1,000 page views!

WOW!  This blog has been up for 2 weeks and it's already gotten over 1,000 page views!!  I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for following our journey.  Your prayers, support, and positive energy mean more than I can say.  I can feel everyone out there cheering mightily for the Littlest Warrior.  I will definitely be showing her this blog when she's older so she can see how loved she was before she even got here. 

I also wanted to give a special shout out to the other gastro mommies following this blog, one of whom just had her beautiful baby girl at a whopping 7 lbs 3 oz!  You ladies inspire me every day and remind me that the LW and I are not alone, and that one day this WILL end!  It's a tough job bringing these babies into the world, but someone's gotta do it. ;)  You and your little ones are always in my thoughts, and I can't wait to hear your stories.

I have an ultrasound this afternoon to check on my AFI and umbilical cord Doppler.  Stay tuned....

35 WEEKS!

All about baby…

• Average baby weighs about 5.25 lbs and is about 18 inches long
• Baby continues to add fat and put on weight
• Brain & nervous system is undergoing a growth spurt
• Touch-sensing nerves develop their myelin sheath, the envelope that surrounds the nerves and helps them transmit impulses. 
• Babies born between 34-36 weeks gestation are considered “late preterm.”  These babies can have some short-term health issues but generally do as well as full-term babies in the long run.  

All about me…

Total time in hospital: 4 weeks, 1 day
Total Weight Gain: 34 lbs
Bellybutton: Mostly an innie with some parts that are starting to pop out
Stretchmarks: Nope
Baby position: Frank breech
Sleep: Some nights I sleep well, other nights are harder because my back hurts.  I go off the monitor at midnight and get woken up at 6:00 am to go back on, so I don’t sleep for more than 6 hours a night.  But I take plenty of naps.  So overall I would say sleep is pretty good.
Symptoms: Lots of Braxton Hicks contractions (usually about 2-6 per hour), fatigue, shortness of breath (baby’s head is right up against my diaphragm), reflux, runny nose & occasional nosebleeds
Food Cravings: Bacon! I’m on a mission to fatten this kid up. It’s hard work being an Incubator.
High Point of the Week: Erik stayed the night on Thursday and worked from the hospital on Friday, so I get four days in a row with my favorite hospital buddy. :)
Low Point of the Week: Finding out my AFI had gone down again at Thursday’s ultrasound
One Thing I Miss About Home: The kitties.  I can’t believe I haven’t seen them for 4 weeks!  I could really use some cuddles from Maverick right now. 
What I’m Reading: The Hunger Games, and it has totally sucked me in!
What I’m Looking Forward to: Hmmm, having this baby and finally going home?  Yeah, I’m looking forward to that.
Next Milestone: The next big one is 37 weeks – full term! 

Visiting with the NICU Nurse

One of my nurses was thoughtful enough to arrange for her favorite NICU nurse to come pay me a visit.  We had already met with one of the neonatologists (you can watch a video about her here), but we hadn’t yet met with a nurse.  These are the people who watch and care for the babies around the clock, so their insight is invaluable.  This nurse is one of the nicest, warmest, and most soothing people I’ve ever met.  I guess you have to be when you work in a place like the NICU.  I mean, you really get the feeling that she loves each one of these babies like her own.  She answered my questions and gave me an idea of what to expect.  I learned that each nurse gets assigned to one, maybe two babies.  She is going to try to get assigned as the LW’s primary evening shift nurse, which I’m absolutely delighted about. 

She also couldn’t speak highly enough of our pediatric surgeon.  This nurse has worked in the NICU for many years, and she said that the gastro babies have never done better.  Ever since this surgeon started treating them they’ve been recovering faster and going home sooner.  Apparently their last gastro baby went home in two weeks!!!  In all my research I’ve never heard of a NICU stay that was that short.  The nurse said that the surgeon just “gets it” and has an amazing instinct for what to do with these babies, which is important because each case is a little different.  She also thinks that the new sutureless closure technique, which this surgical team helped pioneer, has made a huge difference in their recovery time and overall well-being.  You can read more about sutureless closure here (warning: article has medical photos).  I even heard from our perinatologist that the surgeon gives talks specifically about gastroschisis at medical conferences in the Bay Area.  

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not getting my hopes up for a 2-week NICU stay.  But it’s wonderful to know that we are apparently in the hands of Northern California’s “Gastroschisis Whisperer.”  I’m feeling more and more blessed to be here and under the care of such a skilled and experienced medical team.  It’s really starting to feel like we couldn’t be in a better place!

AFI Update and 4 Weekaversary

First things first: I had an ultrasound today to check on my AFI and cord Doppler.  The cord Doppler was fine but the AFI was down to 4.6, after being at 8.6 just three days ago.  Sigh.  These fluctuations have been happening the whole time I’ve been here, so nobody is really surprised.  The doctors say that as long as the LW continues to look good on the monitor, then we stick with the same plan.  Everything else is pretty much the same.  Extra-abdominal bowel distension, full bladder, stomach out.  The doctors still say that none of these things are red flags that would cause us to deliver the LW early.  

