The proud parents and big brother

Family first

Here our pics of Ava being held by her family. She is so tiny it feels like your arms are so big! It is so akward holding her!

More pics from our second day

Our second day

Here are some pics from our second day in the hospital. Little Ava had many visitors to welcome her into the world. Our second night was bearable. They only brought her into nurse twice during the middle of the night. She's getting the hang of it. She's so tiny she doesn't require much!

Brother and Sister

Here are some pics from our last day in the hospital. Jackson loves his little sister so much. He always wants to hug and kiss on her.

False alarm!

Here is me before heading for my LAST doctor's appointment (maybe).....36 weeks and 3 days.

Last night I was having some contractions so I decided I would time them just for fun. They were only 20 mintues apart for like two hours. I went to bed and of course since Dad is out of town Jackson was up all night! He woke up three times and I finally just brought him to bed with me. I woke up around 4am to some pretty strong contractions. They NEVER wake me up in the middle of the night so I thought this was it. They were coming every 10 mintues. I got up and walked around and they spaced out to about every 20 mintues. I went back to bed and they came back every 10 mintues. I got up again! Same thing....every 20 mintues. I called Scott (he's in Austin go figure) and he was half asleep so I told him I would call him back and I would continue to time them. I went to try to sleep again and they started again every 10 min. I finally got up around 6am and nothing. They totally disappeared! I don't know what all that was about but I think she wants out! We'll see what the doctor says at my appointment today!

Back from the perinatologist....

So we saw a perinatologist today (high risk pregnancy physician). He did an ultrasound and said her weight was around 4lbs 9 oz whereas my ob measured her at 4 lbs 5 oz. Every little bit helps! :-) He did check her amnotic fluid and said it was borderline normal to low. This worried him so instead of waiting until Monday for another ultrasound to check the fluid I am seeing the specialist again this Friday. He didn't want to wait until Monday if indeed the fluid was getting lower. If her fluid level keeps going down then they will induce then. If not, we'll see what my ob says on Monday. So....we might have a baby this weekend! I'll keep everyone posted after my appointment on Friday.

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and prayers. It means so much to us.

Stephanie

36 week appointment not so good......

Well we had our 36 week ultrasound yesterday to get her measurements and check her weight. The doctor told us that she is measuring small, 33 weeks and I am 36. He was concerned thinking she might have what is called IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction). This is when the fetus is less than 10% for weight compared to other babies the same gestation. She's an okay weight, 4lbs 5 oz and would be about almost 6 at full term. He told us that there are many factors that can cause this, smoking, drinking, diabetes, malnutrion in the mother or problems with the placenta. Obviously in my case he thinks it's the placenta. It is done working apparently and is saying "ok, I've done my job." It is not giving her all the nutrients and blood flow that she needs thus the small weight. He is sending me for a second opinion either today or tomorrow for another ultrasound by a different doctor. If that doctor gets the same measurements they will induce me the last week of June. If not, then I will wait until I go into labor. He said if she does have IUGR then she will thrive more outside of the womb so there is no sense in keeping her in there until 40 weeks. He told us not to worry that she will more than likely be fine since it happened so late in my pregnancy. She has been measuring right on track thus far so at least she got past the 4 lb mark. I've researched all about IUGR and of course they tell you the worst. He said most babies that have it early in pregnancy are the more serious cases since most deliver around 32 or 33 weeks which is very early.

Keep her in your prayers that everything turns out fine and that she doesn't have to spend any time in the NICU and we can take her home with us.

I'll keep everyone posted as to what I find out from the other doctor.

36 weeks!

Well I moved my ultrasound to today instead of tomorrow. Scott had a meeting that he didn't know if he had to be at it so I went ahead and rescheduled. It is today at 3pm. I don't think I'll have an internal exam but you never know. I'm sure we'll talk about my heart issue and maybe what we'll do at delivery. I'll update after my appointment.

Here are some pictures of Jackson making sure the bassinet is up to par for his little sister. Also a very bad hair day for Jackson after a nap! Too funny!

I have SVT

So I finally just used my cell phone to record my results and they accepted it. I had another episode (4 in one day) and called it in to be read. The cardiologist called me back and said my heart rate was 208 beats per minute! Holy Moly! He said this was very high and I needed to be put on a cardiac medication. Great, I knew something was wrong with me! So it's called supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). I have to take this medication until I deliver. I have an OB appointment next wednesday so we'll see what he wants to do with her since I'll be 36 weeks then.

