The Views From My Bed

Had another uneventful night! 4 days down hopefully many more to go! Yahoo! I thought I would do a post early today because it sounds like I'm headed to the University of Washington hospital today. It seems so silly that my insurance company and not my doctors can determine where my care should take place. I just have to continue to trust that this is just one more thing in part of God's plan to make sure that our baby and I are in the place we are supposed to be. I have met really amazing people here at Swedish and I will be forever grateful that they were here to help and encourage me the last 4 days. I'm sure these last 4 days have not been the hardest part but so far it has been the scariest and with out the encouragement of these awesome people I think that I would have been significantly more emotional than I have been!

I thought it might be fun to show you a few pictures from the view from my bed here at Swedish since I will have a new view later today. This picture is from Friday when my parents brought Makenna over to visit. She must have found this room pretty comfortable to because one of the first things she did was take her socks and shoes off and made herself at home.

She even took a nap with me. My sweet baby girl!

On Saturday she took over Nick's murphy bed. She thought she was pretty cool having a big bed all to herself.

She did however decide to share with Nick for a while to. Gotta love the goldfish in the pink basin.

A happy baby (top line) + quiet uterus (bottom line) = Happy Mama!

This little guy is from my nurse friends in Ellensburg. He helps to remind me why I'm doing what I'm doing and it's so cheerful I can't help but smile everytime I see it! If baby comes early this little guy is going to keep her company in the NICU.

A magazine, a new book to read, and my laptop. What else could a girl ask for?

Do you see that blinding light? I got to wake up to blue sky and SUNSHINE in SEATTLE today! It's a rare occurance in February and I'm thrilled to get to see it. My view is actually pretty cool to. I get to look out onto Harbor View Medical Center. It's been fun to watch the helicopters come in and take off several times a day.

I'll update as the excitement of my transfer to UW winds down today. :o)

Made it another night!

Made it another night still pregnant. Hooray! 3 days down and who knows how many more to go. Last night my bleeding was very minimal and I got to sleep most of the night unhooked from monitors, sans blood draws and doctors in and out which felt SO good! Looks like we're heading in the right direction! Knock on wood! Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers! I'll update more through out the day.

Thoughts from Room 504

Its been a crazy 72 hours to say the least. I have experienced many firsts that I hoped I'd never get to experience in my lifetime but I have also experienced many "tender mercy's" from God through these experiences to.

Waking up Thursday to a pool of blood was one of those experiences I'd hoped to never have. I knew my baby was OK because she was moving but I was still terrified because I had no idea what was going on. I am so thankful that I work in the OB department of my local hospital. I was able to call ahead and let them know I was coming. My doctor just happened to already be there, and the girls had a room and the ultrasound machine already set up for me. With in 25 minutes of waking up I was there and they had started the process of diagnosing the issue.

My doctor did a quick ultrasound and saw the small tear from the placenta, gave my nurse some orders, and came back to finish taking a better peak with the ultrasound a little later. When he came back we (Nick, my Dr, and I) all thought it would best to get a second opinion with the ultrasound. Another Dr came in and looked at the ultrasound and immediately determined the same thing and that it would be safer if I was transferred to a larger hospital with an adequate NICU if my baby needed to be delivered early. They were going to send me to a hospital in Yakima that is only about 30 minutes away from Ellensburg but my Dr couldn't get a hold of any of the doctors he was comfortable sending me to there. He and the other Dr decided to send me to here to Swedish where they have an amazing NICU. I feel like the Dr's in Yakima not being available was God's way of making sure that me and our baby were sent where we are supposed to be. It was such a comfort that my friends/nurses cried and prayed with me. I was so nervous and scared of the unknown but their prayers and thoughts reassured me that everything would be OK. I was so grateful that my grandpa, brother Mitch and Nick were able to be there with me and give me a blessing before I headed to Seattle.