I should explain how they measure the AFI.  Basically they visually inspect each quadrant of the uterus (left top, left bottom, right top, right bottom) for pockets of fluid, which look like dark spots on the ultrasound.  They can’t use any pockets that have cord in them.  They measure the lengths of the biggest suitable pockets they can find and the computer spits out the AFI.  So it depends on what pockets the technician can find that day, which can be influenced by the baby’s position and how much she’s been moving around and stirring up the fluid.  It can also be tough to find big pockets with gastroschisis pregnancies because there is other stuff in there getting in the way.  So obviously there are a lot of variables and it’s not an exact science, which could partially explain why my AFI fluctuates so much.  

Today also marks 4 weeks that I’ve been here in the hospital.  The good news is that if I make it to 38 weeks, I’m more than half way there!  But I won’t lie.  As time goes on, this whole thing gets harder and harder.  I have good days and bad days, and I’ve figured out that ultrasound days are almost always bad days.  It’s just so hard to see my tiny baby on the screen with her organs all rearranged, and her bowels getting more and more distended, and know that there’s nothing I can do.  Even though I know I’m seeing things that everyone expects to see at this point, it’s impossible to keep doubt and fear from creeping into my mind.  As the ultrasound images pile up and D-Day gets closer, I get more and more nervous about what we’ll encounter when she’s born.  How damaged will the intestines be?  Will there be additional complications and/or surgeries?  There is no way to answer these questions right now.  All I can do is surrender to God and trust the advice of our doctors.  

I saw the hospital’s senior perinatologist today after my ultrasound, and he told me that when the day comes for us to take the LW home, and all she’ll have as a memento is a little scar on her belly, I’ll laugh when I think of all the worrying I did.  He reminded me that these babies almost always do just fine.  You just deal with things one day at a time as they arise.  My ob/gyn stopped by after that and reminded me that the LW has already shown us how strong she is during her monitoring.  All the signs show that she is going to be one tough cookie who will beat whatever is placed in front of her.  So many of my nurses have said the same thing.  So why do I still worry when the people who know what they're doing are so positive?  I guess I'm just a mom, and I’m allowed to have bad days and cry it out when I need to.  But when that’s over, it’s my job to make sure this little girl knows without a doubt that her dad and I love her and believe in her strength. 

AFI Update

Today we had an ultrasound to check on my AFI and the umbilical cord Doppler.  My AFI was 8.6, the highest it’s been since I was admitted to the hospital!  This still isn’t high enough to go home, but I’m not even thinking about going home at this point.  The important thing is that it’s not falling below a 4.0.  The Doppler was fine too which means that there continues to be good blood flow through the umbilical cord.  Everything else is pretty much the same.  Her bladder is still distended, but the kidneys look fine.  The stomach is still out.  There is some dilation of the outer intestines (which is normal) but no dilation of the intra-abdominal portion of the intestines (which is good).  She’s still passing her fetal monitoring sessions with flying colors, and I’m back to one hour every four hours on the monitor.  

We usually don’t get very good ultrasound photos these days because of the low fluid levels, but today we got a decent shot of the Littlest Warrior’s face.  If you look closely you can see the outline of her nose, lips, and chin.  I think the white line down the side of her face is her tooth buds.  I can’t wait to lay some serious smooches on those cute little lips!

The Littlest Warrior, 34 Weeks

34 WEEKS!

All about baby…

• Average baby weighs about 4.75 lbs and is about 18 inches long
• Major organ development is nearly complete
• Central nervous system and lungs continue to mature
• Baby’s fat layers are filling out
• Fingernails have reached the ends of baby’s fingertips
• Babies born between 34-36 weeks gestation are considered “late preterm.”  These babies can have some short-term health issues but generally do as well as full-term babies in the long run.  

All about me…

Total Weight Gain: 33 lbs
Bellybutton: Still an innie, but a shallow innie
Stretchmarks: None so far
Baby position: The little yogi is still in frank breech position
Sleep: I made it this far without having any trouble sleeping, but sadly those days are numbered.  It’s just hard to get into a comfortable position and stay there.  But I can still sleep for 4-5 hour stretches at a time.  I also take a lot of naps (one of the benefits of being in the hospital).
Symptoms: Braxton Hicks contractions, fatigue, shortness of breath, trouble sleeping, sore back
Food Cravings: ice cream, chocolate, basically anything sweet
High Point of the Week: Making it to 34 weeks!!!  When I was first admitted to the hospital at 30w/5d, the doctors said that the LW would be in great shape if I could get to 34 weeks.  Now we’re there and poised to go even further!  I’m so proud of us.  No matter how far we make it, the difference between 30 weeks and 34 weeks is huge.
Low Point of the Week: My growth ultrasound, but I’m feeling a lot better about that now
One Thing I Miss About Home: Waking up next to Erik :(
What I’m Reading: A Clash of Kings, the 2^nd book in the Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series
What I’m Looking Forward to: Getting a massage this week.  Yes, they have massage therapists here!
Next Milestone: At this point each week is a milestone.  But the next big one is 37 weeks (full term!) 

Hiccups

It’s pretty cute when a fetus gets hiccups.  The LW gets them about 3 times a day.  What’s really cute is when she gets them while on the fetal monitor because the monitor picks up the sound of any movement, not just the heartbeat.  Here’s a video of a good round of Warrior hiccups.  The heartbeat is the steady beat in the background.  The hiccups are the loud thumping noises.  They’re so loud that they confuse the monitor because it can’t tell what’s a heartbeat and what’s a hiccup.  These moments always put a smile on my face. :)