so i am pretty sure that this is a cattle phrase, however that is exactly what tracee has been going through over the past 15 hours. her symptoms with the preeclampsia took a bit of a turn late last night and her blood pressure started moving north of 200/100. the concern for tracee's health pushed the dr's forward with a number of medicines to combat the high blood pressure and to slow down what was, in that moment, "a possible imminent delivery." our families rushed down to join us sometime after 10:30 and we hung out until about 11:30 to find out that delivery was now being pushed to the back burner as the medicine had brought her blood pressure back in line. the medicine worked so well in fact that her blood pressure did a complete 180 and was now on the low end of the spectrum. she was put back on constant fetal monitoring as they anticipated that the medicine would make gavin sleepy and lethargic, just as it did to tracee. i am so proud of tracee and the little trooper she has been in all of this to lay in that bed and take the needles and the monitoring and the medicines, etc. all in the name of protecting our family's health. we continue to covet your prayers as we celebrate Easter Sunday here in the hospital. one of the doctors from phoenix perinatal came in with another doctor today to discuss what had occured with tracee and baby over the last bit of time. they seemed relieved to see us in the position we are in now and thankful that they didn't have to pull the trigger and deliver last night. we are so thankful for each and every morning that comes as it spells a new day and one more day that gavin gets to spend in the womb. i prayed that God would place His hand on tracee and that He would hold gavin in His hands at that very moment and i feel that He delivered in that moment. the dr's explained to us this morning that things can change very quickly as we witnessed last night. we are trying to do some quick visits with family today but from here on out we are asking that no one stop by and visit. tracee and gavin need their rest and we need to leave room for the dr's and the nurses to do what they need to do.
we love and thank you all for continuing to read the blog and pass it along and keeping us in your prayers. songs come to my mind each and every day. this morning: God is good all the time, He put a song of praise in this heart of mine. He sustains.
jeramy
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
the NICU
jeramy here. a couple of days ago we had a chance to visit the NICU and meet and greet the team and get a tour of what's to come. one of the neonatologists was there to greet us along with one of the NICU's chief nurses. the neonatologist that met us had also done our neonatal consultation on tuesday and gave us a pretty good idea of what to expect for babies born at 26 weeks. things like their sucking reflexes haven't really kicked in yet and the front of their eyes are there but the nerves that reach out to attach to the retina have yet to do so and that will still take some time.
the NICU is broken into 5 different pods and there are 4 beds to a pod. they walked us down to the first pod to give us a glimpse of what the "bigger" babies look like. these babies are about 4-5 pounds or so. as you move further down the line, the babies get smaller and smaller. God becomes even more real in that moment as you comprehend how He cares for the little ones as the Scriptures describe.
we felt very confident in the NICU and know that gavin will get excellent care. there are so many people in there and they all have a specific job. these guys know what they are doing. the neonatologist loves his job and didn't skip a beat when explaining things which made tracee and i extremely confident. i might have mentioned this before but gavin's "go home" date will be based off of his original due date which is july 6th. so you all can do the math but we are looking at about a 3 month stay in the NICU for gavin. can this really be happening? i say that because when we stop and really think about it, it seems so surreal as if it isn't really happening to us.
we keep praying towards april 13th (28 weeks) and that he would put on some more weight between now and then. we covet all of your continued prayers and "we wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. in Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name." Psalm 33:20-21.
please continue to read the blog and pass it along to others. while we love to get visitors we need to limit visit times to about 20-25 minutes and please no medical questions about what is going on as we will do our best to provide all of that information here. that way you guys can bring as much normalcy inside this hospital room as possible. we love you and thank you.
jeramy
the NICU is broken into 5 different pods and there are 4 beds to a pod. they walked us down to the first pod to give us a glimpse of what the "bigger" babies look like. these babies are about 4-5 pounds or so. as you move further down the line, the babies get smaller and smaller. God becomes even more real in that moment as you comprehend how He cares for the little ones as the Scriptures describe.
