89

There's a forecast high of 89 degrees here in Tucson today. We are just outside of Tucson and could easily hit 90-91. PERFECT WEATHER in Southern Arizona. I am going to the doctor, then coming home and beaching myself on the lawn. I love the warmth! Kelsie may even get to run throught the sprinklers. I love this little tease of Spring. I know it'll cool down again and then before we know it it'll be too hot to get outside. So we'll spend the day outside while we can. Have a good Monday morning!

There's No Cooking in Baseball!

We just got Kennedie all signed up for Little League. Levi went and got the girls new gloves. He spent a day outside with Kennedie and of course Kelsie thought she had to be right out there in the middle of things. A couple of days after her baseball lesson, Kelsie came out of the kitchen with two oven mitts and her baseball. Silly girl!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Make sure you have the volume turned up! This is a daily occurance around here.

Tang

I don't feel very good tonight. I feel like I have a cold coming on, my legs and uterus hurt, and I am tired. When I went to the cupboard to get a couple of Tylenol, I had this sudden craving for HOT TANG. Yes, HOT Tang. It's really simple to make: You warm some water in the microwave and throw in a few tablespoons of orange Tang powder. I made the Tang and headed to the couch to blog. I took my first sip, and it was magical. I love Hot Tang.

I started thinking more about my love for Tang. It started when I was very little at my grandma's or -as we call her- Mimi's house. Mimi always made us hot Tang, pork tenderloin, and eggs for breakfast when we stayed the night. She started my love of Hot Tang. She also started my love of divinity, homemade chicken noodles, and green chili. The woman knows how to cook. She also knows how tickle a back better than anyone I know. She can churn out some amazingly perfect hand-stitched quilts, is awesome at genealogy, puts up with and loves my Papa everyday, writes beautiful poems for her granddaughters, goes to visit my dad and take Debbie out regularly, and calls me and sends me sweet emails to keep in touch. She sings around the house everyday. Hymns, old county, you name it-she sings. She sings whenever she is working. Beautiful, heart-filled songs fill her home. That speaks volumes about the type of woman she is.

So... Besides the fact that I have read that Tang can used to clean a dishwasher, and remove rings in a toilet, I am totally comfortable with professing my love for Tang. It's citrusy goodness often beckons me. Mostly on tired cold mornings, or when I need something soothing after a long day. I used to think it was all about the Tang. But I think that Tang makes me think about my Mimi. It's old and familiar. (Here is where Mimi would say, "like your Mimi." She doesn't think she has a sense of humor but she definitely does.) It's comforting. Like her. It makes me happy. Like her.

(I hope you read this Mim. I love you, and thanks for all your love and help.)

Just a quick little update

I made it to get my second steroid shot on Friday. I also got monitored again. More contractions, but nothing too alarming, just annoying to me and worrisome to the doctor. I went back to the doctor today for one of my appts. They know me way too well around that place. I don't even have to sign in anymore. I just walk in, go to the bathroom, leave my urine test strip, and head to the room the nurse yells out to me as I walk to the back. That's nice. There are also 6 OB's in my practice and I have seen all of them at least 4 or 5 times. A lot of visits to the OB. Not fun, but necessary to give this little gal the best possible start at life. At my appt today, I was having more contractions, more frequently, but not patterned. That was good. The doctor didn't want to check me today, she will on Thursday when I go back AGAIN. She said she was really proud to see me there today, as she thought she was probably going to deliver me over the weekend. She told me to hang on, I am thisclose to "safety." So that is what I am doing. Hanging on with everything I have. I am feeling much less scared and worried. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers. I love you all and am truly blessed!

A NON-Stress Test?

I went into the OB today to be mointored. They call the tests Non-Strest test or NST, but I assure you, they really stress a momma out. Watching that line for contractions, listening to the baby's super fast heartbeat, having the nurse in and out 50 million times, poking, proding and looking at those little lines is stressful. I know they are talking about the baby, but still, I think they need to come up with a more appropriate name.

The Good News: There were no contractions picked up on the monitor this morning. The baby looked awesome and was nice and active.

The Bad News: I am officially in Pre-term Labor. I got checked again and was 2 cm and 90% effaced. I will be 33 weeks in 2 days. I got sent to the hospital for a shot of steroids for baby girl's lung development. That shot to the rump was not fun. They give 2 shots 24 hours apart. I go back tomorrow for the second shot (in the other cheek :) If I can hold out and get that other shot I dramactically improve baby's outlook. The doctor said if I can stay pregnant 9 more days to 34 weeks, she would be ecstatic. But... steroid shots are only effective before 34 weeks, and she is not confident that I will make it that far. So better safe than sorry. I would really like to have at least a 36-37 weeker, but the doctor said she would be "really surprised" if the baby bakes that long.

I am just trying to relax. Although I know that modern medicine is amazing, and that everything will probably end up fine, I can't help but worry about having a preemie. I want her born fat and healthy, and she needs to stay in my nice protective womb to do that. At this point, Dr. said that much of it is beyond my control. Even making it past 29 weeks when this first started is a big deal. I am grateful for that. But really worried at the same time.

Please say your prayers for our baby girl!

Backyard Buddies

The little girl next door is named Claire. She is 2 weeks younger than Kelsie. These two are T-R-O-U-B-L-E. We share a common wall. Kelsie can open the back sliding glass door and head out the back door. When I shower I have to lock it and set the alarm so she doesn't escape. 9 times out of 1o when Kelsie goes outside she pulls a chair over to the wall or climbs one of the little ladders that Kennedie has leaning on the wall to talk to Claire's older brother Cameron (who is in her Kindergarten class) and screams for Claire to come outside. Claire does the same thing, and Kelsie will hear her and they meet outside. On this day, Kelsie was summoned out by Claire who was outside with her dad while he did yard work. Kelsie got to jump on their trampoline and play in the dirt with Claire. They are hilarous together.

