Saturday, March 31, 2007

Matt's Out of the Pool?

Today is the date I picked for our baby birth date pool. Based on the morning monitoring, it looks like I'm going the way of a #16 seed. The doctors have indicated that it's obvious Bea is a not a morning person, so they're not going to be worried if she doesn't have any heart accelerations in the morning. Apparently that doesn't make life any easier for Mom who right now likes a good acceleration as much as an M & M blizzard.

Today is also Bullet's birthday. Nine big ones. He's been on cancer remission for two years. We had two separate surgeries to remove cancerous growths from him two years ago and are very happy he's still running around, though quite a bit slower. Last year he needed knee surgery. I wonder what 2007 will bring for our expensive dog. Melissa enjoys seeing pictures and stories about Bullet's daily antics as much as anything. The happiness he brings her (and me) is worth every penny we've spent on him.

I've jokingly mentioned in the past that if Bea makes it past 12:00 midnight tonight she'll be our little (birth stone) diamond. In my dorky geotechnical thought process, I realized that a diamond is almost a miracle of nature. It takes the perfect chemical composition, pressure and temperature to make a diamond, much like our little Bea. After everything Melissa has been through, I wonder how big of a birth stone I need to get her. Pam, no need to reply. I fully understand your viewpoint on the subject.

I have to admit after I made my original post, I realized I was always confused on whether midnight is either 12:00 am or 12:00 pm. Well apparently it's neither. A.M. stands for ante meridian (kind of like the ante partum unit Melissa's in) and P.M. stands for post meridian. Thus PM is when the sun has passed over the prime meridian. At noon the sun is directly over the prime meridian, so it's neither east or west. You could interpret that 12 pm is the 12 o'clock after the sun has passed over the prime meridian, which would make it 12 midnight, which would immediately be followed by 12:01 am. Thus to be correct 12 am and 12 pm should be avoided. 12 noon/noon or 12 midnight/midnight should be used instead.

Friday, March 30, 2007

Friday March 30

Today is the 49th day Melissa has been in the hospital. Seven big (really big) weeks. There are only 19 days left until 34 weeks, or when they will deliver Bea regardless of how well she's doing. For the most part we're doing pretty well, however every once in awhile we get tired of the whole thing. But we know it will all be worth it if Bea comes out just fine, and everything is looking like that will be the case. That's all for now.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Thursday March 29

Bea had a much better day of monitoring today and for that we're all very happy especially Melissa.

Tonight we had a tour of the NICU and the Special Care Nursery. We started with the NICU so we could finish at the Special Care Nursery which we assumed, correctly, that it would be much more pleasant and less stressful. I had walked to the NICU before and and seen the building, hallways and pictures in the hallways. It was all new to Melissa.

I had taken my last tour at 25 weeks, when Bea was small compared to many of the babies, and was smaller then the babies on the NICU video. It was very unnerving. Today we were on the other side of the scale. Bea is a heavy weight compared to most babies in the NICU, in fact she might be large and strong enough to avoid the NICU all together. However it was still very scary, because we were able to go inside and see real babies.

The babies were doing better than we expected, but it was still scary. It was so real. I'll never forget the images of a little baby hooked up to a breathalater with their mouth full of equipment, with their chest rising up and down from the machine, with little sheets of a plastic like substance covering their skin to presumably keep the skin moist.

The Special Care Nursery in comparison was very peaceful and quiet. The babies were bigger and happier. We were able to find a baby in the SCN that was the same weight as Bea was. The baby looked great and much more like a baby I always pictured compared to those in the NICU. Bea of course will lose fluid weight initially like all babies, but it was great to see what she's going to look like in a couple of weeks.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

31 Weeks!

Boom. Another week has passed. Bea took the day off. She monitored poorly in the morning and required a second monitoring late morning to confirm she was just sloughing off the first time. Then the evening monitoring she decided to really lower her heart rate a couple of times which scared Mom a lot. Mom in turn called Dad and asked when he was coming over and ended up scaring him too. Thankfully when Dad arrived he saw that there were no monitors on at the nurse's station which meant naughty Bea finally shaped up and did a normal heart beat.

We're now hanging out in the heart hospital again after wheeling through a little art sale-fundraiser in one of the lobbies. It was nice to see different scenery (literally) after almost seven weeks here.

The doctor who saw Melissa today was the same doctor who checked us in (nearly seven weeks ago). He said he and everyone else can't believe Melissa's still pregnant. Now they want us to get to 32 weeks. That's only about 15 percent longer than we've been here.

