The Dotsons

Well, here we are at 36 weeks and no Aubrey!  This is a good thing, though...even though we are ready to meet our girl and I'm ready to take back control of my body, ha!  A few weeks ago, we had our doubts that I would make it to 36 weeks and now I'm almost 37 weeks. (which is full term - yay!)  God is good!








Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 36 weeks, 5 days

Size of baby:  weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long.  (according to babycenter.com)  I have to say, I feel like Aubrey is a giant!  I feel like she is taking up every possible millimeter of space there is in my belly.  I do not remember feeling this way with Caleb.  Dr. Tran also thinks she might be big, so if I make it until Friday, we are going to have an ultrasound to try to estimate her size.  Caleb was average (7 lb 11 oz) and I had trouble pushing him out (ended in a forceps delivery), so she is just concerned that if Aubrey is larger that I might have some issues.  We will see!  I really hope she measures normal because I don't even want to think about having a c-section if I can help it.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  I gained back 2 lbs (after losing 3 1/2 last week).

Maternity Clothes: of course!

Gender: girl - Aubrey Lauren

Movement:  she hasn't been quite as active this week, but probably because I've been having contractions all week.  She still likes to kick or stretch up into my right side (ribs) and it hurts!

Sleep: not sleeping great...still having to get up to go to the bathroom and turn my big self over.

Symptoms: contractions!  I finished the albuterol last Sunday and started having contractions on Monday!  Since I was still on bedrest on Monday, I was able to time them pretty much all day.  They ranged from 7 minutes (well, a few 5 minute intervals here and there) all the way up to like 20 minutes.  I called the doctor's office and the nurse said to call back if I had them every 7 minutes for 30 minutes.  Late that night while Rhett and I were watching TV, I timed for an hour and they were almost all 7 minutes apart so I called the on-call service (this was around 11:15pm that I called).  The on-call doctor said that I did not need to come in and to call back if they got painful or closer together.  I continued to have contractions all week but they are not painful and they are still not close enough together.  I did not sit and time them all week, but I'd say that on average I am still having them roughly 7-10 minutes apart for the most part.

What I miss:  at this point, I miss being the lone occupant of my body - LOL.

Cravings: nothing specific this week

Best moment this week:  getting to hear Aubrey's heartbeat again at my appointment on Friday (it's always comforting to hear that!).  We asked Dr. Tran how long I could continue to have contractions like this without it being harmful to her and she said as long as her movements do not drastically decrease then we shouldn't worry too much about it.  She did hook me up to the monitor to see how she was reacting to the contractions and her heartrate was perfectly fine throughout.  Also, she checked me and said I'm about 3 1/2 cm dilated, so just a little more.  (but that is better than nothing more!)

What I am looking forward to:  um, having this baby!  :-)

Yay for making it to 35 weeks!!  (well, now almost 36 weeks since I do these posts at the end of the week)

Oh man, do I ever look haggard in this picture - ha!  Still on bedrest....still no makeup!  I took one look at this picture and almost went and put some makeup on to re-take it....but then I thought I'd keep it real and just go with it!  This is real life, people.





Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 35 weeks, 5 days

Size of baby: over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon)(according to babycenter.com)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I went to the doctor on Thursday and I had lost 3 1/2 pounds since my appointment the previous week.  Dr. Tran measured my belly and I measured right on and had grown in a week, so Aubrey is still growing.  She says it was probably just water weight and since I've been on bed rest, I am not retaining as much fluid.  It was weird to step on the scale and see that I had LOST weight!

Maternity Clothes: of course!

Gender: girl - Aubrey Lauren

Movement: she's still wiggling around in there!  These past few days, she's been kicking or punching up into my right rib cage and it hurts!

Sleep: Early in the week I had some killer heartburn so I barely got any sleep Monday and Tuesday night.  Since Wednesday, I have been feeling better and sleep is about the same as it was before (still have to get up a lot to go to the bathroom).

Symptoms: the worst heartburn I've ever had!  Also, I think maybe I came down with something on Mon/Tues because I had terrible heartburn Monday night and ended up feeling very nauseated early Tuesday morning.  I actually vomited (sorry if TMI) and then felt better for a short while.  That did not last long because I was nauseated for most of Tuesday.  By Wednesday morning, I felt much better and ever since then, I have barely had any heartburn.  I don't know if the heartburn and the vomiting had anything to do with each other, but I'm just glad that's over!  (hopefully to never return!)

What I miss:  being able to play more with Caleb...and leaving the house  :-)

Cravings: nothing specific this week

Best moment this week:  probably Wednesday when I started feeling better.....Tuesday was BAD!

What I am looking forward to:  tomorrow is my last day of bed rest and then I will be a free woman on Tuesday!

Caleb is 23 months old!  This month, I'd say the biggest change has been in his vocabulary.  He is trying to say all kinds of things and starting to repeat more and more of what we say.  It's so fun to hear him attempt to say things and it sure makes communicating with him a bit easier.  He is even saying many three-word phrases/sentences and he's just become quite the chatter box!  A lot of things that used to be his own interpretation of the word (like "tie-tie" for "outside") are now sounding more like the actual word ("out-tie" for "outside" now).  I haven't been good about keeping up with things this month, so let's see what random things I can think of....


