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I made invitation for Lynnea's baptism on Shutterfly! I love it! http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Actm7Nw0auGL5o&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET Check it out!

32 weeks!

Well, as of Friday, September 23, I am 32 weeks! Yay!

Ten days ago the goal was to get me at least the first shot of betamethasone to give the baby's lungs a boost.

Nine days ago the goal was to still be pregnant at 7:30 that evening so I could get the second shot of the same medicine.

Eight days ago the goal was to still be pregnant at 7:30 in the evening so that those drugs would have had the time to be fully effective.

Seven days ago the goal was so stay pregnant until 32 weeks so that our little one might be able to skip the N-ICU and go to the special care unit instead.

Well, I've reached 32 weeks and I'm still pregnant! We still don't have a guarantee that if she came right now she wouldn't go to the N-ICU, but the odds are much higher after 32 weeks that she may not have to! I am still dealing with bleeding, and though most days it is barely anything, it is still blood so I remain in the hospital. To be honest, the concept of bleeding while pregnant is scary to me, so I don't mind being here.

On Wednesday I got to go for my first wheelchair ride! It was so great to get out of my room! My mom had brought A down for the day to see me and my brother's wife had come down on Tuesday night and stayed with me, so the four of us went to lunch together. It was so great. My little A road on my lap the whole time which I just loved!

On Thursday my dad stopped in and he took me for another ride! I also got to meet some of my neighbors. It was so fun to visit with them and hear a little bit of their stories.

So there's he update for now. J has been at home working and A is there with him. My mom has also been there this week. It's so good for my heart to know everyone's fine.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support! Next goal... be pregnant next Friday and hit 33 weeks!

Sunday night.

Well, its Sunday night already! I had a weekend full of love and support as I had visitors from all over! My shelf is full of beautiful flowers, my bedside table is loaded with books and magazines and a little drawer by my bed is filled with delicious treats! Thanks to everyone who has blessed me with their presence and their presents this weekend!

I went two hours without bleeding on Saturday but then started again. Then I went 17 hours today before I started again, so hopefully it keeps getting longer and longer so I can finish my bedrest at my in-laws!

Physically I am feeling pretty good. My rear end and my back are a little sick of bed, but I'll deal with that! I do get contractions when I get out of bed to use the restroom which seem to be getting a little stronger each time, but still aren't much compared to the ones I was having on Tuesday.

Emotionally tonight was rough. Saying goodbye to J and A was almost more than I could handle. But I'll get to see them both again next weekend. I am now, more than ever, thankful that I am married to J. He has done such a great job having to be dad and mom to A. It helps so much to know she is in the hands of such a great daddy.

My parents got to our house tonight. Tomorrow my dad will be stopping in to see me (woo hoo!) On his way to work. My mom will be staying the week at our house watching A while J works. I'm sure that J will appreciate not having to do all the laundry! :)

I've been trying to think of baby names while I've been in bed and haven't decided on one yet... of course A was a few hours old before she had a name... so if I can't decide on one now I suppose I can after she arrives!

thursday afternoon update...

I received a bunch of information from a doctor yesterday morning and so here's my latest update...

I will not be going home before I have this baby. So if you're in PR, feel free to stop in and cook my husband a meal... but I am on bedrest until this baby arrives. If I stop bleeding and have no bleeding for five to seven days, they would discharge me and I would finish my bedrest at J's mom's place because I need to be close to ANW. But if I have any bleeding at all, my 5-7 day count starts over again.

I was also told I have a new due date... if I haven't delivered by 36 weeks (october 21) they will deliver me that day. But my Dr said that only 1/3 women in my situation will make it alll the way to 36 weeks.

I had another ultrasound yesterday and they said it is not a "marginal" privia. I was told that I could hemorrhage again and if I did it could be worse than it was on Tuesday. That is the main reason I'll be near this hospital until this little one arrives.

After the baby arrives we will probably be spending some time in the SCU, or the special care unit. That's good because its a step up from the N-ICU.

So that's what I learned yesterday. I'll hopefully be seeing my doc again this morning but am not expecting a whole lot of new information .

Thanks again for all the love and prayers!

an unexpected day...

Well, Tuesday was a little bit of a crazy day. A and I were over at Nana B's for lunch and I was kneeling next to Tue toilet to help A on the potty. I felt a warm sensation and wondered if I had just had an accident. I stood up to use the toilet myself and noticed my pants were full of blood. I know immediately that something is wrong and yell for Grandma to come into the bathroom. I tell her that I am hemorrhaging blood and she needs to call 911 right away. Then I yelled for Grandpa to call J, and then my mom.

