Update With Big News!

So we have big news...! Well big to us/me ha. Big...kinda scary news... Tomorrow (Friday) we are going to Rochester bright and early for an all-day fun fest!! Okay fun fest might be a stretch but still a change in feeling like we're just sitting around waiting. This is the time we have been waiting for plus a little bonus. So to start we needed to make an appointment to go over everything with the nurses and get the tour of the maternity area and all that fun stuff that comes with having a baby. Which even as I’m typing this it grows my anxiety/nervousness. I have no idea what is to come…what they are going to say. Leaves your heart racing. I’m very excited but just fearful of how things are going to happen. Like I wish we had more time to just enjoy being pregnant. Now it just feel like a rush to the finish line. Tomorrow I am 32 weeks. I could go as early as 5 weeks – depending on if they have plans to induce me. I would like to go as long as I can but I also understand the fact they would like to be prepared with all doctors and nurses needed to give our baby the best chances. Guess we’ll find most of that out tomorrow. The biggest news we have for tomorrow is we are doing the amnioinfusion! We are not sure how all of it happens and such, we haven’t have a consultation…that will be tomorrow morning before procedure. So I tried to lookup online a little bit just to get an idea of maybe how they do it…yeah wasn’t much help. The only thing I really found was this: “Amnioinfusion is a procedure in which normal saline or lactated Ringer's solution is infused into the uterine cavity to replace amniotic fluid. It is used to treat problems known to be associated with decreased intra-amniotic volume, including prophylactic treatment of oligohydramnios and treatment of severe variable decelerations during labor.” I am excited to have it done, hopeful that it will relieve some of the pressure on my legs and the cramping in my stomach and make the space a little nicer for the baby. Every time he/she moves around it like suctions in my stomach for a bit. I’m also hoping that it will possibly also help the baby develop his/her lungs a little bit before delivery. I’m feeling nervous about all the new stuff but also at ease with the fact that we’ll be more informed. We’ll find out how they plan to go about delivery and such. This will help also with telling Bugs, break the news to her and help her understand what could happen and what our plans are. I’m getting ready to be able to plan. Go through and do a little shopping planning. We have decided we’ll go out to Target and probably Baby’s R Us to do a registry so that way we don’t need to go out now to rush and buy things but if we are lucky enough to be able to take our bundle home than Moms can run and grab us a few things to get started while were in the hospital. I do need to gather my to go bag. Figure things I would like to bring and make sure they are accessible in case someone else needs to come and pick them up for me. Oh man things are getting real! 

Better Days Ahead

Monday was a very long day...and night. When Barry got home we drove to the ER. Mom and Dave nicely met us there to watch Bugs, just in case we needed her close. We really had no idea what was going on or what was happening. All I knew was that my legs were in major pain. When we got down there they checked me in, made me pee in a cup, and hooked me up to the baby monitor. Hung out in the maternity area for a while until they came back and said they had no answers to what was going on…which looking back now was dumb they didn’t even do an ultrasound or anything. They packed me up and sent me back down to the ER section. Went through the process again. The doctor came in, did some checking of my reflexes and feeling in my legs then sent for a blood draw to make sure all that was good….couldn’t have been better. So once again I left the doctor with no answers…mystery case central right here. Well never the less I was “ok”…the baby was fine…guess that’s all you could really ask for. Answers are for losers ha. Anyways though the ride home was torture, we made it and I went straight to bed. I stayed home one more day in hopes that it was going to go away… This was a very good idea since the next day was worse than the first. It was horrible, but not just in my legs but it moved to my belly also. Though the pain was bad I believe baby was just having a growth spirt  My belly grew an inch since the last time I measured. I am still experiencing stomach/leg pain but having the thought its baby growing makes it all worth it. And as long as little jammer is moving around in my belly I will be happy. Wednesday I made it through work…well I guess that’s what you can call it. I got my work done and didn’t cry in pain so we’ll take it. I was completely exhausted after though. My body was compensating so much hiding the pain that it wore me out. By the time I got home I had a little energy to make something to eat then needed a nap! Luckily Bugs had Kicks so I had some time. Now being Thursday it was time to get back to my to-do list. Though work was still a little rough, probably will be for a bit, I made it through with enough energy to still be awaKE as I write this now in the evening, progress oh yeah! Had on my list to contact Mayo, even though I’m only 31 weeks tomorrow, we figured I should probably get my call in soon since they book up. Even better they called me . Well they called about my email in request for information for amnioinfusion, even better. Sounds like the doc thinks it’s a good idea/worth a shot. So got two birds with one stone, so they say. Now hopefully they can get all of my appointments in one shot. Though Monday things seemed very dark and I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it through. I was in a dark place, worried about everything that was going on. I was very sad and worried and just not myself. Though I don’t regret our decision, I was questioning why things were happening. It wasn’t bad enough we were given this news of a high chance of losing our child…but now I was being overwhelmed with immense pain that still has yet to let up and probably will stay with me till the end. It’s just not something I was fully anticipating…with Bugs everything was pretty easy going. There isn’t much I remember of it being troublesome. I was that pregnant lady you were mad to look at because she just went on with her days as nothing was different. There wasn’t this thing growing in her belly, it was just easy. Now a days I walk around like a broken doll it feels like. But the news today from the nurse and getting thing in the works somehow changed that dark questioning around. Nothing has changed for our answers to come but seeing the end coming into view added a little different perspective. Lightened things up a little bit. I even more take joy in the excessive movement going on in my belly .