* As I said, he's saying all kinds of words and phrases now.  I really couldn't write them all down but here are a some I can think of:
chicken ("tick-en") - what he used to say didn't really sound like chicken, but now you can clearly tell what he's saying.

syrup ("surra")

pancake (pretty much like it sounds)

grapes ("gapes") - he used to say "gee" and now you can tell he's saying grapes.

wagon (pretty much like it sounds) - used to be "wa-wa"

peaches ("pete-es") - he LOVES peaches now, whereas he used to not eat them.

wood ("woo") - he wants to cut and build with wood like daddy!

hammer ("hay-ya")

drill (sounds kinda like "dill")

book (just like it sounds) - he's added the "k" sound to the end now

read ("ree")

I love you (sounds like "I do")

Home Depot ("home bepo") - it sounds so cute when he says it!  he loves going anywhere with daddy, including the HD!

all done (like it sounds)

friends ("fins")

get down (like it sounds) - umm, he might have heard us say this a time or a two to the dogs, ha!

big tee-tee (like it sounds) - we always say he has a big tee-tee in the mornings and he's picked up on saying it, LOL

big pool ("big poo") - this is our neighborhood pool

yellow ("ye-whoa")

broken ("bwo-keen")

Some other 2 and 3-word phrases/sentences he says - Daddy go work, Mimi (or whoever) go bye-bye, more (food/drink item) please, no no Rio (or Tag...usually not Roux), night night mama/daddy/Rio/etc, daddy painting, daddy working, ok mama/daddy, alright mama/daddy, I love you mama/daddy/etc


* He is taking great naps and goes to sleep within minutes of laying down.  As always, he cries just a little and then goes to sleep.  I try not to let him sleep more than two hours though.

* Going to sleep at night is a different story!  We are (yet again) going through a phase where he just doesn't want to go to sleep.  We try to put him down around 8:30pm and some nights he will stay awake until 10pm or even later.  He has stayed awake as late as 11:30pm!  On a good night, he will be asleep before 9:30pm but more often than not, he's awake past 10pm.  He doesn't get out of his bed often, though.  He entertains himself by kicking the walls, playing with his stuffed animals, pulling on the curtains, breaking the blinds, getting his legs stuck in the railing, talking to himself, and sometimes jumping up and down.  I really hope this phase passes soon!

* Ever since he saw Daddy and G-Dad building his bed, he has been obsessed with wood and tools!  I think it's cute that he wants to be like daddy!  Rhett gave him 10 or so little pieces of scrap wood and he plays with those things all the time!  He stacks them, cuts them with his saw, drills on them, hammers them, and sometimes he just lines them up or moves them back and forth from one place to another.  He calls them his "pieces of wood" ("pee woo").

* He LOVES to help ("hep!") us do anything and everything.  He really likes to swiffer and of course, any time daddy is doing something outside in the garage, he wants to help.

* Ever since we set up his big boy room, he's been playing by himself in his room a lot more.  He goes in there and looks at books or plays with his kitchen or other toys quietly.

* For some reason, he's been into playing with his activity table for the past few weeks (the one he got for his 1st birthday).  He plays and dances to the music and laughs hysterically.

* He went on a vegetable strike for a few weeks, but he's at least now back to eating carrots.

* He is getting better at eating alone with his fork and spoon.  The other day, he ate almost an entire little cup of applesauce all by himself (holding the cup with one hand and scooping with the other) and he didn't even get much on his clothes. 

* I don't know when the right vs. left-handed tendencies lock in and become final, but at this point we consider him to be left-handed.  I'm sure I've said this before, but he's pretty much always favored his left hand.  I am wondering how difficult it will be to teach him to write, throw a ball, etc because Rhett and I are both right-handed!

* He still thinks most everything is the color green, but he will also guess yellow, red and blue.  Yeah...we're stil working on colors - ha!

* Although he doesn't really know his colors, he at least has memorized what color all the dogs are.  If you ask him he will tell you:  Rio "gay" (grey, ha!), Roux "back" (black), and Tag "bowm" (brown).

* Rhett says he dances to the music played at HEB every week when they are grocery shopping.  The boy likes to dance!

* I bought him another "Ruff Ruff" to take with him to MDO for naps and he knows the difference between the two.  We now have "Ruff Ruff" and "New Ruff Ruff" and sometimes he asks for one specifically over the other.

* Speaking of new things, he likes to point out things that are new or ask for new something...like if he wants more water, he will sometimes ask for "new water" instead of more water.

* He was sick quite a few times this month.  He had a slight case of croup (luckily didn't last long), then he had the whole diarrhea issue, and the following week he had the night of vomiting.  Still hate when he's sick!

* He likes to go to the "big pool" (neighborhood pool) and pretty much only wants daddy to hold him.  If I grab him, he wants to go right back to daddy.  There is also a good sized kiddie pool there and he likes playing in that too.  However, he could care less about our kiddie pool we have in the back and doesn't show much interest in the sprinkler either.  (although when we very first brought it out at the beginning of summer, he liked it...now he'd rather just go to the community pool)

* He loves to sing The Wheels on the Bus and he knows the hand motions and sounds for the wheels (round and round), wipers (swish, swish, swish), babies (waa waa waa), and mamas (shh shh shh).  What are the other lyrics b/c that's all I know!

* He also likes to sing If You're Happy and You Know It and will do the three parts:  clap your hands, stomp your feet, and spin around.

* He's been doing much better when we drop him off at church.  I don't know what changed things but we'll take it!  As soon as we drive up to the church, he yells "play! play!"...one day he will know why we are really there, but for now it is all about playing to him!

* He's always saying things are "broken" - you'd think we have a lot of broken things around here, but we don't.  If something isn't just right to him, he says it's broken.  (although, he does actually know what broken means and if something is truly broken, he will let you know!)

* He is still throwing fits, but it kinda changes from week to week.  Some weeks he is an angel and then next week he cries and fits about everything.  His new thing is standing in place, clenching his fists in front of him and screaming so hard his face turns red and it looks like his eyes are going to pop out of his head.  Oh, and sometimes he will stand against a wall and do this while banging his head backwards on the wall.  Seriously. 