we felt very confident in the NICU and know that gavin will get excellent care. there are so many people in there and they all have a specific job. these guys know what they are doing. the neonatologist loves his job and didn't skip a beat when explaining things which made tracee and i extremely confident. i might have mentioned this before but gavin's "go home" date will be based off of his original due date which is july 6th. so you all can do the math but we are looking at about a 3 month stay in the NICU for gavin. can this really be happening? i say that because when we stop and really think about it, it seems so surreal as if it isn't really happening to us.
we keep praying towards april 13th (28 weeks) and that he would put on some more weight between now and then. we covet all of your continued prayers and "we wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. in Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name." Psalm 33:20-21.
please continue to read the blog and pass it along to others. while we love to get visitors we need to limit visit times to about 20-25 minutes and please no medical questions about what is going on as we will do our best to provide all of that information here. that way you guys can bring as much normalcy inside this hospital room as possible. we love you and thank you.
jeramy
Thursday, April 1, 2010
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
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
Sunday, March 28, 2010
sunshine!
today was such a good day. jeramy and i went to the pool to do my hydrotherapy and then lounged around outside all afternoon. it was so nice just to lay in the shade, nap, read and eat the yummy picnic that my hubby prepared for us. gosh, we needed to get out of the house and i have to say...that was the best way to do bed rest. we had a blast laying outside in beautiful 77 degree weather.
it has been hard staying cooped up in the house, either in bed or on the couch so it was definitely a treat to get to spend the day outside. things have been so low key around the house that it was kind of like a date...and it left us both feeling refreshed and ready for a new week.
please keep us in your prayers tomorrow. i will have some additional blood work done and then we have our ultrasound at 4:15. they will be looking at his weight, the amniotic fluid, and the cord. we know that God is completely at work and are excited to see what He did for our little one this past week.
since i had the steroid treatments, i feel like he has become a lot stronger. he has been quite the kicker these past couple days. i am praying he has put on some more weight! come on gavin!!!!
it has been hard staying cooped up in the house, either in bed or on the couch so it was definitely a treat to get to spend the day outside. things have been so low key around the house that it was kind of like a date...and it left us both feeling refreshed and ready for a new week.
please keep us in your prayers tomorrow. i will have some additional blood work done and then we have our ultrasound at 4:15. they will be looking at his weight, the amniotic fluid, and the cord. we know that God is completely at work and are excited to see what He did for our little one this past week.
since i had the steroid treatments, i feel like he has become a lot stronger. he has been quite the kicker these past couple days. i am praying he has put on some more weight! come on gavin!!!!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
visitors!
today has been a good day. joanna and bridget, from work, came over to visit. it was so nice to chat and get to hear all about what is going on at work. it's crazy how much you miss it when you aren't there! they brought me a bunch of stuff ranging from magazines to books to dvd's. i love it! they also got to feel him move, which was super exciting. he has been moving a lot today, which makes me feel so at peace.
oh...and have i mentioned how awesome my husband is???? he is doing so much around the house and went grocery shopping today. he got me all kinds of goodies that i love...ice cream, bananas, pineapple, applesauce, stuff for waffles, yummy cereal, etc. gosh, i'm lucky. he is now cooking dinner for us-pesto chicken pasta. seriously, it concerns me how lost i would be without him! ha ha!
God, thank you for my husband. he's my better half indeed.
oh...and have i mentioned how awesome my husband is???? he is doing so much around the house and went grocery shopping today. he got me all kinds of goodies that i love...ice cream, bananas, pineapple, applesauce, stuff for waffles, yummy cereal, etc. gosh, i'm lucky. he is now cooking dinner for us-pesto chicken pasta. seriously, it concerns me how lost i would be without him! ha ha!
God, thank you for my husband. he's my better half indeed.
