Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Twas the night before baby....
and all through the house, OK so I won't be super cheesy and finish the rest. As Katharine told her mother on the phone tonight, "It's like Christmas eve, I doubt I'll sleep well." The excitement and fear is growing, but we are ready for this day. We will be surrounded by family as we celebrate this long awaited day. You can look forward to the introduction of the newest member of our family tomorrow night. Hopefully there will be a few pictures to share as well. Wish us luck and we will see you real soon!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Final Visit to CAFCA
This morning was our final visit to the Center for Advanced Fetal Medicine for our sonogram and fetal monitoring. It was almost surreal to walk out of there today knowing that we did not have to go back. For almost 4 months now we have been making weekly visits and in the last 6 weeks it has been multiple times per week. The doctors, nurses, and staff there have all been extremely wonderful. They of course want us to bring the baby down once he is out of the NICU. Everyone there has become quite aware of our scenario and is very interested to see how things turn out. While we are thankful that we do not have to go back, still we will miss them all in that office.
Only 3 more days until we begin the next chapter! We both are so ready, nervous, but excited and even a little frightened. We have learned a lot during this journey, but mostly we have learned just how strong our love can be. The next few months are certain to be an emotional roller coaster, but we shall move forward. Please know that you all are welcome anytime to come up and visit, call, email, or whatever. We will need your continued support to help guide us through this extremely confusing period. Everyone take care and we will talk to you very soon.
Only 3 more days until we begin the next chapter! We both are so ready, nervous, but excited and even a little frightened. We have learned a lot during this journey, but mostly we have learned just how strong our love can be. The next few months are certain to be an emotional roller coaster, but we shall move forward. Please know that you all are welcome anytime to come up and visit, call, email, or whatever. We will need your continued support to help guide us through this extremely confusing period. Everyone take care and we will talk to you very soon.
Monday, April 21, 2008
And the winner of the birth pool is......
THE BABY!! He fooled us all :)~
Today we went in for all of our normal Monday morning rituals with the doctors as well as the amnio for lung maturity. The hope was to deliver the baby via C-section tomorrow if the test was positive. Unfortunately, it came back negative. They did however tell us that May 1, 2008 will be the day we go in for a planned c-section. While this was disappointing news it is for the baby's best health interest, so we will hold our chins up and count down the days.
This has certainly become an ever changing scenario. Each visit brings on something different to consider or be concerned about. We have done a fairly good job of remaining positive, but it is very exhausting to maintain that level of enthusiasm. We are honestly ready to move past this chapter and begin the next. We want to welcome this precious life into this world and conquer these anomalies. It has been a very frustrating path leading us to this point and we thank you all for the support. Right now, more than ever we need you to help push us through our most challenging days. We appreciate all the love, thoughts, & prayers because we certainly would not have made it this far without all of you.
Bless you all, and Bless this Baby!!
Today we went in for all of our normal Monday morning rituals with the doctors as well as the amnio for lung maturity. The hope was to deliver the baby via C-section tomorrow if the test was positive. Unfortunately, it came back negative. They did however tell us that May 1, 2008 will be the day we go in for a planned c-section. While this was disappointing news it is for the baby's best health interest, so we will hold our chins up and count down the days.
This has certainly become an ever changing scenario. Each visit brings on something different to consider or be concerned about. We have done a fairly good job of remaining positive, but it is very exhausting to maintain that level of enthusiasm. We are honestly ready to move past this chapter and begin the next. We want to welcome this precious life into this world and conquer these anomalies. It has been a very frustrating path leading us to this point and we thank you all for the support. Right now, more than ever we need you to help push us through our most challenging days. We appreciate all the love, thoughts, & prayers because we certainly would not have made it this far without all of you.
Bless you all, and Bless this Baby!!
Friday, April 18, 2008
It's Getting Closer!!
Today is Katharine's birthday!! She has decided to keep things low key. Going out for dinner and maybe a little baby shopping afterward. Otherwise, things here have been nice and relaxing. We have been getting some things accomplished and wrapped up in anticipation of next week. We are starting to get a little nervous as the day draws near.
This morning we tried to get some pictures of the nursery. The dimensions of the nursery made it difficult to get any good pictures. Here is one that we were able to get of the crib.
We hope everyone has a great weekend. Talk to you all soon.
This morning we tried to get some pictures of the nursery. The dimensions of the nursery made it difficult to get any good pictures. Here is one that we were able to get of the crib.
We hope everyone has a great weekend. Talk to you all soon.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Clock is Ticking
After our our appt yesterday at the Center for Advanced Fetal Care we sat down with the doctor to discuss the options and game plan. Since they are unsure of what genetic problem the baby has at this point they have decided to play things safe. There is one potential syndrome that could cause problems during a vaginal birth if he has this. We had been working towards identifying certain physical features that could help rule in or out, but were unsuccessful. So the decision has been made to have a planned C-section delivery after another amnio is done to determine if his lungs are mature enough. As of this morning the plan is to do the amnio on Monday morning. If the results are positive then we check into the hospital Monday night with the delivery early Tuesday morning. If they test comes back as not ready then they will be able to let us know which day in the next few weeks it will be. The intent now is to deliver in a controlled and prepared environment to accommodate all of the babies needs with out need to scramble the assembly of the team. Katharine has been placed on bed rest since her amniotic fluid continues to rise. Since this Thursday is week 37, the baby will be considered full-term. Several people have been asking how Katharine feels about the decision for c-section, she is OK with this. She had come to terms awhile ago that this was far from the normal pregnancy and while she hoped for a natural birth, reality was certainly not in our favor. The bottom line is what ever is best for our child.