Today in the group session the other pregnant women asked if Melissa had seen all of the movies in the collection. Melissa responded that no, she figured out right away that she would have to watch 5 movies a day for 40 days to get through them all -- but wait, she has been here for 40 days! Matt questions whether Melissa has seen 200 movies in her lifetime. She's not a big tv/movie watcher. She may have seen Sound of Music 200 times, but we're not counting the reruns.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Tuesday March 27

This is the first day without any (scheduled) visitors for Melissa as far as I know. Her mom is back in Appleton and I'm not showing up until dinner. I'm curious to see how bored she is and how talkative she will be.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Monday March 26

We had our last ultrasound today. It'll be our last because three weeks from Wednesday will be week 34 and they are only doing ultrasound on three week intervals at this time for us. The testing went really well. After the ultrasound technician was done, he said the doctor would be right in, well after 15-20 minutes and no doctor Melissa and I started to get worried because delays in the past have meant they're evaluating something bad. Good news was the doctor was stuck with another patient and had only good news to discuss.

Bea's weight was measured at 3 lb 11 oz with an accuracy of +/- 10 oz. That puts her over the 1.5 kilogram limit for the NICU (they only have stats for babies under 1.5 kilogram in weight). So we're really hoping we can skip the NICU and go straight to the special care nursery.

The doctor reiterated that Twin to Twin Syndrome babies that survive a partner's demise have a 30% chance of having a stroke (some brain matter damage). There is no definitive test to evaluate brain damage but a baby's reactivity is a good sign that nothing wrong happened. Thus when Melissa thought Bea had a really bad monitor last week because of how variable the results were, the doctor reiterated how happy she was because the variability in response to a stimuli like her pinching her cord is an informal sign of no brain damage. Thankfully Melissa and I weren't previously aware of the doctor's concerns.

At 32 weeks (next week) they'll do a test on Melissa's amniotic fluid and if the fluid is determined to be mature (we forgot to ask what that is) they might just go ahead and deliver Bea then. If the fluid is not mature, they'll let Bea sit until a "hiccup" occurs in her or Melissa's monitoring and they'll pulling her out right away. The explanation is there's no point in waiting for Bea or Melissa to develop an infection, they're pulling her out at the first minor sign of anything. Another doctor told Melissa that survivability and birth defect rates at 32 weeks for patients at Abbott/Minneapolis Childrens Hospital are normal, thus the magnitude of that date.

Oh yes, Bea has a big head and a really big abdomen, the arms and legs are not so big. Those mesurements started speculation on whose genes she has. They also saw hair on the ultrasound, and a lot more fluid than last week. Apparently Bea is a world class fluid producer. I'm putting in for an extra order of diapers right now.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Sunday March 25

Another weekend gone by. It was pretty smooth with no major health issues. Melissa probably enjoyed her few minutes outside in the hospital courtyard more then anyone else. Her room has a window that opens so she can get some fresh air.

We did have a really nice treat today. My Mom's cousin Mary Ann lined up her friend Tami who is a professional harpist to play for Melissa and Bea. One of Tami's specialities is playing for individuals in hospitals and nursing homes besides the normal parties and weddings. It was really nice. Bea moved around and kicked to the crescendo's. She moved around and kicked to Edelweiss and Somewhere Over the Rainbow, two songs Melissa apparently sings to here regularly. If you remember, Somewhere Over the Rainbow by IZ is Elsa's song. I think I'll get teary eyed everytime I hear that song to the day I die. It makes me stop and want to know what Elsa's up to.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Saturday March 24

Melissa's been in the hospital six weeks now. It's pretty amazing how long she and Bea have made it. While this week has been tough for everyone I think they're holding up better than I am as I came down with a decent cold and went in to the doctor yesterday to get some medication to get through is quickly so I can get back to the hospital to see Melissa and be ready for anything that might happen.

Today I put together a new crib and changing table with Melissa's parents. We rearranged furniture in three rooms to make room for Bea. It was really nice to focus on something proactive and positive for much of the day instead of wondering about the hospital and the associated worries. Pictures were brought to Melissa so she could see what it looked like. We actually rearranged furniture for a while and called Melissa to talk about stuff. Sure enough while on the phone in her hospital bed she made us rearrange nearly every piece of furniture we had already moved. What will surprise me is if she doesn't rearrange things again when she comes home.