* He has already, at the young age of 23 months, started using some bedtime stalling tactics.  When he knows it's time for bed, he will do almost anything to avoid it.  He starts picking up all the dog toys and putting them in their basket one by one, he will move or rearrange stray toys or some of his larger toys (just moving them an inch over and "straightening" things), he'll try to give all the dogs night-night sugars, he wants to read one more book, and sometimes he just tries to hide behind something.  It's actually quite humorous and hard not to just bust out laughing at him!  How do kids figure these things out on their own?

* I always ask him to give me a "real hug" (instead of just barely wrapping his arms around) and I'll squeeze him tight and say "squeeeeze"...so now, when you say "give me a real hug" he will squeeze really hard and say "skeeeeeze" - it is so cute!

Just like last month, I did not do a good job of taking pictures.  :-(  Of course, the last 2 weeks I have been on bedrest so we haven't done much.


Caleb and Daddy on Father's Day (I found his shirt at Walmart for only $4!  It says "Handsome Like Daddy")



Here he is working in the garage with Daddy - measure some wood!





watching Daddy cut wood (sorry, it's really dark)



We had friends over for July 4th (well, on the 3rd).  Here's Caleb, Isaiah, and Camille on the splash pad (that has since been trashed because it is way too much work to blow up and the kids didn't really care too much about it)




Playing in the kiddie pool (at our neighborhood pool).  This was on July 4th.



Sometimes he falls head first into the water but he doesn't seem too bothered by it or scared.  (yes, Daddy helps him up)




I found a neat park that's not too far away and we also went there on July 4th.







He can always find a stick!




He's starting lining things up and the other day, we found that he'd lined up his cars along the cord of his fan - too funny!  (normally, I put the fan away in the closet when we're not using it but I guess daddy forgot to do it this time)



Then, not long after that he moved the cars from the floor to the side of his bed.  He thought that was a fun game!  (you may have to look closely - the cars kinda blend in with his bed and sheets)



And a few outtakes from his monthly bear picture...

This was some pipe Rhett bought to work on the sprinklers.  Of course, Caleb wanted to play with it (and pick his nose).



I'm outta here!

As silly as it sounds, it makes me sad that this is Caleb's next-to-last monthly bear picture.  (I'm stopping at 2 years)  I guess I could go on forever, but I won't.  Do you think he'd go for having a yearly picture with Bebe...all the way until he's 18?  LOL!  As usual, he didn't want to sit still and to even get him to take this picture, we had to give him a ball and make him think he was playing a game with Rio (as Rhett held Rio behind me trying to make him smile/laugh.)  I got a few other shots where he was laughing hysterically, but they came out blurry so this one will have to work!

Oh, and since we've moved the glider to Aubrey's room, you will notice that the background is now lavender...  :-)

I am 35 weeks and 2 days today and we went to my first post-hospital-stay doctor's appointment this afternoon.  Dr. Tran checked me and I have not dilated anymore!  (so still 3cm and 80% effaced).  I have not changed at all since this all started last Tuesday!  Now we are wondering if I am going to stall out at 3cm and then eventually have to be induced - ha!  (she did say she's seen it happen before).  Of course, that would be perfectly ok because the longer she cooks, the more time she has to develop....but I have to be honest and say that I'm kinda ready to get things going after being on bedrest for 10 days so far.  I know God has a perfect plan and already knows her birthday!


I will run out of albuterol on Sunday, and Dr. Tran said to just take it until then and stop.  She is comfortable with stopping a little shy of 36 weeks and said that even if I were to go into labor tonight, I am far enough along that they wouldn't do anything to stop it.  Plus, I had the steroid dose so that has hopefully helped to develop Aubrey's lungs a little more.

Now, oddly enough we did not talk about bedrest today.  I guess she forgot to mention it and I forgot to ask.  I thought about it when we were on our way home so I called back and spoke to one of her nurses.  She said that if Dr. Tran didn't say anything about it, then I should continue bedrest until my next appointment (which is NEXT Friday).  That kinda doesn't make sense to me because if she is ok with me stopping the albuterol on Sunday, then why would I need to stay on bedrest all the way through Friday?  I can see bedrest through Tuesday (36 weeks) but if I'm not even on the albuterol anymore, then I don't see the point in complete bedrest beyond 36 weeks (especially since she is ok with me going into labor at that point).  The more I think about it, the more I am wondering......SO, I'm going to call back tomorrow and DOUBLE double check!  The nurse will probably think I'm crazy for asking the same question twice, but I want her to actually check with Dr. Tran.  She (Dr. T) is going to be out of town through next Wednesday so I need to know exactly what I should do about the bedrest thing.  Hopefully it will just be through Tuesday.  Of course, after that I am a little nervous about going back to my normal routine because it is just exhausting wrangling Caleb all day by myself and I don't know how my body is going to react to that after basically sitting/laying on the couch/bed for so long!

So, that's the update for now.  Praise God that we have made it this much further with little Aubrey still inside my belly!  Last week (especially the first few days in the hospital) was really scary (even though I know people go through much worse and have problems much earlier than 34 weeks), but I am feeling so much better about the whole situation now...especially knowing that I have not dilated any further and we are so close to 36 weeks.  Now, if I could only convince Rhett do do all my nesting for me, I would feel even better - ha!  No, he has done a lot - he's just not as impatient about getting the nursery and everything else ready as I am.  :-)

Yay - I made it to my 34 week post!  And yes, I look like a hot mess...not leaving the house = no reason to put on makeup!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 34 weeks, 6 days

Size of baby: weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long (according to babycenter.com)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I've gained 28.5 lbs total as of my 34-week appointment.  (I gained 3 lbs between 32 and 34 weeks - yikes)

Maternity Clothes: of course!

Gender: girl - Aubrey Lauren

Movement: before this week, I felt like her activity level had dropped off a good bit (one of the reasons Dr. Tran did the ultrasound during my appointment), but honestly ever since I was in the hospital, it seems like she is moving a lot.  I don't know what would explain this, but...this week she's been pretty active.