Friday, March 26, 2010
come on!!!
i just got a call from the nurse that we saw this morning and she said that my protein levels have increased again. they don't want me coming down to the hospital right now since my blood pressure was looking better this morning. the high levels of protein are one of the things they look at when watching for preeclampsia.
the nurse gave me her cell phone number in case i have complications over the weekend. that way, she can call my doctor directly if i need to be admitted into labor and delivery. let's all pray that this is not the case and that this weekend goes by without any problems. jeramy and i need some days without going to the doctor/hospital. we've been there every day this week.
all of this really gives new meaning to "living day to day"...
the nurse gave me her cell phone number in case i have complications over the weekend. that way, she can call my doctor directly if i need to be admitted into labor and delivery. let's all pray that this is not the case and that this weekend goes by without any problems. jeramy and i need some days without going to the doctor/hospital. we've been there every day this week.
all of this really gives new meaning to "living day to day"...
good news
we went to the doctor this morning to have my blood pressure checked since it has been pretty high the last few days. it was looking much better today. yay!!! they want to continue to monitor it so that they can catch preeclampsia if that ends up becoming an issue.
i am feeling a little better today...not as sore as yesterday. we did go to the hospital last night because my pain had increased drastically between 4:00 and 9:00. they told us there was possibilities of side effects from the steroids, such as contractions. everything checked out okay, which is, again, great news. we got hooked up to the monitors since we weren't feeling him move and once on them, we were able to see that his heart rate and movement looked great. jeramy and i love being able to see that his heart rate is okay and that he is moving. it is just a lot of pressure, especially for me since i am supposed to go to the hospital if i notice a lack of movement or decrease in movement. it's such a difficult line. prior to last wednesday, when we found out what was going on, i didn't read into anything like that. now, it is so hard though because i don't want to "cry wolf", but i also don't want to be stubborn, assuming everything is okay, if it's not. geez...no wonder my blood pressure has been high!
i am really looking forward to today. my mom and sister are coming over in a bit to keep me company and to help clean. then later this evening, my dad and brother-in-law will also come over to join us all for dinner when jeramy gets home from work. company always makes the days go by quicker!
we love you all and thank you still for your support and prayers. God is good...all the time!
Phillipians 4:19
"and my God will meet all your needs, according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
i am feeling a little better today...not as sore as yesterday. we did go to the hospital last night because my pain had increased drastically between 4:00 and 9:00. they told us there was possibilities of side effects from the steroids, such as contractions. everything checked out okay, which is, again, great news. we got hooked up to the monitors since we weren't feeling him move and once on them, we were able to see that his heart rate and movement looked great. jeramy and i love being able to see that his heart rate is okay and that he is moving. it is just a lot of pressure, especially for me since i am supposed to go to the hospital if i notice a lack of movement or decrease in movement. it's such a difficult line. prior to last wednesday, when we found out what was going on, i didn't read into anything like that. now, it is so hard though because i don't want to "cry wolf", but i also don't want to be stubborn, assuming everything is okay, if it's not. geez...no wonder my blood pressure has been high!
i am really looking forward to today. my mom and sister are coming over in a bit to keep me company and to help clean. then later this evening, my dad and brother-in-law will also come over to join us all for dinner when jeramy gets home from work. company always makes the days go by quicker!
we love you all and thank you still for your support and prayers. God is good...all the time!
Phillipians 4:19
"and my God will meet all your needs, according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
Thursday, March 25, 2010
tough day
today has been a pretty rough day. i am very sore from the two rounds of steroid shots, but...it's all worth it in the end. i am continuing to do an hour of hydrotherapy every day (the only thing my doctor is allowing me to do while on bed rest). for those of you unfamiliar with hydrotherapy, i was right there with you. hydrotherapy is where you are submerged in water to your shoulders in a heated pool. this has been known to help blood flow increase/restore. luckily, my sister in law and mother in law have been keeping me company while i stand in a pool for an hour. i gotta say...pretty boring when you are all by yourself!
speaking of, did i mention that i have been on bed rest "officially" for 3 days and i already am going crazy. lucky for me, my dad came armed with bagels and movies to help get me through the day today. ordinarily, if i was working, bed rest would sound so delightful; however, when you are forced to stay laying down, only to get up to go to the bathroom, shower and eat, it is quite possibly the hardest thing to do ever.
destiny and reggie (along with Alivya) came over to the house this evening and brought us yummy enchiladas and brownies. for those of you who don't know the alfonso's...you're missing out! they are quite possibly the kindest people ever. oh, and destiny is one fantastic cook!
we appreciate your continual thoughts and prayers as we are still living day to day and week to week. again, gavin's next big milestone is getting to 28 weeks. that will be april 13th. come on buddy...keep on growing!!!!