Which is a perfect transition for Tubby Smith. Can you believe it? The Gophers hired Tubby Smith from Kentucky as their new basketball coach. I don't think it's truely set in yet. After confirming the reports of his hiring on many different internet sources, I immediately called Melissa to tell her any thought of giving up our season tickets was instantly diminished. They might as well start building the new trophy case for the Big 10 trophy. I've been extremely upset that our athletic director sat back and watched the basketball program fall to the lowest point in many decades without doing something about it. From the mid 80's to the late 90's basketball games at Williams arena were easily the best ticket in town whenever someone half way competitive was playing us. I can't wait for things to return to those days.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Friday March 23

Melissa thought Bea had one of her worst monitors this morning, but then the doctor came in and explained it was maybe her best. Apparently it's good for the baby to have quick significant drops in heart rate when the umbilical cord is pinched/grabbed followed by an immediate spike upward. They want to see the baby react quickly to things.

The doctor also explained that due to all of the stress Bea's been under they might pull her out the minute anything inconsistent occurs after 32 weeks, which is less then two weeks away. Typically they would wait for a day or two to make sure better symptoms occur after a bad monitor, but it appears they're going to pull the trigger quick. The doctor essentially said we should be preparing for two weeks from now.

Melissa's mom is taking her first break in six weeks next week. She's going back to Appleton Monday-Friday to take care of stuff there. Thus if anyone is wondering if next week would be a good week to visit Melissa, it would. She'll be extra bored. I'm in the process of lining up my family to help watch Bullet so I can see Melissa after work.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

The Roller Coaster/Bea Likes Her Feet

Hello, it's Melissa (and Mom) from the heart hospital again. (They are really going to think I am a patient here, they see me so much.)

Bea is still hangin' out in the belly. We've had quite a crazy few days. It seems like my body wants to "cry wolf" every chance it gets. First, as Matt said in his earlier blog my bloodwork came back slightly elevated on Monday... but the doctors eventually concluded it was fine. Then the next day, Bea didn't have a good heart monitor. As a result, she got extra biophysical tests and instead of her regular perfect score, she only got a 6 out of 10 (because ALL of the fluid is gone). So, we thought maybe then. But, no. She's done great on all of her tests since then. Last night, my temperature went from 96 to 99 in a few hours... possibly an infection??? Nope. An hour later, I was back to 97. We're all getting a little bit tired of this "is it/isn't it" game. But in the end it's worth it if she gets to stay inside a little bit longer.

One of the things that really helps the stress levels (for me) is the integrated health staff here at the hospital. These lovely folks come in, give me massages, and do a myriad of other things to help bring stress and pain levels down. One of the things they've been doing with me lately is called "healing touch." It looks a little funny, and it really has nothing to do with "touching." Basically, the woman waves her hands above my body to work with my "energy field." At first I was a bit skeptical about the whole thing. However, the other day, when my belly was sore, she came in and worked on getting the "bad energy" out of my belly. Well, wherever she waved her hands above my belly the baby would kick at her hands. It was amazing! It continued for a good half hour. The healing touch practitioner never touched me but Bea knew right where she was. At the end, the woman told me that Bea was helping her kick the bad energy out, AND Bea wanted me to know that she really likes her own feet. hahaha! The practitioner said that when Bea is born she wants people to hold/rub her feet to relax her. That would make her just like her Mom and Grandma Rach who both like to have their feet rubbed. We'll have to see if it really works when Bea is born. I think it will!

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for all of the messages and emails. I wish that I could respond to the emails you are sending, but the computers here in the heart hospital do not allow me to go to Yahoo!. Matt prints off everything that you send to me -- so I do get it and appreaciate it.

See you soon (at least via the blog).
M.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

30 Weeks!

Another weekly milestone has passed. The last week seemed to go by a little slower for me. It seems the weekends go by real fast but the weekdays are a grind. That may seem normal but the weekdays usually go by faster and easier then they are for me.

Nothing much to report on the baby front. Melissa thought Bea had some good accelerations this morning but apparently the doctor didn't see it that way and has ordered a biophysical test to make sure everything looks good. We're assuming everything will look good and if it doesn't we'll add a new post.

Melissa's weekly anniversary dinner request for today is Gyros.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

False Alarm #623?

Well after closer scrutiny this morning of Melissa's bloodwork drawn yesterday, it appears the doctors aren't real worried about it and said "she's only got four weeks left" implying she shouldn't be packing her bags. They will be continuing essentially the same monitoring from the last 5 weeks with an additional blood test drawn here and there. The same monitoring (consisting of temperature, contractions and heart rate) will be used to signal additional testing if the baseline changes.