Sleep: When I was in the hospital I did not sleep well at all.  I think I got one decent night of sleep (thanks to Ambien).  I've been home for two nights now and the first night (Saturday) was aweful because I had the worst heartburn I've ever had!  Yesterday, I decided to start taking Pepcid and it seemed to help with the heartburn...so I slept much better last night!  I think I feel better today than I have all week.

Symptoms:  Well, obviously I had some issues this past week!  (read back several posts if you don't know what's been going on).  Apparently, I was contracting enough at some point to dilate 3cm!  I might be the only pregnant person who can barely recognize a contraction when she has one - ha!  I mean, I felt some here and there and just thought they were Braxton Hicks.  This is actually very similar to how it was with Caleb because I didn't realize I was contracting every 2-3 minutes with him either....guess I'm just weird!  So other than contractions....other symptoms were really just related to the meds I was on (Mag Sulfate is the devil!) and just being super tired (it is actually tiring sitting in bed all day!).  I have not been up and around much, so the pressures/aches I was having before have not been noticeable.  I do feel like Aubrey is a giant, though and I'm curious to see how much she will weigh.....I just feel like within the past week or so she has started taking up every millimeter of space there is to take up in my belly!

What I miss:  being able to go to Target - ha!  No, I am hanging in there and will do whatever it takes to keep this baby girl in a while longer!  I'm a little stressed about all the things I did not get done before this happened (thought I had a while!) but I know none of it truly matters...what matters is that she's still cooking!  I do NOT miss sitting in the hospital....so happy to be home!

Cravings:  anything other than hospital food :-)

Best moment this week:  NOT having Aubrey early this week!  and being released to go home from the hospital!

What I am looking forward to:  hopefully making it to my appointment on Thursday afternoon....then we will go from there!  (we're taking it one day at a time around here, though...every day counts!)

I'm home from the hospital now!  They monitored me this morning (contractions spaced out well) and checked for cervical changes and I have not dilated anymore....so they released me!  We just got home at around noon.  I am on bedrest (can only get up for bathroom, food, or shower) and taking the albuterol every 6 hours.  If my contractions pick back up (7-10 min apart for an hour), if they become painful, or obviously if anything else out of the norm happens (water breaking, etc) then I'm supposed to call in.  Otherwise, we are just hanging out and will go back on Weds or Thurs to be checked again.  I'll be 35 weeks on Tuesday so it'd be awesome if I can make it another week...and even more awesome if I can make it to 36 weeks!

Thanks so much for your prayers!  Please continue to pray for Aubrey's health and for mine...and that she will keep cooking for as long as possible!  We are praising God that everything has happened the way it has this week and so thankful for his protection over both of us.  Had my doctor not decided to check me (earlier than normal) on Tuesday, we might have been in a worse situation...and we're thankful for the medical interventions that have kept me from progressing anymore this week!

Well, I took my 2nd dose of albuterol around 4pm today and then the nurse hooked me up to the monitor around 5:15pm.....and I was not having many contractions!  (I don't remember the interval, I just know it was a great improvement).  I have not been feeling many all afternoon, so praying that the albuterol is going to work and keep the contractions spaced out enough for me to go home tomorrow!  If this improvement keeps up and I am not dilated anymore in the morning, then I should be able to go home!  Praying that this is the case!!
Ok, going to go watch TV and surf the net...pretty much all I can do right now.  I tried to read earlier and kept falling asleep...and I don't want to sleep now and be wired tonight...so TV it is.

Well, since I don't have anything else to do, I will write another update!

I've been on the (oral) albuterol since 9:45am this morning.  They just monitored my contractions for a couple hours and by the end of the monitoring period, the contractions had spaced out some to about every 6-7 minutes.  The new plan (b/c it keeps changing!) is to keep me another night and to watch/observe/monitor me and see what happens as I'm taking the albuterol (every 6 hours).

They will check for cervical changes in the morning and we'll go from there.....

Well, I am still in the hospital.  We don't know if I'm going to get to go home or not.  Last night when they hooked me up to the monitor at 10pm, I was still having contractions every few minutes.  I was only really noticing about 1/2 of them.  The on-call doctor ordered a bolus of IV fluid and a shot of terbutaline (relaxes the uterine muscles to slow contractions).  I responded really well to this and that was pretty much it for the night.  I finally did take the sleeping pill they've been offering me and I got some sleep.  Who knows what kind of contractions I had through the night because I was out (I did wake up to go to the bathroom some, but whatever contractions I did have did not wake me).

This morning, Dr. Tran came in and checked me - praise the Lord I have not dilated any more despite these contractions!  I am still at 3cm and 80% effaced, so as of now the contractions I am having are not sending me into labor.  She said that they'd give me an oral med to go home on (albuterol....similar to the terbutaline I got as an injection last night), and that if my contractions get to be 7-10 minutes apart (while on the albuterol) for an hour, to call.  So, they gave me one dose of the albuterol at 9:45am and monitored me.  I was still having contractions every 3-5 minutes.  I am scared to go home like this and the nurse I have right now is also leery of sending me out....so we talked to Dr. Tran again and now they are monitoring me for 2 hours (til about 1:30pm or so) to see if the albuterol will kick in.  If not, then I guess I am staying.....for how long?  I do not know!  There are so many unknowns right now....but I do know that I am ready to go home!  (just not really in this state...makes me nervous!)

So, that's the latest.  Waiting to see if/what this albuterol does in the next hour or so........

Please keep praying (first and foremost) for Aubrey's health and mine, through all of this.  If I have to sit in this bed for the next few weeks, I will - we just want our girl to be healthy!  Every day we can make it with her still "cooking" is a blessing, and so far we are at 34 weeks 3 days - praise the Lord that we've made it at least a few extra days since all this started!