This has certainly taken us a little by surprise, considering last week the judgement was to let baby come naturally with induction at week 39 if he had not delivered. Thankfully there are only a few loose ends for us to wrap up so we are not scrambling around trying to finish things. We are set to relax this week and be set on Monday. Hopefully, either later today or tomorrow we will have some of the pictures up to share from the baby shower. Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers. We will keep you posted with all the latest and greatest!!
This has certainly taken us a little by surprise, considering last week the judgement was to let baby come naturally with induction at week 39 if he had not delivered. Thankfully there are only a few loose ends for us to wrap up so we are not scrambling around trying to finish things. We are set to relax this week and be set on Monday. Hopefully, either later today or tomorrow we will have some of the pictures up to share from the baby shower. Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers. We will keep you posted with all the latest and greatest!!
Monday, April 07, 2008
Baby Shower
This past weekend was the Baby Shower, hosted by Katharine's Mom and Sister Kim. Lots of friends and family were in attendance. It was really wonderful to see everyone. Thanks to all of you again for the amazing gifts. We would also like to say a special thank you to the anonymous individual that placed the monetary gift in our camera bag. We asked and no one claimed any knowledge. It was said to us that maybe they did not want to be known, but we wanted to say thank you, whoever you are. It was appreciated, and put towards something wonderful for the baby.
We are working on getting the pictures processed on the computer, sorted and uploaded online. We will post a link when they are up. There are some really funny shots (think diaper contest) and it is evident that everyone had a wonderful time.
It was nice to kind of get away from everything and get a little relaxation. This morning we were back in the doctors routine. The sonogram went about the same. Still no clear identification of whether he has thumbs or not, they have really focused on that the last few weeks. He just doesn't want to give us a good shot. There was a little humor in his antics this morning. As the Sonographer was following his hands, hoping to get a glimpse, he kept putting out his pinkie finger, as if to tell her "this is all you get babe!!" hahaha (insert villain laugh effect). It's nice that they are able to follow our sense of humor and contribute, it helps us get through the rough patches. The fluid is still high, but stayed about the same compared to last week's measurements. However, we are now going for the fetal monitoring twice a week. This is only a precaution since the fluid is coming near the highest levels they really like to see. It is simply to monitor and ensure that contractions and baby's position are as they should be to not cause preterm labor. This prompted us to ask the question about induction. The answer was vague and he apologized for being such. However, we got a much better sense of their intentions. Essentially, the ideal scenario in their book would be for baby to come naturally. The next step will be to do a procedure to remove some of the fluid. This will help with the baby's positioning (he is swimming around in the deep end of the pool if you will)and encourage "natural child birth." This will be done next week more than likely. It seems as of now the plan would be to schedule induction only if we reach week 39 (Week of April 27th) and he has not yet been born. The doctors suspect we will deliver before then. Until then we are going to wrap up work on the nursery this week and get all the last minute items. Talk to everyone soon!!
We are working on getting the pictures processed on the computer, sorted and uploaded online. We will post a link when they are up. There are some really funny shots (think diaper contest) and it is evident that everyone had a wonderful time.
It was nice to kind of get away from everything and get a little relaxation. This morning we were back in the doctors routine. The sonogram went about the same. Still no clear identification of whether he has thumbs or not, they have really focused on that the last few weeks. He just doesn't want to give us a good shot. There was a little humor in his antics this morning. As the Sonographer was following his hands, hoping to get a glimpse, he kept putting out his pinkie finger, as if to tell her "this is all you get babe!!" hahaha (insert villain laugh effect). It's nice that they are able to follow our sense of humor and contribute, it helps us get through the rough patches. The fluid is still high, but stayed about the same compared to last week's measurements. However, we are now going for the fetal monitoring twice a week. This is only a precaution since the fluid is coming near the highest levels they really like to see. It is simply to monitor and ensure that contractions and baby's position are as they should be to not cause preterm labor. This prompted us to ask the question about induction. The answer was vague and he apologized for being such. However, we got a much better sense of their intentions. Essentially, the ideal scenario in their book would be for baby to come naturally. The next step will be to do a procedure to remove some of the fluid. This will help with the baby's positioning (he is swimming around in the deep end of the pool if you will)and encourage "natural child birth." This will be done next week more than likely. It seems as of now the plan would be to schedule induction only if we reach week 39 (Week of April 27th) and he has not yet been born. The doctors suspect we will deliver before then. Until then we are going to wrap up work on the nursery this week and get all the last minute items. Talk to everyone soon!!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
A Little Night Music
Just a little something we found that is absolutely hilarious! Thought we would keep it light and fun tonight. Looking forward to seeing some of you all this weekend.
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