To reply to responses from yesterday's post:

1) If Melissa doesn't answer the phone don't panic. She's probably at one of her 24 daily trips to the bathroom, taking an occasional shower, or on her daily wheelchair cruise looking for new and exciting things in the hospital. Let's just say she doesn't move as quickly as she used to so running around/diving over the bed to get to the telephone is not going to happen. I'm waiting for her to stop half way between her 15 foot journey from the bed to the bathroom to take a break. We joke (mostly me) what it'll be like for her to resume normal life after 10-14 weeks of bedrest. Friday will complete the 10th week of bedrest.

2) We currently plan on continuing the blog throughout Bea's hospital stay (she probably won't come home until 6 weeks from now regardless if she's in or out). We'll have a lot more new things to learn, worry, laugh and write about. We're also thinking of continuing the blog beyond her first days home so that everyone who has read about all the bad stuff can enjoy all of the good stuff and witness her development. We'll post pictures and updates on our blog rather then sending out three mass emails a day with pictures showing hourly development (she looks pretty similar to yesterday and the day before that) that clog everyone's mailboxes. It'll also help you avoid injuring your designated "delete button" finger or telling the obnoxious parents to quit sending you emails.

And before I forget, we had a new doctor on Saturday morning. He normally rounds in St. Paul but apparently was hoping to escape the drunken mobs. He said Melissa has "had an interesting pregnancy". If a perinatologist tells you you've had an interesting pregnancy, that means something. That's serious bragging rights.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Is this the week?

Melissa's belly has been a little extra sore so the doctor this morning took the initiative to order some blood work. The result is that her white blood cell and hemoglobin(?) counts, among other tests, were still in the normal range but elevated for her. She's also had some bigger than normal contractions, but well within the normal category. Thus this could be the beginning signs of an infection, in which case they'll deliver Bea before it progresses, or it could be just another bump in the road. Either way the Vegas bookies are quickly adjusting the baby birth date pool to reflect higher chances of delivery for this week.

So we're in a wait and see mode. While there is always a little anxiety about possible upcoming events, our personal anxiety level is on basically a different planet from when we checked in. We're in such better spirits with actual excitement in play now. It would, of course, be nice to get a couple more weeks in but the odds for Bea are pretty strong in her favor at this time. If she's delivered now we would be able to pick her up and her eyes would be open. They might not be able to focus on one object real well, but that's being a little picky. There are babies younger then her that are able to go directly to the special care nursery (and avoid the NICU), but that depends on how birth goes for her and what her particular condition is. We're towards the beginning of the transition period between the special care nursery and the NICU.

Melissa is supervising my writing in the heart hospital right now and it's time for the two (three) of us to get some rest for the night as you never know whom tomorrow will bring.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Melissa is out of the tournament?

After a good monitoring this morning for both Bea and Melissa, it looks like Melissa's bubble has burst and she'll be out of the birth date pool. She picked today for her birth date and it looks like that's not going to happen. So she apparently doesn't get Bea's first picture. I've got the 31st and am looking pretty solid right now.

Melissa's mom has put both the number of days Melissa's spent in the hospital and the maximum number of days she could stay (if she goes all the way to April 18th) on the daily calendar in the hospital room. Thursday was the potential half way mark with 34 days in and 34 days to go. If she goes to April I'll probably have to print her directions to our house, instructions on how to drive a stick, and tell her where everything is supposed to go in our cupboards. Okay the last one was a little inside joke. I don't know what's in half of our cupboards. I'm a simple dish guy. Plates, bowls, basic silverware, simple glasses and a few (glass) containers for the microwave. What else do you need?

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Covert Computer Takeover

Hello there!

It's Melissa, Dick, and Liz (that's Mom & Dad). We're on a wheelchair ride in the hospital and we found this computer, just sitting here... unoccupied. I think it's really for patients of the heart hospital, but I'm a patient and I have a heart...

Anyway Matt is going to be real surpirsed when he sees this post. He abandoned us to go party it up in St. Paul for St. Patrick's Day. He said he was taking clients to see the Gopher hockey game, but we suspect he is really going to be drinking green beer. Just kidding. I think he's actually the designated driver, and he's with his boss.

Things are going fairly well today. Nothing really new to report. Bea monitored ok, Mom beat Dad and I in cards. Matt's parents stopped by to visit today, too.