Last night was another restless night in the hospital!  I just cannot get any quality sleep/rest here!  Rhett and Caleb left to go home for the night at around 9pm (let's just say that Caleb's schedule hasn't been exactly normal these past few days...but he's been a trooper!).  At around 10:30pm, they hooked me up to the contraction monitor and Aubrey's monitor (they do this for 30 minutes at each shift change).  Everything was still the same...contractions far apart, so the night went on as usual.  Vitals at midnight...then I tried to go to sleep, but got terrible heartburn - ugh!  I called the nurse and she gave me some Mylanta, which helped.  I decided not to take the sleeping meds (Ambien) again b/c I thought maybe I'd sleep better in this more comfortable bed.  I think my mind is just racing too much and add the bathroom breaks and nurse interruptions and it's just really hard to sleep.  Actually, I got up at least once an hour to go to the bathroom...that's the real sleep killer right there. 

Anyway, my night nurse told me that the Mag was going to run out at around 8am so we'd see what happened from there.  I was so tired and groggy this morning that I didn't really think about what time it was or that the Mag was going to run out.....and not long after 8am, I started feeling contractions (not painful, just the tightening).  Dr. Tran came to check on me right around then and I told her about the contractions so they hooked me up to the monitor and sure enough I was contracting (can't remember the frequency) but Dr.T decided to start it back up until after 2pm, which is when it would officially be 48 hours since they started it (from Tues until today)....48 hours is a standard time-frame to run the Mag and Dr. T said that the main reason they were doing it was to give the steroids time to kick in for Aubrey's lungs (which is 48 hours).

Once they started it, I responded almost immediately and the contractions spaced back out.  Not much went on after that for a while.  Rhett and Caleb showed up for lunch and then Caleb got cranky so Rhett put him down for a nap on his nap mat (with the cover that I sewed!).  There wasn't much interruption around this time so Caleb slept for a solid hour, then woke up, and Rhett managed to get him back to sleep for another 45 minutes. I tried to sleep but just went in and out of consciousness...not truly sleeping.  Rhett did some work stuff.

They officially stopped the Mag at 3:10pm this afternoon.  Dr. Tran came by not long after and we talked about the "plan" from here on out.  I am already having contractions (closer than they were with the mag....with it, I was barely having any, really).  I am also feeling these contractions in my back as well as the tightening in my stomach.  They are still not painful, though.  I actually could have potentially gone home tonight but she said if I wanted to stay another night I could.  I'm nervous about going home just yet since we barely stopped the mag so I'm staying another night.

In the morning, she will check my cervix to see if I've dilated (beyond the 3cm I'm already at).  If I have NOT dilated...and my contractions are still far enough apart (15+ minutes, I believe...it's hard to remember everything!), then I am free to go home and wait it out!  If I am dilated and/or if my contractions are close together...then I am staying....and we will have a baby soon.  Well, we could still have a baby soon even if I go home.  There will definitely be no more magnesium - it's just wait and see what happens!  Could be tonight...could be this weekend....could be 2 weeks from now!  Just depends on what my body does!  (and God's timing, of course!)

I originally thought that they'd keep me on the mag til 36 weeks to keep Aubrey in, but I was wrong.  (again, there is so much info and we've talked so many times it is hard to keep everything straight to be honest!).  Dr. T said that the real reason they gave me the mag was to try to keep her in long enough for the steroid shots (48 hrs)...and that time has already passed.  She also said that studies are not showing that mag will for sure prevent pre-term labor....meaning, they could keep giving it to me but I could still go into labor while on it.  And, they don't want to keep me on it for an extended period of time b/c it can build up in my body and cause unwanted side effects/problems.  If I go into labor now, they will not try to stop it.

SO, in short........no more Mag Sulfate....she comes when God decides it's time for her to come!  Now we are just waiting!  Rhett thinks it'll be this weekend....I have no guess but I'm pretty sure we're having a July baby and not an August baby!

I'll try to update again tomorrow when we know more.

Please continue to pray for Aubrey's health and for mine!  Also, it would be really awesome if I did not go into labor tonight because we've planned for Rhett to stay with Caleb another night at home....so feel free to pray for that, too!  :-)  Of course, he'd be up here in a flash if I did go into labor....it just wouldn't be ideal.


(oh, and I have forgotten to mention that we were originally supposed to go to Baton Rouge this weekend for Rhett's sister's wedding!  obviously that is not happening and we are sad to miss it, but the Lord has other plans!  guess we will just have to catch it on video someday....)

As most of you know by now, I am in the hospital being monitored for contractions and other signs of pre-term labor.  The past two days have been a little crazy and we certainly did not expect to be here right now!  Forgive me if things don't make sense....I am tired but wanted to post about what has gone on since yesterday.

Yesterday morning, I had my routine 34 week appointment.  The day did not start out as planned (well, as I had planned) right from the get-go!  Actually, it started the night before (night of July 4th) when Caleb vomited everything he'd eaten for dinner all over his bed (sorry if TMI).  Yep, diarrhea last week....vomiting this week!  And, he also ended up having a little diarrhea again (although not too bad).  We actually think this might have been a result of him drinking pool water (we took him swimming Monday evening) and then eating dinner...and then playing and swinging at the park after dinner (mama's bad idea).  Pool water + big dinner + playing/swinging outside in the heat = upset digestive system (or so we think).

So, when I went to get him up yesterday morning I found that he'd vomited again sometime during the night.  Great!  The original plan was for him to go to Mother's Day Out so that I could go to my appointment and then get my hair cut before picking him up.  Since he'd vomited twice and we weren't sure if he had something contagious or if it really was just b/c of the day before's activities, I had to take him with me to my appointment.  Rhett had a conference call with someone in a different country that he could not reschedule....so I packed up a bag for him and relunctantly took him with me.  It just usually makes for a much more stressfull appointment when he's there.  He is not easily entertained at the doctor's office and he just wants down and to get into everything!

