We made it!

35/36 weeks

We made it! No longer have anything to worry about! (besides having to labor a child...)

34w6d turned 34w

34w6d
34 weeks

I'll try to make this update short and sweet - plus it has pictures, so that's a bonus! ;)

32w3d

I realized that I haven't taken a "formal" pregnancy photo for 10 weeks. This was something that I had originally planned on doing on a weekly basis but that was far before everything became complicated and less "normal". 

& now we sit and wait.

31w5d

I am on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy.
Our goal is to at least make it to 34 weeks.
If we make it to 35 weeks then we can deliver at our hospital (which is only 10 minutes away). If we deliver before 35 weeks then we have to deliver at Children's Hospital in Milwaukee.

Registry information

We are registered at the following places:

Target - 
View Target Registry Online
(Target is being a bully and won't let me directly link it - you'll have to enter either my name or Kevin's name after clicking the link.)

Buy Buy Baby - (Classic Pooh stuff can be found here)
View Buy Buy Baby Registry Online

Ethel's Bookshelf

This is a list of the books that the baby has so far.

Preterm Labor (Part 2)

Click here if you haven't read part 1.

Part 2

After settling in with the new staff and getting reconnected to all of the machines it was near 4am before either of us fell asleep and even then it only lasted for 2 1/2 hours. A nurse came in and drew blood and I figured it was a good time to contact a few people to let them know what was going on. We didn't want to worry anyone the previous night - especially since we didn't know what had been going on for the first 6 hours but at this point they were talking weeks of hospital bed rest if the baby hadn't forced her way out within the next few days. They didn't have much hope that I would be leaving the hospital pregnant.

Preterm Labor (Part 1)

30 weeks

We spent 17 days in the clear. Dr Jones gave us the all clear on January 9th and after she did so I told her I hoped it wouldn't change - especially after my glucose test the following week. Thank goodness my glucose came back fine. I was anemic and had to start iron supplements but other than that, nothing else was looming over our heads anymore.

That changed pretty drastically on January 26th.

The 4th & last follow up!

January 9th

Today was the last scan as a follow up to the thickened nuchal fold. (It has a more medical term but it is never understandable when the doctors say it.) I was under the impression that I would have noticed when the baby moved to the head down position but guess I was wrong. One of the first things that the tech pointed out was that she was head down.

Merry Christmas!

23 weeks

Follow-up #3

November 21st - Fetal Echocardiogram at Herma Heart Center, Children's Hospital

One of the major concerns from the thickened nuchal fold was that it could have been caused by an abnormality in her heart. Her heart had been checked at the previous two appointments but it was required (with an abnormal NT scan) that a scan be done by a heart doctor. Thankfully the previous ultrasound tech had warned me that, unlike herself, the doctor that would do the echo scan would not talk during the ultrasound. 

Follow-up #2 (19 weeks)

Appointment #2 - November 14th

Another scan - this time closer to home in the hospital that my clinic and doctor are in.

Everything went great once again. All organs look normal and are developing the way they should be. The tech was really nice and explained everything she was looking at as she was bringing it up on screen. She confirmed and showed us that the baby was a girl (which didn't need to be confirmed but Kevin had asked for confirmation).

17 weeks

1st of 4 follow up appointments (15 weeks)

Our first follow up to the NT scan and CVS testing was October 16th.

At this scan they would be able to look at the baby's organ development and see if the thickened nuchal fold had been caused by organ abnormality. The Milwaukee doctor had requested that I come down by her for the next scan and if everything went well then I could see the perinatology doctors at the hospital that was closer to my house. It was also required that I meet with Barbara beforehand, something that typically was done before the NT scan but had been waved off since my scan had come with such urgency.

The 24 hours after.

I don't think I have to tell you how long 24 hours can be when you're waiting to hear about the fate of your child. The day that I got home from the ultrasound there was a lot of crying as I told Kevin and then a few select people. Kevin made me dinner and despite the mess I felt I was internally, I managed to eat - I still needed to take care of the baby. After dinner was over the doorbell rang; a package had been delivered. In the worst possible time ever, my insurance company had sent me a "Congratulations on your pregnancy" package, including a week by week pregnancy book. I looked up CVS in the index and read the very small blurb that had been my day. Had I read it prior to my day, I wouldn't have been any more prepared for what I had gone through. I threw the box along with the book on the kitchen table. It broke my heart to look at it. I spent the night watching TV for distraction and checking my temperature as instructed by the doctor.

The day I stopped worrying.

The day of my NT scan (nuchal translucency screen) I worked in the morning. I was anxious but I wasn't afraid. Like I had said previously, I knew that worrying couldn't change the outcome. To be completely honest, as I got ready to leave for my appointment I had calmed myself by thinking that there would be nothing wrong - the previous ultrasound tech and doctor weren't looking at the nuchal fold when they found it - so I'm sure they didn't even get the proper images needed to determine it was "too big". I wasn't even entirely sure what "too big meant". I started to do research but then I started to drive myself insane so I stopped immediately.

Weeks 4-11

I have quite a bit to backtrack on so I'm going to lump most of the first trimester into one entry.