Well, Mom and I are Irish. I guess that makes Bea a bit Irish, too. Although she's also German, Swedish, Scottish, Welsh... She's a real mutt, but we love her anyway. So, have a Happy Patty's Day. We'll consider ourselves "lucky" that Bea probably won't be born today! :)

By the way, we have a baby pool going for the day of Bea's birth. If you'd like to pick a day, you can email it to me/Matt (goes to Matt either way) or post it here. You won't win anything of monetary value, but we will send Bea's first baby picture to you first. (Big prize.) Here's a hint, though: The last day they will let me deliver is April 18, so don't pick a day after that.

Ok, see you later. Better escape before the hospital police catch us at it. (Actually the security guard just said "hello" to us... I guess we're not as bad as we think we are!)

Bye for now,
Melissa, Liz, Dick, and Bea

p.s. The heart hospital is very pretty. Brand new. You should visit sometime.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Friday March 16

Apparently it's a "biophysical" test not "biometric" test as previously referred to. Either way Bea nailed another perfect test. It was once again very surprising because Melissa has lost quite a bit of fluid in the last week, but she's had lower fluid levels than yesterday's measurement.

Bea's movements have been distinctly different then the previous few weeks. She's much more mellow and doesn't have as many heart accelerations. Nobody has been concerned though. I don't know if it's a different mood she's in this week, if she's getting heavier and lazier, or she just has less room to run around in. Either way a perfect score is a perfect score.

I'm at a loss for other baby thoughts, probably because it's basketball time and there is a big gopher-badger hockey game tonight.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Neuroses, Minutiae, and More!

Hola, it’s Melissa. I’m not sure exactly when this blog will be posted, but by the time you read this I will have been in the hospital for at least 33 days. One day for every year of my life and approximately one day for every pound I’ve gained during this pregnancy.
(OK, if you’ve visited, you know it’s really more than 33 pounds. Humor me.)

It really doesn’t seem like 33 days. Contrary to popular belief, days go fairly quickly. I thought I’d set the record straight with an exciting expose on hospital bed rest from the inside. I was going to start with midnight and describe my day (just like “24” without Kiefer Sutherland). I thought it’d be full of action and intrigue, until I started writing and realized it really was incredibly boring. So here’s a summary:

Sleep. Pee. Eat. Pee. Monitor baby/contractions. Pee. Obsess over baby’s health/possible signs of infection. Detail new-found signs of infection to medical personnel. Pee. Read book/do soduku/do crafts/listen to Ipod. Pee. Visit with Mom/Matt. Pee. Obsess. Eat. Repeat several times. Sprinkle in occasional phone calls, visits, massages, ultrasounds, and wheelchair rides.

See. It’s non-stop action around here.

Baby Bea sends her love. She seems to be sleeping more as she gets bigger. However, she still kicks the monitors, and now that she’s accustomed to the schedule here, she does gymnastics 15 minutes before every mealtime or anticipated snack. I try to use her preoccupation for food to my advantage - telling her if she does well on the monitor, she’ll get pancakes, etc., etc. Little does she know, she’ll get the eats anyway because Mama wants them as much as she does. Sly, eh?

Well, that’s all for now – I need to get back to my hectic pee-eat-obsess schedule. Love, Melissa

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

29 Weeks!

boom vi. 1 the sound of Bea reaching another weekly milestone 2 the word Matt and Melissa yell to each other when another Soduku board has been completed

Each weekly milestone is unbelievable. It's almost surreal. After Melissa had been the hospital a couple of weeks and was gaining hope that she might be able to make it more then a couple of days or weeks in the hospital, she looked into the crystal ball and picked 29 1/2 weeks and specifically this Sunday the 18th as Bea's birthdate. We discussed birthdays again this weekend and she stayed with the same date. After seeing Melissa's condition this weekend my money is on March 31st. That'll put us at 31 1/2 weeks. That day also conveniently avoids having an expensive diamond birthstone on Melissa's finger. I never thought of birthstones but apparently quite a few ladies do. I was also recently wondering what reward or present I can give Melissa for what she's going through. I don't know how anything could be truely appropriate.

Tonight Melissa has selected Leann Chin as the celebratory weekly dinner and the delivery guy is late.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Tuesday March 13

Bea finally cooperated with a good monitoring late afternoon. She was actually so quiet in the early afternoon Melissa had the nurse put her on the monitor for a minute and Bea started going immediately. Bea likes to kick and push the monitor back.