Romans 5:3-5
"...but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. and hope does not disappoint us..."
speaking of, did i mention that i have been on bed rest "officially" for 3 days and i already am going crazy. lucky for me, my dad came armed with bagels and movies to help get me through the day today. ordinarily, if i was working, bed rest would sound so delightful; however, when you are forced to stay laying down, only to get up to go to the bathroom, shower and eat, it is quite possibly the hardest thing to do ever.
destiny and reggie (along with Alivya) came over to the house this evening and brought us yummy enchiladas and brownies. for those of you who don't know the alfonso's...you're missing out! they are quite possibly the kindest people ever. oh, and destiny is one fantastic cook!
we appreciate your continual thoughts and prayers as we are still living day to day and week to week. again, gavin's next big milestone is getting to 28 weeks. that will be april 13th. come on buddy...keep on growing!!!!
Romans 5:3-5
"...but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. and hope does not disappoint us..."
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
update on gavin
well, it has been quite a week. i am going to start from the beginning - last wednesday. my hope is that this blog will help everyone stay updated on newest developments. also, i think it's important that everyone has the correct information and now you can hear it straight from us! so...here we go!
up until last wednesday, i had the most perfect, textbook pregnancy. i felt great and i loved being pregnant! we had an ultrasound at 19 weeks to find out the sex of the baby and then were asked to come back at 22 weeks for additional measurements that they were unable to get at 19 weeks. after our 22 week ultrasound, they asked us to come back yet again for an ultrasound 2 weeks later at 24 weeks (that was last wednesday). when we went back, we were told that there appeared to be a few areas of concern.
the first area of concern was a spot in gavin's stomach/intestines that they had been monitoring since 22 weeks. they are still unsure of what this is, perhaps blood, but it doesn't appear to be anything of huge concern at this time...just something to monitor. the next thing they told us was that my amniotic fluid was abnormally low. normal is anywhere between 8 and 25 cc's or some term like that! my fluid levels were at a 7.7. this was alarming to them. the next thing (yes, something else) they brought to our attention was the fact that there was no endiastolic flow through the umbilical cord. let me explain...when his heart contracts as it's beating, there is blood flow, called cistolic flow. however, when his heart releases, there is supposed to be blood flow, called endiastolic flow. our little guy had none. again...this was cause for huge concern with the doctors.
as you can imagine, jeramy and i were so shocked and quite frankly, caught off guard by this news, especially since we have had such a wonderful pregnancy thus far. we then scheduled an appointment for friday with our ob. we met with her to go over questions/etc. she didn't really have any answers for us. she told us this is not something they see and we were a "puzzle" to her and to the perinatologists. we talked with family and friends immediately following our appointment on wednesday and began praying for God's healing touch on our little one. since there were no answers/explanations from the doctors, we knew that this was giving God such a huge opportunity to show His strength and faithfulness to us. boy did He ever!
we went in this past monday for yet another ultrasound. the doctor came in and told us that my amniotic fluid doubled since wednesday. he said, "what have you been doing to get your levels up like this?" jeramy's response..."we prayed". he looked at us again and said, "yeah, but in addition to that, what have you been doing?". my response..."having other people pray". we believe with all our heart that God alone provided more amniotic fluid over those 5 short days. my fluid levels are currently at 15.2 (well in the range of where they should be). the next thing they looked at was the cord and the blood flow in it. they were able to catch movement in the cord when his heart was releasing. they said it wasn't strong enough to get through to him, but there was some movement...which is progress!
they had me go into the hospital yesterday to begin steroid treatments. i had my first round yesterday and my second round today. the reason they are giving the steroid is because it helps lung development for babies born prematurely. the steroid needs to be in my system for 48 hours prior to delivery in order for it to work on his lungs the way that it needs to.
when we met with our ob last friday, i asked her if i am going to lose the baby, deliver early, or carry full term. she said she doesn't know yet. there is still a chance that we will lose the baby although, each day that goes by, i am confident about the progress he is making. and keep in mind that now that my fluid levels have increased, this is less of a possibility. it is pretty apparent at this stage that this baby is coming early. just how early is the question. we want him to stay in there as long as possible if it is the best place for him. however, if the environment becomes to "hostile" for him, and they can grow him better outside the womb, so be it.
