Let the countdown begin!

We finally have a date scheduled for the wee one's delivery!

Less than 4 days from now, this little wiggle worm will be making her grand debut via scheduled c-section. At our most recent appointment the doctor decided that the wee one's head is now measuring too large to attempt a regular delivery, or in his words "that head ain't going through your pelvis" - so c-section it is!

I was partly relieved that I won't have to attempt a regular delivery, but also scared about having to go through surgery. I guess there is no "fun" way to birth a baby.

On the positive side of things, however, yesterday marked the day that the wee one became "full term!" I find that incredible considering how I had been told earlier in the pregnancy that she would more than likely be born prematurely because of the hydrocephalus diagnosis. But now we've made it to the 37 week mark (37 weeks is considered full term, but the due date is calculated at 40 weeks - and most babies are born within two weeks of their due dates). I hope this means less time in the NICU, and more time with Mr. Daybyday and I!

And because I'm all emotional and cranky lately, I will also share with you that I cried during an episode of the tv show 24 (I've been netflix'ing the series, and am in season 2). Mr. Daybyday started to tease me, but then stopped once he realized that the same elevated hormones that were making me cry would probably make me violent if he continued.

The stretch marks continue to stretch (they can be downright painful!). And now my pelvic bone (at least I think that's what it is) is starting to cause me pain when I try to walk. I am really on bedrest now. Luckily Mr. Daybyday is home with me - so I have little need, except for uncomfortable waddles to the bathroom and back, to leave my post.

But the poor kitties - they want someone to PLAY with them, and I'm home all the time, but I just can't go fetching their toys. They need to learn to bring their toys back to me after I toss them.

Ah well - only a few more days until the real excitment begins for all of us in the daybyday household!

My very own lolcat

Except, it's my belly, not my cat.


The doctor said they'll fade... eventually (yay for silvery-white, rather than painful pink!). I remember just a few weeks ago thinking how lucky I was to have gotten so far along in the pregnancy without having any stretch marks... then KABLAM!

And then KABLAM about a million more times. Belly butter was no match.

Ah well - hopefully this week will be the week that wee one makes her grand debut!

P.S. The bigger reddish mark near where you might think my belly button should be is actually a large stretch mark, not, in fact, my belly button. My actual belly button is just north of "big red."

Still not ready...

I probably shouldn't post updates here so soon after recieving the results. My emotions are usually too raw, and then I think I leave most of you worried.

Yesterday we had the second amnio to test for lung maturity. It went better than the first - partly because I knew what to expect, and partly because my uterus didn't have a giant contraction in reaction to the needle this time (felt much more comfortable and quick without the contraction). I asked to see the fluid this time (Mr. Daybyday had told me that he saw it last time and it looked mostly clear and colourless). It was suprisingly clear and colourless - with just a hint of cloudiness. The doctor told me many people have a hard time telling if their water has broke (unless of course they have the "gushing" type of water breakage) because the fluid itself doesn't have a distinct look. But, he then told me that amniotic fluid sure does have a distinct scent! So of course I asked what it smelled like. The nurse finally said "this might sound funny, but it smells like semen."

Delightful.

I have to admit I thought it was sort of funny that both the doctor and the nurse hesitated to admit what the smell was like - especially considering that semen is sort of a required ingredient for a patient to be in their office in the first place (only pregnant ladies are seen as patients there). But I suppose you could get pregnant and never know what all the reproductive fluids smell (or look!) like. Still, I thought it was funny.

Fast forward to this morning when I called their office to inquire about the amnio results. The wee one's lungs are still not ready. They measure the ratio of two types of surfactant in the amniotic fluid. Once the ratio reaches 2.2 the lungs are considered mature. Last week the ratio was 1.0 - and this time it was 1.2. So there was some improvement, but not close enough for them to plan for the birth.

I was much more disappointed than I thought I would be. I nearly started to cry while I was still on the phone. (see what I mean about the emotions being too raw?)

Last night I admitted to myself that part of me is getting pretty comfortable with this routine of bedrest and waiting. I know that I still struggle with change, and let's face it, once the wee one is born there will be LOTS of change (not bad change, just change). Plus the whole birth process and the unknowns of what the wee one will have to endure shortly after birth is still pretty scary to me. So keeping her safe inside me, with little change to my current bedrest routine didn't seem so bad.

So I was really shocked by how sad I was to get the results today that her lungs are still far from ready. I'm still confused by my emotions.

We did have some good news - my amniotic fluid levels are now back in the normal range. So at least that is one less thing to worry about. We go back to the doctor's office next week for a sonogram, possibly another amnio, and to talk to the doctor. At least I'll get to see her again on the sonogram (though I would rather see her "in person" - part of me hopes I just spontaneously go into labour before the appointment).