Melissa has a "fantasy" NCAA bracket that she picked the badgers to win on. I used that bracket in the largest pool (of four) I'm entering because she's well in the minority with that pick and should probably win the pot if Wisconsin wins. I told her that unlike days in the hospital she can cross teams off real quickly. I'd almost like to trade spots with her this weekend. You lie in bed all weekend except bathroom breaks and you have food delivered for you to eat in bed. I'm sure some clown somewhere already thought of that idea.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Monday March 12

This morning Bea did want not want to do a heart acceleration. Even though she was moving around and kicking, she couldn't do an acceleration so Melissa was on the monitor for a very long time. Tonight Bea didn't want to calm down. Apparently her accelerations were higher than normal and they kept Melissa on the monitor for a while until she calmed down. We joked Bea is complaining that no matter what she does she can't get it right. Well hopefully tomorrow she splits the goal posts.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Sunny Sunday

Melissa and her parents took a tour of the special care nursery today. The special care nursery is for babies who are stable and don't need NICU attention but aren't strong and big enough to go home yet. One of the primary reasons for admittance to the special care nursery is the baby is able to breathe on their own and don't need a respirator. I walked over to the NICU the first week we were in the hospital and looked at the pictures on the wall of the main hallway. It was pretty scary even though I think the pictures and stories were meant to be positive. I don't know if it was there or in another book they showed us that there was a picture of a NICU baby wrapped around a wall of monitors that appeared to be at least six feet tall. You couldn't see the baby at all behind all of the monitors.

We're entering the transition period where Bea might be able to be admitted to the the special care nursery. It's my understanding that most babies born at 32 weeks are in the special care nursery. Premie babies grow more slowly on the outside then the inside, and those babies young enough to be in the NICU may need quite a bit of time to grow to the point they can be discharged to the special nursery or go home. It's my impression that every day a baby is born too young for the special care nursery, two or three days are needed in the NICU. So it's real nice we've made it this far because the NICU days are dropping real quickly. If we're lucky, we won't even get to see the NICU.

This morning Bea had an unusually busy morning for monitoring. Melissa thinks she knows when its time for breakfast, lunch and dinner because she starts shaking it real good right before meal time. She had a big case of hiccups for a long time today. You can hear the echo very clearly on the monitor and Melissa can feel them. Melissa can feel everything much more acutely now that she's low on fluid again. She's getting sore from all of the activity and lack of cushion. I think mothers may feel their babies from lack of fluid as much or more then the babies size. Fluid levels start gradually decreasing around the 28-31 week period if I remember the stats correctly.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

29th Day in the Hospital

Melissa checked into the hospital four weeks ago today. If you count the first day this is the 29th day she's been in the hospital. I talked to her this morning and she was also feeling tired of worrying all of the time. We're both ready for a break and an opportunity to be genuinely happy and excited without the constant worrying. Hopefully the three of us will hang in there for another few weeks.

Bea had an unusual monitoring this morning and it upset Melissa. Unfortunately the doctors make late rounds on the weekend and she didn't get reassurances everything was just fine until mid-afternoon. The nurse said everything was normal for a baby of our size, however it was a unique monitoring for us and we needed extra reassuring. I'm sure there will be more intense worries before everything is all fine, hopefully they're few in number and short in duration.

It looks like the badgers will give Melissa some more entertainment tomorrow if they hold off the (formerly fighting) Illini. I don't know what their new mascot/nickname is. We joked about Melissa making it to the NCAA tournament in the hospital. Well we're getting really close. If Bea is born during the first weekend of the tournament, it might be difficult to celebrate her birthday without the tv on. Good thing the days rotate so her birthday wouldn't always be on a game day. Maybe she would always want travel to watch the Gophers in the tournament with her dad for her birthday present. ;) What if she wanted to travel to watch the badgers? :(

Friday, March 9, 2007

Friday March 9th

Melissa built up some nice pockets of fluid in the womb a few days ago, it was a nice gradual built up. However it appears she's too full because she's been leaking again the last 24 hours. It's a little diappointing because it's obviously better to have fluid then not to have fluid, but the doctors weren't worried at all about it before and they're not going to be worried about it now.