I was laying on the bathroom floor surrounded by so much stuff I assumed my water had broke. That thought seemed like a sure thing when the contractions started a few moments later.The paramedicsarrived and got me into the ambulance. I had asked to go to my regular hospital but they said because of the extreme amount of blood loss, they were taking me to the nearest hospital.

By the time I arrived at the er my contractions had gone from seven minutes apart to two and a half minutes apart. I was met by at least a dozen wonderful staff and within minutes the OBGYN was there ultrasounding the babe. He said it did not look like I had ruptured my water and what had actually happened was that a marginal placenta privia had begun to tear away from my uterus. I was so happy to hear that my water hadn't broke. J got there about then and was able to be brought up to my room with me.

They started me on a drug to calm down my uterus and stop the contractions. It worked really well. By the time my parents arrived the contractions had pretty much stopped and I wasn't bleeding anymore. A few hours later the doc said I could get my cath out. That was awful. And it made me feel like I had to go, so my sweet nurse let me try and I almost fell over from the pain. When I got back into bed I felt blood flowing again. And then the contractions started again.

They started pumping me full of that medicine again and it just wasn't doing its job like it had before. They did another ultrasound and baby still looked good, so doc said he wanted to give me an hour to see if the meds would work. After a while I told my nurse I felt like I would bleed any time I moved my upper body. She checked it out and said it wasn't blood anymore. All of the nurses and the doc were sure my water was leaking. Doc said now was the time to move me to a place with a N-ICU. And then things happened really fast.

Before I knew it the crew from the helicopter were in my room getting me ready for transport . Tubes everywhere... moving pretty fast... and yet I felt pretty calm. This can only be credited to the loads and loads of people praying for me. Because I probably should have been a hysterical mess. But I wasn't. I kissed my parents and told them I'd see them in a few hours. J wasn't with me at this time, he had gone on my orders to spend some time with our little A. But at this same moment he was packing up A and the dog to bring them to his grandparents and coming to meet me at the hospital in the cities.

The flight went really quickly. As we were landing I started having some serious side effects to all of the "mag" they had given me to calm down the contractions. The doc and nurses down here at ANW couldn't believe how much mag I had been given and immediately started another drug to counter all the mag. This made me feel better, but then the contractionsgot more intense again.

Before I knew it J's mom was by my side stroking my hair. It was really nice to have here there right away. She uad come with J's step dad and it was really comforting when he came in and gave me a kiss on the forehead. Kind of like he was there to protect me. :)

During this time the counter meds were doing their job and I was starting to feel a little bit normal again. They did an ultrasoundand said they didn't believe my water had actually broken. Now I really don't know how I feel about this, but either way, I'm not leaking fluids right now and that's good.

My besty was also here and just seeing her about made me lose it. She's been my best friend for more than half my life and having her here meant so much to me.

J finally arrived and my parents were about twenty minutes behind him. By now it was almost midnight so mom and dad found a hotel near by and J's mom headed home too. Poor J is trying to sleep on a fold out chair in my room. And I just can't sleep. They gave me some meds to help me sleep but it only lasted a couple hours.

I'm hoping they will let me eat in the morning. I've hardly had anything since Monday night.

The next thing we are waiting for is for me to be able to get another shot to help the baby's lungs mature. I have to wait until 7:30 on Wednesday night for that. Otherwise they are going to keep monitoring my contractions and the baby. If I did have to delivery now it would be a c-section because of where my placenta is right now.

In the morning I will head over to the perinatologist office I believe. I'll try to keep you updated as best as I can.

Thanks again for all of the love and support we are already receiving !

Things I've meant to post... take two!

A few weeks ago Uncle C had his graduation party which meant a weekend in the cities! Little miss A is always quick to tell you that this Papa and Nana have a pool and horses! And boy does she love both! This year she's a little more willing to let daddy throw her up in the air!

Just about back in the water! She knows a big splash is coming! Just look at her face!

But she just loved it! She would say "More Up!" as soon as J would catch her! I think the only reason they stopped was because J's arms got tired!

So that was our fun weekend in the cities!

Things I've meant to post...

There have been a few fun things I've been meaning to post in the last month and I haven't... so here's the first.

My little A loves watermelon. Well, pretty much any fruit, but she really loves watermelon. So how can you make something like watermelon a little more fun for a 2 year old's snack? Cookie cutters!
I took out my mini cookie cutters from Pampered Chef and started cutting!

And the result? One super excited toddler! Yay!

I think I'll have to try it on some more fruit soon. And of course mama got the treat of eating all the chunks of watermelon from between the star cutouts! :)

Hope you're having a great week!