at this stage, jeramy and i are living day to day, not knowing what tomorrow brings. but we know one thing......GOD is more in control of our lives now than He has ever been! we have been so thankful to go through this trying time together, to grow our relationship in Christ and with each other. it's a scary place to be with nothing to hold to but your faith, but i have to say, there is no other place we'd rather be.
we are also so thankful for friends and family. people have come through for us in ways we have only dreamed of. a dear friend from church has organized meals for us on mondays, wednesdays and fridays. we are in awe of that! people everywhere are praying...even on the other side of the world. gosh, we feel your prayers. please, please, please, keep them coming!
i realize that this post is extremely long. they won't all be like this as i will be able to update daily...since i am on complete bed rest from now until this little guy graces us with his presence. i hope you feel free to comment, follow, or just occasionally check in with us on here. we will keep you updated as soon as we have more information. like i said, we are going at it day by day.
Psalm 112:7
"he will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord".
up until last wednesday, i had the most perfect, textbook pregnancy. i felt great and i loved being pregnant! we had an ultrasound at 19 weeks to find out the sex of the baby and then were asked to come back at 22 weeks for additional measurements that they were unable to get at 19 weeks. after our 22 week ultrasound, they asked us to come back yet again for an ultrasound 2 weeks later at 24 weeks (that was last wednesday). when we went back, we were told that there appeared to be a few areas of concern.
the first area of concern was a spot in gavin's stomach/intestines that they had been monitoring since 22 weeks. they are still unsure of what this is, perhaps blood, but it doesn't appear to be anything of huge concern at this time...just something to monitor. the next thing they told us was that my amniotic fluid was abnormally low. normal is anywhere between 8 and 25 cc's or some term like that! my fluid levels were at a 7.7. this was alarming to them. the next thing (yes, something else) they brought to our attention was the fact that there was no endiastolic flow through the umbilical cord. let me explain...when his heart contracts as it's beating, there is blood flow, called cistolic flow. however, when his heart releases, there is supposed to be blood flow, called endiastolic flow. our little guy had none. again...this was cause for huge concern with the doctors.
as you can imagine, jeramy and i were so shocked and quite frankly, caught off guard by this news, especially since we have had such a wonderful pregnancy thus far. we then scheduled an appointment for friday with our ob. we met with her to go over questions/etc. she didn't really have any answers for us. she told us this is not something they see and we were a "puzzle" to her and to the perinatologists. we talked with family and friends immediately following our appointment on wednesday and began praying for God's healing touch on our little one. since there were no answers/explanations from the doctors, we knew that this was giving God such a huge opportunity to show His strength and faithfulness to us. boy did He ever!
we went in this past monday for yet another ultrasound. the doctor came in and told us that my amniotic fluid doubled since wednesday. he said, "what have you been doing to get your levels up like this?" jeramy's response..."we prayed". he looked at us again and said, "yeah, but in addition to that, what have you been doing?". my response..."having other people pray". we believe with all our heart that God alone provided more amniotic fluid over those 5 short days. my fluid levels are currently at 15.2 (well in the range of where they should be). the next thing they looked at was the cord and the blood flow in it. they were able to catch movement in the cord when his heart was releasing. they said it wasn't strong enough to get through to him, but there was some movement...which is progress!
they had me go into the hospital yesterday to begin steroid treatments. i had my first round yesterday and my second round today. the reason they are giving the steroid is because it helps lung development for babies born prematurely. the steroid needs to be in my system for 48 hours prior to delivery in order for it to work on his lungs the way that it needs to.
when we met with our ob last friday, i asked her if i am going to lose the baby, deliver early, or carry full term. she said she doesn't know yet. there is still a chance that we will lose the baby although, each day that goes by, i am confident about the progress he is making. and keep in mind that now that my fluid levels have increased, this is less of a possibility. it is pretty apparent at this stage that this baby is coming early. just how early is the question. we want him to stay in there as long as possible if it is the best place for him. however, if the environment becomes to "hostile" for him, and they can grow him better outside the womb, so be it.
