Wow, it has been a while since I have blogged..... Sorry, life has been pretty busy, and I never was good at consistently journaling. I guess I'm consistently inconsistent. Maddox turned 5 months old yesterday. Time is flying by, and he's getting big so fast. At last doctors appointment He weighed 11.2 pounds, so I'm betting now he's about 12.5 pounds. He's in between 0-3 and 3-6 months clothes. He's rolling over, blowing spit bubbles  and chewing on his feet. I am loving being off this summer and getting to spend all my time playing with him.

We started our summer off with a top secret vacation  road trip to Virginia and Maryland. Will's brother Michael is in the Air Force, and stationed at Andrews. His birthday fell on Memorial Day this year, so Will and I thought it would be fun to show up for the weekend. We schemed for over a month with my sister in law Jamie in order to pull it off. I was sure someone would spill the beans, but thankfully it went off without a hitch. The cousins also had fun together!

 Since we were going to Maryland, I had to stop in Virginia to see my best friend Michelle and  her family. It had been about 2 years since I'd seen her. It was so great to see her again and her daughter Adley loved Maddox's "Teeny Peeny Hands and Feet"

It was a fabulous trip! We only wish we could've stayed longer. I think the hardest part was when Michael and Will had to say goodbye. It's so great that they are so close, but kind of stinks that we can't see them all of the time.

Until Next time! (Hopefully it won't be another 3.5 months)

My Heart is Full, but My Eyes Are Tired

It's hard to believe Maddox is already six weeks old! It has flown by, and makes me a little sad because he's growing so fast. Actually he's only about 7 pounds now, but he's starting to look more like a baby and less like a newborn. We haven't been out much except for doctors appointments. Partly because it's cold and flu season, and the other part because he's still on the apnea monitor, so we pretty much hang in the living room, because it's a pain to haul around everywhere. He gets reevaluated after 8 weeks, so hopefully he can come off of it, or at least be off of it in the daytime.

I've decided to use my full 12 weeks of FMLA time, because I don't want to leave him, especially when he's on the monitor, and I know it's time I can't get back, so I'm staying off until the 1st of April. Luckily our moms will be watching him when I go back to work.

While I've been off, I've put together a March of Dimes team since both my babies have been preemies. I wanted to do this last year, but didn't have enough time. We are Team Twenty Toes, since we will be walking for two babies. I'm going to meet with the tshirt people tomorrow. I'm going to put both Kamdyn and Maddox's footprints on the shirt. I'm pretty excited because I've already got lots of walkers and a few sponsors for my team.

Other than that, the days pretty much consist of eating, changing diapers, washing bottles and occasionally sleeping. I'm enjoying every minute of it. Kamdyn sure did pave the way for Maddox, and not a Day goes by without me thanking God for this blessing.

Maddox Has Arrived

Yesterday was one of the greatest days of my life. Maddox was born! We arrived at the hospital at 6:30 am so they could start pitocin. I went from a 3 to 4 in ess than 30 minutes, then about an hour later got an epidural. (not a fan of pain) After about another hour, they turned the pitocin off for awhile, because Maddox started having heart decelerations. They made me lay on my side and put me on oxygen, and that seemed to clear things up. They started the pitocin again, and the next time they checked me I was a 7. After that I didn't progress, and Maddox had a few more decelerations. Dr. Chambers decided it was time for a c-section, so off we went to OR.

When we got there they numbed me up even more. It was weird because though I couldn't feel the cuts, I could feel lots of tugging, pulling and pressure. I was just waiting to hear the cry.Maddox was way down low, so it took a few minutes,when they cut me open I hears gasp and a "not good!" not exactly what you want to hear in surgery. Apparently I had a moderate placental abruption ands two quite large blood clots. This turned my routine c-section into an emergency c-section. After lots of tugging and pulling we here "it's a boy!" a few seconds later we hear him cry! That was music to my ears. Turns out he had the cord wrapped around his neck. Luckily everything turned out okay. Maddox was born January 3, 2012 at 3:17 pm. He weighed 5 lbs 14 oz and is 18 inches long.

