful and know that God is walking with us step by step and has a plan. "the Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth." Psalm 145:18.
today has been a pretty uneventful day and we will look to do our wheelchair run here soon and hopefully get her a few minutes of fresh air outside. oh yeah, gavin had his ultrasound here in the hospital this morning and he continues to look great and got a 100% (8 out of 8) again on his biophysical profile test!! that's my boy!
we are turning our focus and our prayers towards getting gavin to 28 weeks as that is a big milestone for little babies in terms of long term health and viability, etc. fyi - that day is april 13th. save the date. and then when we get there, we will give you a new one. :-)
that's it for now (yeah, i know i already wrote a short story novel) but we wanted to try and get everyone caught up. remember to continue to check back and direct everyone to this as the source of information. we love you all.

jeramy