Doctors, Tests, and Appointments, OH MY!

I just got a call from the OB's office. Apparently they got the report from the perinatologist and ultrasound that I had on Friday. I guess maybe something got lost in translation because they (meaning one of the 5 doctors in the practice -- I can never see the same one!! ARRGGH!) feel that I need to have monitoring 2 times weekly. That means 2 hours laying there hooked to a monitor 2 times a week! I finally have time to myself and it means laying on a paper sheet naked from the waist down with two tight bands around my belly and a nice latex glove to the baby canal??... AWESOME!

On a serious note, I really do want to be cautious and safe, but don't think I am in any danger of delivering in the next few weeks, so what I feel is the the doctors over-zealous testing and interactions are kinda annoying me. But I would feel so guilty if I declined medical help and this little baby came too early or had complications. So I get another swab tomorrow and possibly steroid shots/tributiline depending on if they pick up many contractions on the monitor. I will be a good mama and march myself down there every Thursday and Monday for the next who- knows-how-many weeks and take my "ME" time.

Bathing Beauties

My favorite part of the day with my girls is bathtime. I put them in together in my bathtub. I can fold laundry on my bed and still see them and hear them, but they forget I am there. I love listening to them interact. Kennedie is big enough she can do everything herself, but she gets in with her 2 year old sister, because shes love her. She loves to take care of her, teach her "tricks" in the water, give her rides on her back, let her make her drinks, and help her bathe her babies. They fight sometimes, but 99% of the time bath time is peaceful and always brings a new adventure for the 2 of them. Yesterday they were a drowning victim (Kelsie, yelling "SAVE ME!") and a lifeguard. (Kennedie, quickly pulling Kelsie to safety.) The day before they were a Mama and a little girl (Kelsie was the mama, making dinner with her dishes for a crying Kennedie.) They are amazing little people! I love that they love each other!

The Update...

Had my consult with the doc today. He did an ultrasound and looked over my charts. We got a lot of good news. The baby was perfect. She is head down and really far down in my pelvis. She is developing perfectly. Her estimated weight was 4 lbs 2 oz, which is exactly the 50% percintile right now. My cervical length was shorter than it should be at this point, but not quite in the dangerous range. He said the most important thing is to make it 2 more weeks, at which point the baby should be fine. He is confident that I'll be able to do that. We had a discussion about continuing the meds until that point. The particular medicine that I was prescribed can have side effects to both the baby and I, and he believes that in our case the risks outweight the benefits. So WAHOO! I get to stop taking that nasty stuff. I need to be cautious, and he is recommending that I go in twice a week for monitoring for contractions. I see my normal doc next week, so we'll see what she says.

Oh, and something I find really exciting:
If you have seen our other two babies, you know that they were born bald, and stayed bald for most of their early little lives. Kennedie is just now starting to get her hair to thicken, and Kelsie is ahead of where Kenne was at that point, but still working on growing some.
At our ultrasound the doctor was quick to point out this little girl had A LOT of HAIR floating in the amniotic fluid. Enough for us to be sent home with a picture with a wave coming off of the baby's little scalp that the doctor labeled simply "HAIR."
Don't get me wrong, I think bald is beautiful! I also think that our babies had that the most perfect little heads, but the prospect of something of different is terribly exciting. Plus, that little preview makes her seem all the more real! I can't wait to meet her. I hope she keeps her hair.

MIA

Okay, I have been missing the last little while and I have so much to catch up on and so much to blog about.

First things, I should probably give a pregnancy update as that has been the primary reason I have fallen off the blogging earth.

I went in for a routine appt. yesterday. They were planning on repeating a FFN swab, and checking me in light of my previous appt. I have really been feeling crappy the last few weeks, tired, achy, tense, you know all the typical yuckies of being preggers, just magnified the last little while. I knew I had been having contractions, but didn't really think that I was having enough to do too much. Apparently I have made more signifigant progress, I am 1.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced now. The doctor kinda scared me, she packed up my swab and told me to get over to the Women's Center! (where I will deliver, weeks from now :) I hand delivered my swab to OB triage, and they hooked me up to the montior. When I went in I was having pretty good contractions every 2 to 3 minutes! I was really scared and freaked out to be there. Anywhoo, after an hour of these fun contractions, I got a nice big shot of Tributiline. Then I got montiored some more. The contraction monitor flat lined. That was a huge relief. I got sent home with a script for a med to take around the clock until they tell me otherwise. I went back to the doc today, and they refered me to a high-risk perinatologist. We have an appt with him first thing in the morning. He will do an ultrasound to check the baby's size and development, my cervical length in centimeters, and give his recommendation for an action plan. We will know much more tomorrow. The doctors are saying that holding out 3 more weeks should put us in a safe window, allowing us to bring home a healthy baby after delivery. I am almost 32 weeks. They have said anything after 35 poses much less risk of NICU time and prematurity issues. There is a great possiblilty of bringing home the baby with no or little special care after that point. We'll see how our little babe looks tomorrow, and hopefully rule out any other complications. I'll update when we know more.

Uh-oh! I 've used up all of my blogging time on my drama... I know it's so much more fun to read about the girls or Levi. Sorry! You'll have to check back for more. It's coming, I promise. :)