I had my first ambulance ride ever. Which could have been a terrifying ordeal in itself but one of the paramedics happened to be a wonderful family friend from church and the other paramedic Nick knows pretty well, as well as the EMT driving. It was nice to KNOW I was in good hands if anything scary would have happened along the way. They had lights on the whole trip and sirens when needed. The drive from Ellensburg to downtown Seattle takes most people 2 hours and we arrived there in about and hour and 20 minutes. They meant business by golly! I don't know how many of you have experienced an ambulance ride but let me tell you laying flat on a gurney, going who knows how many miles per hour on a bumpy freeway is extremely nauseating and a little scary, even if you know you are in good hands.

The Dr's, and nurses at Swedish have been amazing. The group of doctors taking care of me consists of 4 attending Dr's, and 8 Dr's doing their fellowships. I have met all four of the attendings, and at least six of the fellows and I haven't met a bad one yet. It's amazing that there are so many of them and they all seem be on the same page with everything. It's nice to not hear 12 different stories. My nurses have been so awesome! I know I am here for a reason if nothing else to meet lots of amazing new people.

On Monday I may be transferred to the university of Washington hospital if baby and I are stable enough. Only due to the fact that my insurance company is having a little bit of a fit about Swedish not being a "group health" hospital and UW is. I've got a good team here at Swedish fighting for me to stay and have my insurance continue to pay for our stay, so we'll see what happens. All I know is if I'm transferred there, it will be just one more thing that is in the Lords hands and I'll just have to trust that I am supposed to be there also. I know that UW is a great hospital too and it is Swedish hospital's biggest competitor.

Emotions have been a bit of a roller coaster since this whole experience started. The unknown, and what if's are terrifying. I can't help but worry about being so far away from my sweet Husband and Kenna. Our families have stepped up so much to help out with Makenna and taking care of our house while I'm away. We have the best families ever! Nick and Makenna are going to go stay with his parents in Gig Harbor for at least a few days so we are all on the same side of Snoqualmie pass and about an hour closer together.

From the sounds of things I'm going to be in the hospital until I deliver. The immediate goal is everyday I'm still pregnant is great. The short term goal is to make it to 32 weeks (2 1/2 weeks away) and the long term goal is to make it to 36 weeks and they will deliver her then. Please remind me in a couple of weeks if I start to get crabby of this statement: I can do anything for six weeks if it is for my baby. SHE WILL BE WORTH IT ALL!!!

My update for today is that things are stabilizing. So far today (knock on wood) my bleeding has continued to decrease and they turned the magnesium off for now. I am still on pretty strict bed rest but I can get up to use the bathroom which is nice. Everyday is a new story and I'm hoping things continue to look stable for the health of my little girl.

It's amazing to me how in times like these people come out of the wood work to pitch in and help. To also hear that there are literally prayers for me and baby coming from all over the world is a little mind blowing. Please continue to say prayers... and if you don't pray send positive energy our way. We'll take whatever we can get. :o) I love you all!

Between Nick, my mom and I we are going to try and post some kind of update everyday to share whats going on.

Update:

Baby and I made it through our first night at Swedish Hospital and are about to enter our second overnight. Medically, the day was fairly uneventful other than doctors, nurses, ultrasound techs, blood takers, specialists and the like. The million dollar ultrasound machine was finally able to make a clear diagnosis after numerous technicians and radiologists looked it over. I have a larger than tennis ball, but smaller than softball size hematoma (blood clot) near the placenta and near my cervix and is obscuring the view of the of the placenta to determine partial placenta previa (when placenta is covering the opening of the cervix) is there or not. The bleeding is connected to the clot and where the bleeding from the abruption is pooling. I was doing so well earlier, they took me off the magnesium sulfate. This is a medication which controls contractions and also helps the baby's neurological system to mature and prevent cerebral palsy in premature infants. Well, this evening I had another significant bleed. I was immediately put back on the magnesium. Boo! This medication makes you feel terrible with nausea, headache, hot flashes, and all over flu like symptoms. So, I am confined to bed, flat on my back and feeling overall icky! But if it is for my baby's benefit I can do anything! However, there is good news too. Baby seems completely oblivious to all that is going on around her. She is kicking up a storm and according the doctor, she is a total "ROCK STAR" on the fetal heart monitor. I'm thankful I am secure in my little room. Outside my door is a hive of activity. Lots of Moms and babes with issues. I don't want to catch the frenzy of what is going on here. The best part of my day happened when the cutest little girl in the world got to come and visit me at the hospital thanks to her Nana and Papa. We snuggled, played, told stories and she fell asleep lying next to me in my hospital bed. Thank you Miss Makenna! I know many of you are wondering about how long I have to stay here. The simple answer is, the doctors have no idea. Right now they are saying I have to stay until I have had NO bleeding for at least a week. So, we are counting each day that baby stays in as a blessing. The longer the better. We'd like to shoot for full term which would be 7 more weeks, but we will take each day as it comes and continue to know the Lord has this all under control. Continued prayers are welcome and solicited. Thank you for the overwhelming support and outreach to my family! Love to you all!

Prayers Please!

This baby girl in my belly is already giving us a run for our money and our family could really use extra prayers right now. This morning I woke up in a puddle of blood, and headed to the hospital right away. I was hoping it would be no big deal and the bleeding would stop but it continued through out the day and it appears I have a marginal abruption (where the placenta separates from the uterine lining and can cause issues for both me and baby). Because of all of this, I was shipped to Swedish hospital in Seattle where they will be able to take care of our sweet baby if she needs to be born early. At 29 wks and a few days she has a good chance of doing well if she's born early, but will still be in the nicu for several weeks. As of right now the plan is to hopefully keep me pregnant for at the very least the next 48 hours to allow enough time for the steroids to help babies lungs mature kick in all the way. Baby has looked fabulous all day, and seems happy as a clam to be staying in-utero a bit longer. We won't have a better plan until the morning but please keep me, baby girl, Nick and Makenna in your prayers. I'll update as I know more.

Birthday Fun!

For Makenna's birthday Nick, myself and our Mom's took Makenna to build-a-bear. We had so much fun! We ate lunch before we went to build-a-bear. Because it was her birthday, they brought her a perfect kid size ice cream sundae and sang happy birthday to her. She loved being sung to, she giggled and smiled the whole time. I unfortunately didn't get my camera out fast enough to take a picture of them singing, but I got pictures of her enjoying her delicious sundae.

BIG bite!

Now BUZZED! This is also her new pose when you ask her to say cheese... fantastic!

Of all of the choices of animals Makenna had, she picked a monkey of all things. Nick's brothers both have build-a-bear monkey's, I'm sure it makes them proud that the monkey lives on!

Getting her Monkey stuffed and giving her a heart.

All stuffed! Just needs a quick stitch up the back to be ready.

Giving monkey a bath.

Getting her birth certificate ready, Nick was at the computer next to her but she wanted to be important to. Nick and I named the monkey Phoebe because Makenna was to busy doing other things to help us. She has since renamed her Cocoa. So Cocoa it is!

All done!

The pose comes out again! Silly girl!

Makenna also discovered the fun of an escalator yesterday. She made Nick take her up and down a billion times.

Thank you Grandma Sherrie and Nana Carole for a fun day in Bellevue!

Cocoa

I have a feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

I also made a jello cake for Makenna's birthday treat that we enjoyed with her last night. We sang happy birthday one last time. I guess you can't sing or say that enough to someone on their special day!

Happy Birthday Makenna!

Two years ago today at 10:12pm our beautiful baby girl was born.

We became a family of three,

And I became a mommy for the first time.

Our tiny 7 lbs 2 oz baby started to grow and in a blink of an eye,

She turned ONE!

I blinked a second time and today she is TWO!

The last two years haven't always been easy but they have been the best of my life. I wouldn't trade this beautiful girl for anything! I love you Makenna Grace! Happy Birthday my sweet angel girl!