SO, we got to the med center....yada, yada, yada....Dr. Tran comes in and starts asking her usual questions.  (I will say that Caleb had been very good the whole time we were waiting...right around an hour or so).  I had recently noticed that Aubrey wasn't moving as much and also I still have a LOT of pressure, so Dr. Tran said she wanted to go ahead and check my cervix (usually not done this early) and hook me up to the fetal monitor/ultrasound to check out Aubrey.  This was the first sign that things were not going "as usual" for this appointment.  That, and I was noticing that my belly was tightening a little here and there but at that point I did not think anything of it b/c I've been having (what I thought to be) Braxton Hicks contractions off and on for a while (nothing consistent).

We then have to wait for the monitoring machine.  By this time, Caleb was getting pretty close to meltdown mode....but he was actually kinda subdued and I think it was b/c his tummy was still bothering him.  He had only eaten like 3 bites of waffle for breafast and a couple of Mum Mums (rice crackers) so I knew he wasn't feeling 100%.  While we were waiting, he actually laid down on the bench in the room and I thought he was going to go to sleep but he never did.  I think he would have eventually.  By the time the machine arrived, we'd been there a while....probably 2 hours...can't remember exactly.  I was really frazzled and it did not help that Caleb also had a runny poo during all of this (thankfully not too bad).  It was not a great morning. 

Anyway, the machine arrived and they hooked me up.  She also checked my cervix and to everyone's surprise, I was already dilated to 3cm and 80% effaced.  She looked at me and immediately said "you're on bedrest from here on out."  I was shocked!  The monitor was picking up contractions every 2-3 minutes (which by this time, I am feeling).  She checked Aubrey's fluid level (on ultrasound), heartbeat, respiration, and fetal tones (signs of movement like fist clenching or limb movement) and everything looked great.  Each thing she checked was worth 2 points so 8 points was the highest/best score (which is what Aubrey got), meaning chances of still birth in the next 2 weeks are very low.  This was all good news....except for the contractions and dilation.

Her first thought was to just sent me home on complete bed rest and have me come back in one week.  But while I was packing Caleb up, she came back in and said she just didn't feel right about sending me home and to go straight to the hospital.  (oh, and by this time Rhett was on his way over).  The plan was to give me steroids to help develop Aubrey's lungs.  Also they wanted to monitor the contractions and see if they'd need to give me Magnesium Sulfate to try to slow/stop them.  Rhett arrived and we went straight to the hospital.  By this time it was at least noon (can't remember exactly) or a little later (appt was at 9:45am).  God was helping me out big-time that morning b/c Caleb had been so good all morning (just a few moments here and there).  I was freaking out a little at this point.

We got checked in and they started an IV on me (fluids first) and I got the 1st steroid injection at around 1:30pm (2nd to be given 24 hrs later).  That baby burned...IM shots are no fun.  I was still contracting every 2-3 minutes so they decided to go ahead and start the mag sulfate.  Now, it has been quite a while since I did anything related to hospital pharmacy (like on rotations....2005), but I did remember a few things about mag sulfate (unpleasant things) and asked the nurse to confirm.  The main thing is that it causes flushing/hot flashes.....and boy did it ever!!!!!!  They start out with a bolus dose that is infused over 30 minutes so you are getting a lot of drug in a short time....need to get the mag levels up in the blood.  So the first 30 minutes were torture....like someone had lit a match or turned on a heater inside of me and I was burning from the inside out....oh.my.word.  Not to mention the headache, burning eyes, and grogginess.  The bolus is the worst!  After the first 30 minutes, the intense heat/burning/flushing dies down a lot so it is not nearly as bad.  I am still on it and I'd say the most noticeable effects are muscle weakness (just feel generally weak all over) and grogginess.  I still feel a little flushed but not too bad.

So after the mag was going a while, the contractions were still 2-3 minutes apart...sometimes up to maybe 5 minutes (not often).  They decided to give me more mag so they had to do another bolus (yay!) - luckily the second bolus wasn't quite as bad as the first and increase the dose of the continuous infusion a little.  A lot of things were going on during this time and I can't remember everything but I do know that I was having to pee (like severely, if I don't pee right now I'm going to explode and cry kindof pee) every 20 minutes or so and kept having to get up to go.  It was rediculous.  The contractions, though not painful, made it worse b/c when my belly tightened, everything was squeezed to death, including my poor bladder.  At some point, they determined that I was really peeing a LOT....like a LOT LOT (250 mL/hour and "normal" is around 30 mL/hour) and that I was peeing out all my magnesium so that's why (they think) it was not slowing the contractions....I think that's when they upped the dose.  They also checked my cervix again and luckily (despite the contractions still going on so close together), I was not dilated any more. 

Oh, and this is really embarassing but I have to write about it so I'll remember (and laugh, maybe?) later on.....at one point, I had to go SO BAD I was almost in tears....I stood up and at the same time had a contraction.......and let's just say that I thought my water had broken!  They even had to do a test to see if it was my water (a litmus-type test that reacts to amniotic fluid) and it came back negative - thankfully!  Ok, can't believe I'm sharing that with "the world" but it is what it is.  I am a very modest person, but when it comes to pregnancy & childbirth, there is no room for modesty and nothing is TMI.  (umm, it's still kinda embarassing though - you can make fun of me if you want....but I know this is not all that uncommon - mistaking "something else" for you water breaking....I've read about it)  Anyway, moving on......  LOL

Eventually, the contractions slowed some (like maybe every 10-12 minutes...by evening, I believe) and I was also not having to pee every 20 minutes (more like 45min to 1hr...still a lot of getting up in my opinion - not to mention, I have to unhook my IV pole from the electrical outlet and drag it with me to the bathroom...then write down how much I peed.  It is an involved process...and also not easy getting in and out of bed).  Yesterday was just crazy.  Through all of this, Caleb managed to take an hour long nap on the floor of my hospital room (on a blanket) while stuff was going on.  Rhett then took Caleb home after the nap and fed him dinner there...then they came back up for a couple of hours to keep me company....and I spent the night by myself.  I couldn't sleep worth a darn - bed was uncomfortable and plus the nurse comes in too often for my liking....and there's the whole getting up to pee thing (with the IV pole and writing down the volume).