at this stage, jeramy and i are living day to day, not knowing what tomorrow brings. but we know one thing......GOD is more in control of our lives now than He has ever been! we have been so thankful to go through this trying time together, to grow our relationship in Christ and with each other. it's a scary place to be with nothing to hold to but your faith, but i have to say, there is no other place we'd rather be.
we are also so thankful for friends and family. people have come through for us in ways we have only dreamed of. a dear friend from church has organized meals for us on mondays, wednesdays and fridays. we are in awe of that! people everywhere are praying...even on the other side of the world. gosh, we feel your prayers. please, please, please, keep them coming!
i realize that this post is extremely long. they won't all be like this as i will be able to update daily...since i am on complete bed rest from now until this little guy graces us with his presence. i hope you feel free to comment, follow, or just occasionally check in with us on here. we will keep you updated as soon as we have more information. like i said, we are going at it day by day.
here are some specific prayer requests...
- pray for gavin's next milestone of making it to 28 weeks inside my belly. the doctors say that this is a huge step in his progress and lessens his chances of ongoing complications.
- pray for jeramy...he is feeling under the weather (understandable right?). he is the most amazing man ever and i respect and admire his strength and Godliness during this time. you have been my rock honey.
- pray for me to get better rest at night and for my mind to stay out of "dark places" (the what if's i often ask myself)
- pray for God to continue to strengthen our marriage and grow us during this time.
- pray for our families as this has been affecting them so much too.
Psalm 112:7
"he will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord".
Saturday, March 13, 2010
oh baby!!!
well...i am almost 24 weeks along and my belly is definitely growing! it has been so much fun being pregnant. i love every single day. i guess i am pretty blessed because i have had a very "textbook" pregnancy. my energy is really high and i feel great going into my 6th month. jeramy and i are really getting excited about meeting him and we love getting to feel him move! i feel him all the time and i have to say, it truly is one of the best feelings i have ever experienced. i find it almost soothing/comforting when he kicks me. ha ha! i love knowing that he's growing and i love feeling him stronger and stronger each and every day.
work is going really well. i am officially on spring break, which is really nice because i feel like i have so much sleep to catch up on! in addition to that, we found out recently that the man we rent our house from is selling it. we had potential buyers come through today to take a look and they love it. fortunately for us, if they end up getting it, they don't want to move in until january of next year. that works nicely for us since a move in the near future isn't quite so appealing to us. jeramy's work is going pretty well with taylor morrison. he is so talented and they just love him over there. we are praying about other opportunities at the moment and know that God will guide us in making the right decisions. after all...He has always provided for us.
we finished painting the nursery today. we went with green. actually the color is called "safari green". it is the greatest color ever! i love it. we found the furniture that we want for the nursery too, which is really exciting. i can't wait to see how it all comes together. my "to do" list is a mile and a half long, which is another reason i am glad that i have next week off. i think we plan on registering this week too, which is overwhelming and super exciting! Here is a picture of the furniture we are going to get.
have a great week and wish us luck as we move forward, trusting that God will provide!
work is going really well. i am officially on spring break, which is really nice because i feel like i have so much sleep to catch up on! in addition to that, we found out recently that the man we rent our house from is selling it. we had potential buyers come through today to take a look and they love it. fortunately for us, if they end up getting it, they don't want to move in until january of next year. that works nicely for us since a move in the near future isn't quite so appealing to us. jeramy's work is going pretty well with taylor morrison. he is so talented and they just love him over there. we are praying about other opportunities at the moment and know that God will guide us in making the right decisions. after all...He has always provided for us.
we finished painting the nursery today. we went with green. actually the color is called "safari green". it is the greatest color ever! i love it. we found the furniture that we want for the nursery too, which is really exciting. i can't wait to see how it all comes together. my "to do" list is a mile and a half long, which is another reason i am glad that i have next week off. i think we plan on registering this week too, which is overwhelming and super exciting! Here is a picture of the furniture we are going to get.
have a great week and wish us luck as we move forward, trusting that God will provide!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