I have managed to get work done in between all the naps and other distractions. Sometimes that helps. Thank goodness I can telecommute - it makes me feel as though I'm still being productive.

Well, that's the update. I don't really know how to end this post, so I'll just end it.

More waiting

Well I had the amniocentesis to test for lung maturity yesterday. I have to say that although the procedure itself was not "fun" it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Sure the needle hurt a bit, and those 20 some odd seconds seemed like hella longer than 20 seconds, but all in all I think the anxiety leading up to the procedure was worse.

Unfortunately we got the results today saying that the wee one's lungs are not quite ready yet. So we have to go back next week for another amnio. I'm really not looking forward to that (my belly has felt different ever since - maybe the wee one has less fluid to float around in, so my belly carries her differently?) - but it's better for her to stay inside and keep getting stronger.

And until then I am still on bedrest. Still waiting...

I scared.

I've been home, and on bedrest, since being discharged from the hospital after our little pre-term labour scare last week. So far I've been tired enough to sleep away most hours and avoid going stir crazy - plus Mr. Daybyday has things set up pretty well for my convenience (laptop, food, kitties, etc, all within easy reach, so there are very few trips away from bed needed).

But yesterday when we had our most recent appointment with the perinatalogist, we were given some exciting, but also scary news. On Tuesday of next week they will test for the wee one's lung maturity (by doing an amniocentesis), and if we get the go ahead from that, they will induce me either on Thursday (valentines day) or Friday.

HOLY CRAP

I'll only be 35 weeks.

I'm also scared because one of the reasons they are pushing to do this so soon is that during our stay in the hospital and our daily sonograms to monitor my elevated amniotic fluid levels (which they think caused the pre-term labor scare in the first place), they discovered that the wee one has what appears to be an enlarged esophagus. Poor little thing! They think that perhaps she (yes, we finally caved in and found out the sex!) has some reflux, or a constriction somewhere along her esophagus and isn't able to process the fluid like normal, possibly resulting in the buildup of excess fluid in my uterus - and with no way to do anything about that, the doctors are worried that my body might go into pre-term labour again, so they'd rather it be a more controlled situation, and at least happen at the proper facility where we planned to deliver and they have the appropriate NICU level to handle our case.

Of course I cannot wait to finally meet my wee one (I'm thinking of changing her nick name to wiggle-worm, as she's become notorirous to the hospital staff and sonographers for being so active!), but at the same time I'm so scared for all that she's likely to have to face in such a short amount of time.

I'm scared of the amniocentesis - not because it's a big needle - well maybe a little... But I'm scared that it might trigger labor, and that her lungs might not be ready. But I'm also scared of going into labor at home, over an hour away from where we're supposed to deliver.

Oh yeah, and I'm scared of delivering.

I had resigned myself to thinking we'd have to go the c-section route - but since they're planning to deliver so early, the wee one's head is still smaller than full term, so they would rather try for a regular delivery and avoid a c-section if possible. I took prenatal classes and paid attention - but still never really thought I'd go through the whole delivery thing... So now I'm frantically trying to prepare myself (how does one even do that?!)

I had a bit of a breakdown this morning - I just felt so overwhelmed - so much of this is beyond my control, and I just want my baby to be safe. And it hurts like hell and scares me so much that there is so little I can do to keep her safe... But maybe this is just normal parental fear/instincts kicking in?

Well in any case, wish us luck that her lungs will be mature (hopefully the steroid injections to speed up lung maturity last week will have done the trick!), and that we'll have an uncomplicated delivery. And hopefully my next post will be a very happy one filled with pictures to coo over!

Never a dull moment!

This is just a really quick update, because I'm writing to you from the HOSPITAL!

When I went to my routine perinatal appointment this past thursday, they once again found that I had an excess of amniotic fluid (no wonder I feel so huge! I really AM bigger because of all the extra fluid), but additionally, they found that I was having far more frequent contractions than I thought I had been experiencing (I thought they were just harmless braxton hicks contractions - because it was way too early for the real ones!)

But I guess because of the excess fluid, my poor uterus was like "Okay, we're big enough now! Time to get things moving!" But we were only 33 weeks along - and still 3 weeks away from when the perinatologists had wanted to delivery early.

So they sent me to the hospial, where Mr. Daybyday and I have been ever since Thursday, and gave me some meds to control/slow down the contractions, and some steroid injections to help speed up the wee one's lung maturity (also I had an IV put in - I'm totally over my phobia of needles now - they're still not fun, but they don't have the faint inducing effect anymore!). And they've found that my contractions weren't actually progressing the labour, so things seem stable. PHEW.

So now I'm off the meds, and we're being monitored to see if my body decides to go into labour again. The neonatologist have told us that generally 33 week babies do really well - so that is a comfort.

So now we wait.

HOLY CRAP, what a week!

(and I guess that wasn't such a short update afterall!)