THE SCOOP…

I know most of you have been seeing Facebook updates or have been talking to us directly about what’s going on with Lucy and me right now so we thought we should put up some more detailed information now that we have it.

At a routine baby exam on Friday my doctor found a slightly elevated blood pressure on me which caused her to order a blood test measuring my liver functions.  At about 5pm that night my doc called and said that I needed to go to the hospital that night to be checked in on a 24 hour watch for possible pre-eclampsia.  After 2 days of blood tests and all kinds of other tests they are 100% sure that I do have pre-eclampsia and that it is early onset meaning most women don’t get it until their last few weeks of pregnancy and I am only 33 weeks.

Because of this diagnosis they have been giving me shots of a steroid that will help to mature Lucy’s lungs by Monday.  Luckily they found the issue early and were able to give her the medications she needs.

WHAT WE KNOW FOR SURE…

So the plan at this point is to wait and see what happens.  We know for certain that this is very serious and life threatening if left too long for both Lucy and myself.  Her heart rate is good, her movement is good, but they did find a little dip in her heart pressures while doing a more in-depth ultrasound.  This means she is starting to feel the effects of the pre-eclampsia.  Up until that point the plan was just to keep me and her monitored in the hospital until she hit the 37 week mark.  After her ultrasound and the new development the plan is to monitor her more closely and if they feel it has gotten worse then they will induce labor right away.  The last thing the doctor said to me today was “be ready for us to say today is the day at any point”.

US…

Josh and I are definitely nervous about her health as well as mine and what will happen next.  We feel confident in our doctors and the hospital we are in and feel that they know what they are doing. It is VERY important to us that we stay positive!!!!  Its very had to be away from everybody while going through this but we have made some great friends here who have been helping us with everything from fixing the nursery to babysitting the dogs.  Thank you so much Melissa And Sean for being there for us with all of this!!!  We don’t know what we would do without you!

CONTACTING US…

I am in Buffalo Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Buffalo New York.  The floor I’m on is meant to high risk moms like me so we are set up with internet and are able to use our cell phones.  So feel free to call me (just remember we are on NY time ) or send me emails.  Josh is available by phone and email as well, but he is still working so he will be sleeping during the day and then working all night.  Please know how much we appreciate all of your love in support!

Today we had our big ultrasound re-do since the last one was a huge epic fail.  This one was wonderful!  She is growing so big so fast!!!  Today she is measuring right on track at 22 weeks and 6 days (tomorrow will be 23 weeks) and weighing in at a wonderful 1 pound 1 ounce.

Every time we see her there are stronger features and she looks more and more like a baby.  We are starting to see little features that we can attribute to one of us.  For instance she showed us her fingers in one of the shots and we are pretty sure they are Josh’s long fingers and not my short stubby ones (yay!!!).

We are just so in love with our baby girl!

So stinkin CUTE!!!

Cute little hand!

Heartbeat

So today we went in for what is called a Nuchal Translucency scan that measures all parts of the baby to make sure there aren’t any chromosomal or major birth defects.  It was very stressful going in just because there are so many “what if’s” going on in your mind.  So, after about a 15 minute ultrasound we went in to a room with a nurse who gave us a paper with our probability of any defects.  She handed us a piece of paper that said “screen negative”.  Josh and I both teared up for a second because for the first time we were actually able to breathe a sigh of relief and actually start appreciating our pregnancy.  Below is one of the pics they gave us you will the the facial profile.  I know I’m biased but that looks like a pretty cute nose to me!!!

So normally I wouldn’t be happy about having to have a new OB, but when one moves to a new city its a must.  I love this new doctor!  Today I met with her nurse practitioner whom I adore.  She is very funny and has a very similar personality as me so we got along great!  Because I was new to the practice she had me go next door to the hospital to have an ultrasound, just so they had a more thorough one on file.    The baby is officially starting to move around and is now floating on its umbilical cord.  So while the ultrasound tech was trying to take measurements Monkey was having a field day dancing around.  Every time she thought she was going to get a good one Monkey would dance a little jig and wave at mommy. All of this was making me laugh, which I’m sure wasn’t making anything easier.

So here is the new pic of Monkey at 11 weeks and 6 days.  You will see the head on the right, the tush on the left and the two floating white circles are little hands.

Learning to dance at 11 weeks 6 days

We had another appointment today to basically double check the due date which is set at on or around October 2nd.  We couldn’t be happier to have a little punkin for Halloween!

The Monkey at 10 weeks

I went in for a doctors visit today and had an ultrasound where I got to see and hear the heartbeat!  Its a very surreal experience to know there is a baby inside but it doesn’t feel like anything is different!  Doesn’t quite look like a baby yet but we are in love all the same.

The Monkey at 8 weeks 2 days