I haven't been feeling 100% all week. Not sick but not perfect either. Being sick has been my biggest anxiety - that I won't be able to be around Melissa and Bea when they need me especially during delivery and immediately after. I've been regularly taking vitamin C defense drops, drinking extra fluids, wearing extra clothing to stay warm and even putting on a few pounds to help stay warm too. I tend to get cold really quickly. As a result I haven't stayed overnight at the hospital since Monday night and have only visited the hospital on Wednesday night for the 28th week taco bell celebration. I'm guessing with the extra anxiety I'm a little more susceptible to viruses right now. Sleeping isn't the same either. You can't sleep great at the hospital but you can't sleep great at home because your other half is stuck at the hospital and you just can't feel real comfortable with that. Having the opportunity to sleep in your bed at room but not being able to truely enjoy it is a big tease. It's like being (truely) sick and staying home from school - you just can't enjoy it.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Our A+ student

Bea scored another perfect score on the biometric test this morning. She was a little hungover from last nights antics so it took a while for her to wake up and start moving around. Apparently they watched her sleep for about 10 minutes with very regular and deep breaths, the nurses liked the deep regular full breaths she was making. She woke up in time to start bouncing around to complete the active skill section of her test.

The nurse practitioner also indicated that between 30 and 32 weeks the high level NICU time diminishes drastically such that at 32 weeks babies typically don't need to go to the high level NICU, they have a lower level unit that they keep them in until they're ready to go home. That confirms the lack of stats after 1500 grams the NICU nurse showed us earlier. She also said fatalities and abnormalities of 32 week babies are the same as full term babies. Being a little skeptical without reading stats myself, I think there's probably a little difference, but apparently it's considered not significant.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

28 Weeks!

Well we made it to this significant milestone and it's been a pretty busy day. Melissa passed her gestational diabetes test this morning and ingesting all of that sugar made her pretty queasy all morning and into the afternoon.

Then she had her weekly floor meeting with the other prego's. Melissa is the senior ranking person on the floor at 25 days and the runner up was at 8 days. There were several other people like Melissa with water ruptures and a woman with....sextuplets! She was only at nine weeks but she was in for a couple of weeks to get carbohydrate and fat IV's because she wasn't gaining weight fast enough. Melissa said she had a big metal plate like thing on her upper arm where the IV's went. I think she was 26 and from St. Louis Park (MN). After she fattens up they'll send her home for a while and then she'll probably be back for more feeding. The doctors are hoping she gets to 23 weeks (but she's hoping for 30 weeks). Yikes! Melissa said the whole room got quiet when she said she had sextuplets. Just when you think you've been dealt a bad hand you find someone else who shows you that you've got nothing to complain about. Let's all have a prayer for the woman from St. Lous Park and her sextuplets. They really, really need it. Jeepers.

Another woman was from western North Dakota and she's doing all right but because she's from such a remote place they've checked her in so she can get good medical attention. I don't know if there's something special for her - such as if she's having multiples, that she's in town here.

Our celebratory 28 week dinner was from Taco Bell! Then we slammed home some high sugar brownies for good measure. Bea celebrated by giving her biggest monitoring fit of possibly the month. It took 1 1/2 hours with nearly constant nurse attention to get 15-20 minutes of good monitoring. She just would not sit still.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Tuesday March 6th

We had a real good ultrasound today. Bea has put on exactly a pound of weight in three weeks to rise to 2 lb 9 oz. There is a larger error associated with this weight of +/- 5 oz (for those stat geeks out there like me). So she's tracking at the 50% if not above in regards to weight. She also had signficantly more fluid than the last ultrasound so we were all encouraged about that.

They didn't see any problems at all. They moved the ultrasound so we could get a good view of her face. When we did that she started moving her jaw and mouth up and down like she was talking or eating, it was pretty cool. The hospital staff are always pushing and prodding Melissa and Bea with stuff. My favorite quote of the day was when one of the staff was pushing Melissa's belly asking if anything was sore, Melissa replied back it's not any more sore than you would expect when somebody was pushing your belly.

Monday, March 5, 2007

Monday March 5th

Well it's getting late and I need to get to the hospital. The Bullet rendezvous went okay. We found a little far away entry way where Melissa could sit down and pet Bullet. But Bullet wasn't too comfortable there and wanted to go back to the car right away. So it didn't go quite as well as we expected but we were able to show Bullet that Melissa is still ticking and we showed Melissa that Bullet is still ticking. It's was probably the biggest field trip Melissa has had in three weeks, she even dressed in normal clothes for the event. She's been in the hospital gown ever since we checked in.

Tomorrow we have an ultrasound - three weeks since the last one! They're slacking off. Hopefully we'll have fun measurements to report. Then Melissa gets her gestational diabetes test on Wednesday. She's probably most worried about that test. She mentioned that food is the only thing she looks forward to during the day (execept for nice visitors, phone calls and correspondances of course) and if they take away the food she's going to be really...(add your favorite adjective).