Seven and a half, and some reflection...

This week was more of the same, I did have two dr. appointments though. At my OB appointment, I learned that I will be induced either at 37 or 38 weeks depending on what my ultrasound told us at my high risk doctor. I also learned that my OB's office is closed next week which is my 36th week...that means my cerclage stays in til week 37. She almost took it out this week, but wanted to wait until my u/s....not really sure why, because my next appointment with her isn't until week 37 anyway. Basically it would've been nice if my appointment had been after my high risk appointment.

At my ultrasound, we learned that Maddox is approximately 5 lb 6 oz. We also learned that it would have been fine to take the cerclage out, and that I don't want to go into labor with it in.... That's comforting! So, my next Ob appointment I guess, the cerclage will come out, and I'll find out my induction date. Maddox should be here by or before Januaary 10th.

We are so ready to meet Maddox. Our road with pregnancy has not been easy, so if you are one of those people that have easy non complicated pregnancies, you should stop right now, and give God some glory for that.

It took us about 2 years to get pregnant, unfortunately, our first pregnancy ended in miscarriage at 10 weeks. We were devastated. Unless you've been there, you can't fully understand what that is like. Our second pregnancy, we found out about 2 years ago Christmas Day. This time, we were excited, but cautious. At 12 weeks I had a sub chorionic hemorrhage. We thought we had miscarried again, but to our relief there was still a strong heartbeat on the ultrasound. We found out shortly thereafter we were having a girl. Kamdyn Grace, but at 19 weeks I started having contractions. I was put in the hospital, and at 20.5 weeks they couldn't stop labor any more and Kamdyn was born weighing less than1 lb. I miss her everyday, and the only comfort I have with that situation is knowing that she rests in the arms of Jesus with her brother or sister we miscarried before her.

A year and a half later, we find out we are pregnant again. We proceed with extreme caution, and I immediately make an appointment with a perinatologist.we come up with an action plan,and at 12 weeks I got the cerclage in place. You'd think with my history I'd be very freaked out about the possibilities of this pregnancy, but I actually had more peace Than I did with the other two. I really felt God say " I got this!" I think he lead us to Dr. Mirabile, and with his close eye we have made it to this point. I think the two week ultrasounds saved us from more heartache. They told us when it was time for bed rest. If I was just at a regular ob,they wouldn't have caught it, because it wouldn't have shown up on the 20 week u/s. So here I am at almost 36 weeks, bored out of my mind on bed rest, and ever so thankful to be here. Happy Birthday Jesus, and thank you for all you have done for me!

Six Weeks and a Day

I'm a day late from my usual weekly update, but that is because of what most of our mom's teach us from childhood. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Wednesdays are typically off days for me. I get my p17 shots on Tuesdays so I'm typically very hormonal/ emotional on Wednesdays. You can see it in most of my Wednesday posts, and each week seems to get a little worse. Thankfully I only have 2 more weeks of shots left.

For those of you that think bed rest is easy, it so is not. Anyone could do it for a day or two, but six weeks of laying on the couch, not being able to do anything, it wears on you fast. Add to that having to be away from your home and your spouse,it gets frustrating at times.

That being said, I am so thankful to be where I am at. The fact that mom and dad have a house 10 minutes away from my hospital, and that mom is able to be here with me is such a gift. Not to mention making it to 34 weeks in itself is fabulous. I don't want my frustrations to be taken as I am not thankful to be where I'm at. I am so thankful and am hoping and praying for 2 more weeks at least.

Mondays and Thursdays I go in for Non Stress Tests. It's nice to just sit back and listen to Maddox's heartbeat. I have my next appointment with my delivering doctor on Tuesday, and my next ultrasound with my high risk doctor on Thursday. I will be excited to see how much Maddox has grown. One thing they have been keeping an eye on is my blood pressure. It isn't to a pre eclampsia level yet, but seems to be slowly creeping up, so they are keeping a close eye on it and doing protein checks, that could be another big factor of delivering early. I'm just hoping and praying that if he comes in the next couple of weeks, he won't require much if any of a NICU stay.