So anyway, sometime during the night my contractions slowed even more.....like every 15+ minutes (sometimes up to 30 minutes apart) so that is a good thing.  They took off the continuous monitor and now only monitor one time during each shift (for 30 minutes at a time).  Otherwise, it is up to me to let them know if I feel anymore than 4 contractions an hour (which I haven't).  The only thing that worries me is that I have a history of not feeling contractions (at least these earlier ones....I feel the painful ones!) so I just hope that I'm feeling what I should be feeling!  So far, each time they've hooked me up to monitor today I have not had many (sometimes none), so that's a good thing.  Also, Aubrey's heartbeat has been great and everything seems fine with her as far as they can tell - praise the Lord!

Today has been pretty boring (this is a good thing, though!).  I have been off the monitors since just before lunch and I really haven't felt that many contractions.  The mag (combined with not much sleep) has had me groggy all day but it is so hard to sleep in a hospital!  I've just kinda been spacey all day.  I did get moved from L&D (terrible bed!) to another room (ante-partum, I believe) and this bed is much more comfortable.  Hopefully I can get a little shut-eye tonight (only I know they are coming back in at midnight for vitals and 4am for something else).  Rhett and Caleb came again today (twice) and Caleb is having the time of his life with Daddy.  No Joke - the boy is giddy (mostly - he's still almost 2 so you know, there are still "moments").  He hasn't vomited anymore since Monday night and his poos are not runny, so hopefully whatever that was is over.  We've had so many people offer to keep him but we didn't know if he was/is contagious so Rhett's been making due, going and coming with him.  Luckily, it has worked out just fine since nothing too crazy has happened with me or Aubrey so far.

So, the latest is that tomorrow morning (Thursday, 7/7), Dr. Tran is going to have them stop the magnesium and then they will observe me for the rest of the day (don't know exactly how long).  If my contractions stay at a decent interval (like now - not very often) then I should be able to go home on complete bed rest (bathroom breaks and minimal getting up).  If the contractions come back, then I will have to stay in the hospital....who knows how long.  The ultimate goal is to keep Aubrey in for at least another 2 weeks to get to 36 weeks.  Thankfully, 34 weeks is a "milestone" of pregnancy and most babies born at this time don't have too many lasting complications. 

However, we could still use your prayers!!

* prayers for peace for me and Rhett (and our families) as it is still scary for this to be happening....but we know that God is in control!  (and for Rhett as he is having to take care of Caleb and the house, etc while I am on bedrest...for the time being - we will see about other arrangements when we know when/if I am going home tomorrow)
* prayers for Aubrey's health - that her little lungs would be developed (the steroids should help) and all her other organs and body systems/functions, etc.
* prayers for my health - that my body would keep responding to the doctors' interventions and that I would not dilate anymore....and ultimately that I can carry her to at least 36 weeks. (and just for my health in general, please)
* prayers for all doctors, nurses, etc involved in our care - making decisions about what to do, etc.  My doctor's name is Dr. Tran.

Ok, that's all I can think of at the moment!  I'm going to try to get a little shut-eye if I can!  Thank you all so much for your prayers!!  God does answer prayers (and he has so far as my contractions have spaced out so much - praise the Lord!)

Goodnight all.......

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 33 weeks, 5 days

Size of baby:  weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark.(according to babycenter.com)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I've gained 25.5 lbs total as of my 32-week appointment.

Maternity Clothes: of course! 

Gender: girl - Aubrey Lauren

Movement: Her activity level seems to be slowing down a bit...probably b/c she's starting to run out of room!

Sleep: no change here - sleep is pretty terrible, actually. I just cannot get comfortable and my hips hurt so much from laying only on my sides. and let's not forget how many times I have to get up to go to the bathroom....it's rediculous!

Symptoms: I feel huge!  Also, my lower back is really starting to bother me...I can't stand long or walk very far without it hurting.  And, I think my hands and feet are swelling a little bit (not bad - definitely not like when I was pregnant with Caleb).  Still having all the non-stop aches and pains, peeing all the time (sometimes it seems like every 30 minutes I have to go), tiredness, and more heartburn.

What I miss: no change here - Having energy to wrangle Caleb, sleeping on my back, not peeing every 30 minutes, not waddling when I walk, being able to bend over without a lot of effort...

Cravings:  can't think of anything in particular this week

Best moment this week:  ok, this is a silly one but I ordered something with a monogrammed "A" for the first time (a bib)  :-)  Also, this isn't a "best moment" but I thought it was funny...I went to pick Caleb up from Sunday School today and his teacher looks at me and says "I am just now noticing that you're pregnant."  Really?  LOL!  I talk to her every week when I pick him up, so I don't know how she hasn't noticed!

What I am looking forward to:  another doctor's appointment (yeah, I look forward to them because it means another 2 weeks has passed and we are getting closer to the big day!)

Caleb has been sleeping in his big boy bed (twin-size) for about two weeks now, but I wanted to blog about his first night in it!  It was an interesting night...

