First of all, a bit of business...I fixed the settings on this blog, so now anyone can leave a comment. Sorry about the high security "members only" requirement for comments in the past. Sign your name because it will automatically show up as "Anonymous." We'd love to hear from you.
Second of all...I just found out we have been considering our due date to be May 6th, but in actuality after my current doctor dug through my chart, she found out it is May 7th. No biggie since it's all just a rough estimate anyway, but psychologically it impacts us a little because we are counting every day this baby stays in utero. Not that this will wreck my day, but it's a little bit of an "awe bummer" thing. Oh well. Now we'll celebrate weekly milestones on Mondays instead of Sundays. Of course it doesn't affect anything in the long run, and it's really no big deal.
Since I'm in the hospital now, I am getting doppler ultrasounds (to look at the blood flow to the baby) every day instead of three times a week. I also get non-stress testing twice a day (hooking me up to a monitor to watch a strip print out the baby's heartbeat and any of my contractions for an hour straight) and a biophysical profile three times a week (that's where they look at several markers on ultrasound to measure the baby's health, such as the baby's tone, heart rate, attempts at making breathing movements, amniotic fluid level etc).
Ok, on to the GOOD STUFF! This morning, we had good news on the ultrasound. I received steroids again yesterday since things looked worse (using up our total of two rounds) , and we're back in that honeymoon phase. Our baby LIKES steroids! Everything looks normal today. We're praying for another two weeks of good results. There's a chance I may go home temporarily if things look great tomorrow and Monday, but we'll see. It's a little concerning how quickly everything crashed in two days, and some say the second steroid honeymoon may not last as long as the first, so we'll continue to take it a day at a time. Today's doctor, who I'll call "Dr. Middle" since she's pretty middle of the road optimist/pessimist compared to the other two partners, said she thinks I can make it to 30-32 weeks. Thirtysomething works for me!
For now, just staying the course. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers!
Don't you mean 30+ weeks and change!! That's how James would say it.
ReplyDeleteSo I just got done reading the last 3 entries. Seems I missed a couple days there. In honor or watching James on the run portion of Ironman Kona, I am yelling at the top of my lungs to little Baby Bales, "Lookin' good! That's what I'm talkin' about! Forward motion, just keep putting one foot in front of the other! You can do it!" I hope he hears my encouragement. I keep praying for that little guy and know that he is getting stronger and bigger every day. You are a beautiful writer, Kar Punk, and are doing fantastic with this bedrest gig. Is there anything you CAN'T do well?
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Hey Karrn, you have always been such an inspiration to me. I thought of you often today during the Austin marathon and ran most of those miles for you! Keep up the great job of nurturing that baby. 22hrs a day of bed rest has to be a heck of a lot harder than running 26.2 miles! Thanks for keeping us all posted, I look forward to reading more good news during this second honeymoon :) --Laura
ReplyDeleteHello Karnn, just want to let you know we have been flowing your blog and also getting updates from Bobby. You and the baby are in our prayers every day. Please let us know if there are any needs or anything more we can do. You are an amazing writer and we have loved having your daily updates and with such detail. It's like we are right there with you. Sending you all much love and peace from Oklahoma. Carla and Jen
ReplyDeleteoopps mispelling...meant following not flowing your blog :-)
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