No matter what happens, I know God is in control, and it is only because of Him we have made it this far. Something to remember this Christmas season. Jesus is the reason. He came to give us life and to give it more abundantly. Happy Holidays!

Week five and frustrated!

So we have reached week five. The highlights of my week have been my non stress test and Dr. Appointment. I finally met my new Dr. Nothing like waiting til the 33rd week to meet your delivering doctor. I really like her though. She said if I make it to 36 weeks, she will take out my cerclage, and I won't have to be on strict bed rest any more. That will be so nice. I won't quite know what to do with myself. As it is, the only time I get to get out is on dr. Days.

I did get to go home Saturday for my shower. It was so nice. My hostesses did a great job, and it was good to see and visit with people. We got most of our big stuff, and now I'm just trying to make sure we have everything we will need right away. Just when I think we have everything, I think of something else, I'm sure it will be like that for a while. Thank goodness for online shopping.

Today has been a blah day. Things that shouldn't bother me have, and Im really missing Will today. I will chalk it up to pregnancy hormones. You know it's not going to be a good day when it starts with tears. Oh well, tomorrow will be better. I have another non stress test,so I'll get to get out for a little bit.

I'll end this blog as it has been a little bit of all over the place. Have a good week!

A Month of Bed rest and Only Slightly Insane

Today is the one month mark that I have been on bed rest. For four weeks I have taken up residence on the couch/ in the bed. I am proud to say that I have done a good job, and am only going slightly insane, with some days being worse than others. I skipped blogging week 3, but lets face it, when your on bed rest there really isn't much that is interesting to tell.

I think I really started to go stir crazy last week with all the family up for Thanksgiving. I really wanted to be more interactive than I could be. Plus, with gestational diabetes, I didn't get to partake in the usual holiday goods. Which leads to my other point of frustration. Because I'm on bed rest, my blood sugar numbers have been so unpredictable. I've followed the diet to the letter and still would come up with high numbers, or if I ate something that gave me perfect numbers one day, and had the exact same thing the next, my numbers would be high. So frustrating! However, this week I think we finally found the magic dose of my medicine. I've had perfect numbers all week...until lunch today, but more on that later.

I had my high risk appointment today. The plus to being high risk is that I get to see Maddox every two weeks. He is a growing boy. He currently weighs 4lbs 2oz, and from the 3d/4d ultrasounds, he looks more like me. Which is funny, because Kamdyn looked exactly like Will.  I can't wait to see him for real and compare all of his features. Dr. Mirabile decided to go ahead and give me the steroid shots for lung development, because this week really closes the window on the shots being effective should we need them.  Let me tell you, that steroid shot did not feel good. I almost said a bad word, and I am not a cusser. The bad thing is I have to go get my 2nd one tomorrow.  Also, Dr. Mirabile told me the shot would screw up my blood sugars, and sure enough, at lunch today I had the highest numbers I had had ever!

After our appointment, Will and I toured the maternity ward in Norman. I was very impressed with the facility and think it will be a great experience. We also got the paperwork to pre register.

The best news came a few hours after my appointment. My Ffn test came back negative, which should buy me two more weeks of not having to worry to much about pre term labor. That will get us to our first short term goal of  34 weeks. Also, that means I get to go home on Saturday for a few hours for my baby shower. This excites me to no end, not so much because of the shower, which will be great, but to be able to socialize and feel somewhat normal for a few hours. Think about it, I'm in Norman so I don't get many visitors, and I'm on strict bed rest, so the only outside world I get to see is from here to the doctor and back. I get excited for my 5 minute every other day shower, so this is pure excitement.

All in all, it has been a fabulous day, even with the painful shot. It amazes me that in just weeks Maddox will be here. We hope to make it to 36 weeks which would make Maddox a Christmas baby. Anything after 36 would just be a bonus. Family is already taking bets on when he will make his grand enterance. Until  next time, I'll leave you with a few pictures...I posted these on facebook too a couple of days ago, so sorry for the repeats.

Me when I was a baby.

 And another....I'm digging my dad's hair and glasses....and the fake library in the background.