25 Weeks - Vitamin C

Hmmm Hmmmm what is there to say about something you can't tell if there's any definite update....There are things I can speculate to say things could possibly be making a hopeful change but obviously can't be sure. My belly is growing more and more, and fast - Barry thinks it's doubled in the last week :) Baby is still non-stop moving machine! Okay so there are maybe some down times, but I would say a good 75% of the day its a dance machine. I would say baby doesn't change position as far as where head and feet are. Does flip sideways which is a giant suction reaction :) But otherwise kicks and punches are generally in the same area. Pretty sure feet are kicking just below my right ribs and punches are middle to lower left side. BOOM BOOM BOOM. Sometimes these movements get a little painful but I joyfully take them and see it as a sign of good things to come. Tomorrow is week 26 :) though I know that there is not much information on our baby's troubles but I am still a little disappointed in the lack of help/suggestions by doctors. Especially being that the original specialist we talked to was a little too quick to settle on quitting when we found out. I know they don't have much information but when I told you I wanted to continue it would have been nice for a little something. Give me some ideas on what you would tell someone else who has this trouble, like if it were me in general and not my baby. Put me on a kidney diet or something instead of me feel like it's just an official death sentence ... but nope didn't happen so I'm just kind of making things up as I go. Increased my water/fluid intake. My ultimate goal is 128oz but a minimum of 70oz, still in process of training my body - takes a little time to gain that space in you body for extra fluids, especially when there's already something growing :) I also read in my baby center app about Vitamin C. No one ever told me what all it was good for. I thought it was just for your immune system like keeping you from a cold. Little did I know it's also essential for tissue repair, wound healing, bone growth and repair. Ahhh hello...why would someone not mention "hey there isn't proof of specifics but this could help. Duh the issue is cysts on tissue...and vitamin C is good for tissue repair, maybe lets give you a supplement/increase your C intake." I would have been like gee thank you that is good information to have that I could have started a month ago. They say pregnant women need at least 85mg and breastfeeding moms need 120mg, so I got some extra vitamin C with 120mg and take 1-2 of them a day. I don't know if it will help...but here's to hoping & not feeling like I'm sitting around doing nothing...

Our Little Bundle

November 5th, 2014, 20 weeks, we were getting ready to find out what our little bun in the oven was. Getting ready to do the final baby on the way announcement to all our friends...when we found out our little bundle was having some troubles. All we knew at that point was there was no fluid around our baby. When we were told we were unsure what the trouble was, I had in my mind possible leaking (most common)...This was not the case for us. We went and saw a specialist for further checking and this is where our baby was diagnosed with Multicystic Dysplastic kidneys. With this they did not give us very high hopes for survival of our baby. "Multicystic dysplastic kidney is a condition in which the kidney has been essentially replaced by multiple cysts. It is the result of abnormal fetal development of the kidney. There is little or no normal function to this kidney." [ http://www.childrenshospital.org/health-topics/conditions/multicystic-dysplastic-kidney ] For us we were informed that both of our baby's kidneys were having this trouble. Since the kidneys are not working as they should our baby is unable to circulate through the amniotic fluid process. The most troubling part of this is that since there is no fluid around the baby the baby is unable to swallow the fluid which is what develops the lungs. This makes the high risk pregnancy an undefined pregnancy...we were given very little/no hope. Since they diagnosed the lungs not developing they say it is most likely our baby will have trouble/wont be able to breath when born. Now I'm not writing this to be a sad story by any means. I am writing this let others out there know they're not the only ones this happens to. We were told if it doesn't run in the family it was a by chance happening we couldn't have prevented. I went online and there was nothing out there from other parents that have experienced this...so though I can read all I want medically there are no stories to relate to and feel like we're not alone in this process. We are still very excited about our little bundle of joy and though at this point the doctors don't give us high hopes we continue on and enjoy every day of it. Our little one is quite active and growing which makes me smile. They mentioned babies with this usually aren't active, due to the tight space, our bundle rolling in my belly. A pregnancy in it's self is a joy and time to celebrate. We take it day by day and enjoy the excitement, not only ours but our first daughters also (Bugs). She has been looking forward to being a big sister for 2 years and though right now she doesn't know the baby's trouble we are happy for her to enjoy the time with the baby she has, as are we. I am now 23 weeks along and growing fast. My faith is strong that whatever happens in the end it was in the plan and we will be strong to continue.