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Sunday March 4

I'll make a real short post today. Everything is going well. The secret agents have been combing the hospital grounds all week. Shortly we'll be sneaking in our covert agent, Bullet, to meet Melissa for the first time since she checked in. Details to follow when the information is no longer top secret.

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Still Going

Bea is still hanging out where she should be. She's typically real calm in the morning and we usually try to get her fired up to do some heart accelerations. She does accelerations pretty well on command for me (my voice). Melissa's voice is soothing and causes Bea to calm down. We'll see if that continues in the future. Bea is off the charts in the evening monitoring. It might that in the evening she's just been fed and in the morning she's waiting for breakfast. She won't stay on the monitor in the evening and has one acceleration after another. In the last two weeks she likes to kick at the monitors (that are like flat paperweights held against Melissa's belly by elastic belts) and sometimes completely moves the monitor. The night nurses aren't quite as happy as the morning nurses - the night nurses spend a lot more time trying to find Bea since she's squirming all of the time. During the biometric test on Thursday apparently Bea would regularly take three breaths and kick real hard over and over. Everyone was pleading for her to take a break with the kicking so they could monitor her breathing consistently for 30 seconds.

In the last two days four pregnant women have checked into Melissa's antepartum floor with water ruptures and checked out within one day. We're very happy with the way thing are going for us. My theory about Melissa's tear being surgically related and is much smaller structurally is getting stronger all the time.

Wednesday is the weekly get to know your antepartum floor neighbors day and only one other person showed up besides Melissa. The other person had lost a twin just like Melissa, but she delivered the deceased twin naturally and sealed back up. Thus she obviously had fraternal twins because they had their own sacs and placentas. The (likeley eldest) doctor in the group indicated he had only seen four cases like that in his career.

Friday, March 2, 2007

Our premie can beat your premie...

I hope I'm not one of those parents who pushes their kids in everything, is always bragging about them, and yells at coaches for not giving them playing time, except when it really matters like now. Yesterday Bea got a 10 out of 10 on her biometrics test. They scored her an 8 out of 8 but the nurse practitioner said if you counted in some heart monitoring she would get a 10 out of 10. Once again I'm not going to dispute the claim.

I wasn't there for the biometric test but apparently they look at things such as extent of movement, including moving the leg back into place after a kick, amount of movement, heart accelerations, heart rebound & consistency, fluid level and possibly some other stuff. We're becoming very knowledgeable on the heart accelerations. You want the baby to have short, but not too short, accelerations where they're getting the heart rate up for a while like a good workout and are able to recover quickly. It's good for the cardiovascular system. It's also good for Mom and Dad's cardiovascular system. When she pinches her umbilical cord you also want her to get off it quickly and get her heart rate back up.

Let's just say I'll be more than happy to trade some good test scores now for some meaningless test scores in middle school or high school, or performance in some extracurricular activities. Of course I'll need to delete this post some day so Bea won't actually use it against me.

Things are going well enough I felt comfortable staying home last night to help take care of snow removal and some other things. So I'll need to work even harder at good meaningful conversation with Melissa the next few days. I've recently been (re-)informed that nodding my head, "yep", and staring at the newspaper without eye contact don't count.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Hello from the hospital

Hello from the hospital – it’s Melissa. Matt brought his laptop to the hospital today, so I’m typing for the first time in almost 20 days! Of course, there’s still no Internet – but maybe a break from the Internet (first time since 1993) isn’t such a bad thing.

Well, today is MARCH 1! Hooray. Bea will not have a February birthday. I remember thinking back in January that if the Cincinnati doctors were right she’d have a March birthday and how early that was. Now, March seems like such a blessing.

This morning, I’m actually having some mild contractions and my belly is quite sore. That could mean something as harmless as my belly is stretching or it could mean something more serious like an infection. So they’ll be doing a mini-ultrasound in my room today or tomorrow to have a look.

It doesn’t seem to be bothering Bea, she did well on the monitor today. Bea is monitored for about two hours each day. It’s fun to watch – she has all kinds of antics. When Matt talks to her, her heart rate skyrockets. She has also learned that it is very fun to kick the monitor and mess with the nurses. She used to just kick her heart rate monitor, but lately she’s been kicking the contraction monitor, too (which screws up the readings.)

Well, Matt is getting ready to leave for work, so I’m getting cut off. It is snowing like crazy outside – I can’t even see the other building of the hospital. So everybody be safe, but get out and enjoy the snow storm for me!