We'd been working every evening of that week to get the bed painted and it was finally ready for him to sleep in on Friday night (6/17).  When Rhett got home from work, we ate dinner and then he and Courtney started putting the bed together.  After it was set up, we noticed that b/c of the design and placement of the bed, there would be about a 6-inch gap between the mattress and the wall....we just could not push it close enough to the wall to eliminate the gap.  I said, "surely he will not fall in this small 6-inch gap!"  I thought it would be much more likely for him to fall off towards the foot of the bed where there is no rail (the safety rail starts near the headboard and goes probably 3/4 of the way down the bed...but the opening at the foot is large enough that he could fall out there).  We decided that we'd pull the trundle out part of the way so that if he fell off, he'd hit the trundle mattress and not the floor (and it'd be a shorter fall).  We also attached what we call his "music box" (the musical part of his crib mobile - minus the mobile, obviously) to the safety rail so he could still turn his nighttime music on just like when he slept in his crib.

Here he is in his new bed for the first time....



and one of the first things he does is jump on the bed - silly boy!


Anyway, by the time they got it all ready, it was a little past Caleb's bedtime so he didn't actually go down until probably 9:15pm that night.  My main concern was that he would be scared or confused and cry forever or that he'd decided to explore and get in and out of bed (even though we hadn't had much of an issue with that with the toddler bed).  To our surprise, he was actually asleep within like 20 minutes and he didn't seem fazed by the new sleeping arrangement!

Everything was going great until around 2am when I was awakened by the sounds of him screaming and crying.  I knew he must have fallen off the bed so I hurried in there expecting to find him either on the trundle or on the floor.  When I went in, I could not see him anywhere and I was totally confused (I didn't turn the light on but he's got a night light so you can still see pretty well in there).  I crawled into the bed looking for him and still did not see him right away.  Finally (this all happened w/in a matter of 30 seconds but it seemed like forever) I see that he has fallen into that 6-inch crack that I thought he'd never fall into!  He was vertical and you could only see from his head to the tops of his shoulders.  I pried him out and held him for a little while.  Poor guy was a little scared and I'm sure totally confused as to what was going on!  I don't know how he managed to get into that darn crack, but he did!  After he calmed down, I layed him back down and went back to bed myself.  He took about 30 minutes to fall back asleep.  Of course, I could not go back to sleep until he did so I was awake and thinking for that 30 minutes.  I decided that I'd go in and stuff some pillows down in the crack the next time I woke up to go to the bathroom.  I wanted to give him time to be good and asleep before I went in there.

I woke up at around 5am and went to the bathroom.  Then, I went into his room and stuffed some pillows down in the crack to prevent him from falling in again.  I then went back to our room to get in bed and as I was walking right by my side of the bed, I stepped on something.  It felt a little soft and squishy so my first thought was that it was dog poop (because for some reason our dogs poop and vomit on the carpet in the middle of the night more than I would like them to...)  But then I thought maybe I was imagining things because I didn't smell anything.  Right after I got back into the bed, I turned the video screen on the baby monitor on and attempted to use it as a flashlight to see what I'd stepped on.  When I looked, I saw what looked like a small snake slithering under our bed!  "Surely not!" I thought - I mean, I have been known to see "things" (spiders, roaches, and other creepy crawlies) in the middle of the night and wake Rhett up to kill them....only to find that there is nothing - ha!  I guess that is one of my fears!  Anyway, I took the baby monitor and crawled down to the end of our bed to look over the foot and guess what....I saw it again!  A little snake tail slithering under the bed!

Now I was convinced that I wasn't seeing things so I shook Rhett awake and said "there's a snake under our bed!!"  Of course, he is totally dazed and confused since it is early morning and I've startled him awake.  He says "are you sure it isn't one of the dogs?"  (as in, their tails sticking out from under the bed).  "NO!  I promise you there is a snake!!", I say.  So, being the "man of the house" he grabs a flashlight out of his night stand and looks under the bed....and he doesn't see anything.  "I think you're seeing things", he says.  "NO!  Look again - there is a snake under there!"  SO, he moves some stuff around and looks again.....and this time, he sees it - a garden snake is under our bed!!!!!  Ok, I realized that garden snakes are harmless, but THERE IS A SNAKE UNDER OUR BED AND I DON'T CARE WHAT KIND OF SNAKE IT IS, IT IS STILL A SNAKE AND IT'S IN MY HOUSE!!!!!!!  Talk about getting the willies.  Oh my word.  I started feeling a little sick to my stomach and wondering if snakes are like roaches...where there is one, there are more!  I asked Rhett and he assured me that they are not like roaches, but I was still completely freaked out.  So anyway, Rhett removed the unwelcomed visitor (I won't tell you what he used b/c you might not ever want to eat at our house again, LOL) and he threw it over the fence into the neighbors' yard (hopefully it made it that far!).  Honestly, I had a hard time getting back to sleep after that.  I kept imagining when I stepped on it and how it felt soft and squishy.....eww, it gives me the willies again just thinking about it.

We are assuming that it got in during the hour and a half the carpet cleaning guy was at our house that morning.  He had the front door slightly cracked to accomodate the hose attachment of his cleaning system.  I don't know how else it would have gotten in otherwise....but that means it was in our house from like 10am on Friday morning until 5am on Saturday morning - yikes!  Where was it that whole time?!?!  If that is not how it got in, then we've got a problem somewhere in the house that we don't know about - eek!  I have honestly not been able to stop imagining snakes in our house ever since this little incident.  I don't know when I will ever get over it.  I just keep thinking that I'm going to find another one...especially at night when I get up to go to the bathroom.  Hopefully not!  I can't believe that out of every square inch of our house, it just happened to be right where I stepped!  What if I had not stepped on it?  How long would it have been in our house?  How and where would we have found it?  I shudder to think!!!!

So as you can see, Caleb's first night in his big boy bed was an eventful one!  Since then, we've kept pillows stuffed in that pesky 6-inch crack and Caleb has not fallen into it again.  We also have not seen anymore snakes....and let's hope it stays that way!