Cardiac monitor

Ok, I called my cadiologist and told him this land line monitor is not going to work. What a pain to try and go find a land line phone to send my results! I had three episodes today and couldn't record them! They told me to try my cell phone and see if it will accept it and it did! Watch - now I won't have another one!

I did take my pulse for a minute and it was over 150 beats per minute! Crazy! I wish I could have recorded that one!

35 weeks! UPDATE on cardiology appt.

I'm 35 weeks today! I have my cardiologist appointment tomorrow so I'll update then. I could not sleep last night! It was horrible. It wasn't even Jackson that kept me up it was having to go to the bathroom every couple of hours and hearing Casey's bowel movements! She was so loud! Her stomach was growling and she kept tooting all night long! I had to get up and let her go outside to the bathroom at 3am! Crazy dog!

I had my cardiologist appointment today. Not much was done. I just told him my symptoms and he said he thinks that I'm okay but he wanted me to wear a heart monitor on me at all times. Basically I have it on me 24/7 and push a button when I have an episode. The only downfall to it is that I have to call in the results over a landline telephone and we don't have one! So....I have to go to a pay phone or something to call in my results. Hopefully she will be here before I have another episode and I don't have to worry about it. What a pain! That's all that happened.

I did start bouncing on my exercise ball today. After about 10 minutes on it I got contractions! Nothing to get excited about though!

Pool Time!

I went and bought Jack a pool because our neighborhood pool is too overcrowded with teenagers. He loved it! Here are some pics.

Mr. Cool

Here are some pics of Jackson sporting his new sunglasses!

34 weeks/UPDATE

I have my 34 week OB appointment today as well as my cardiologist consult. I'll post later today and let everyone know what is going on with her. Hopefully no heart issues with me! Supposedly there is a low risk of health issues if she decides to come anytime after 34 weeks. I had a weird feeling last night when I was getting ready for bed. My back started killing me all of a sudden but no contractions. I have a feeling she is going to come early! I've already packed our bag for the hospital just in case. I don't want to be running around looking for everything!

I'll post later today after my appointments!

Had my 34 week appointment today and it was short and sweet. They did do a Group B strep culture on me to make sure I am negative before I go into labor. My blood pressure was normal and my thyroid test was normal. I was scheduled to see the cardiologist after my ob appointment but the nurse forgot to tell me I had to see my PCP before making the cardiologist appointment to get a referral. So I had to reschedule for next week. So I see my PCP tomorrow just to get a stupid referral and then I have my cardiologist appointment next wednesday. What a waste of time! I was so annoyed. Anyways that was my day. I go back to see my ob in 2 weeks (36 weeks) and we'll have an ultrasound done to take measurements and check her weight. Then I have my first internal exam at 37 weeks. I'll be going weekly after 36 weeks. Not too much longer!

Broken Bow, Oklahoma

Here are some pics from our Mother's Day trip to Broken Bow, OK. Uncle Mattie and Aunt Mandy went with us. We had a great time fishing and just hanging out.

33 weeks

Well I heard from my doctor's office today about my thyroid test and it came back negative. They still want me to go to my cardiology appointment to see if it's anything underlying so I'll keep everyone informed. I haven't had an episode since last Friday so we'll see.

Ava's doing well. Still moving and shaking! :-) I've lost my appetite the past couple of days, just haven't been very hungry at dinner time. Don't know what all that means.

Anyways, here are some recent pictures of Jack. My favorite is his smile while Scott is mowing the lawn! Here he is with Uncle Matie at his first Rangers game and running through the sprinklers! Enjoy!

32 Week doctor's appt

Had my appointment this morning and got some good news and some not so good news. The good news is she is head down and will unlikely turn breech. I asked the doctor is he could tell that I had dropped and he did some palpations on my lower pelvic area and said that he felt her head way low meaning she's dropped into the pelvis. Yeah! With Jackson he dropped at 36 weeks and was born two weeks later! Hopefully she stays in there a little longer than two more weeks! 34 weeks is still too early! :-)

I mentioned that a couple of days ago that I got out of breath and my heart was racing while I was just sitting at the kitchen table. I told him I had noticed being out of breath when doing something like walking or vacuuming but not just sitting there. This isn't the first time it has happened either. He was concerned and made me do blood work to see if it was my thyroid. He told me if it happened again that I needed to call him immediately and he would send me to a cardiologist. He said it could be supraventricular tachycardia. He said it can happen during pregnancy and some women have it even before pregnancy. He told me not to worry, it in no way affects the baby. The most that would happen is that I would have to wear a heart monitor and be on some medication. Hopefully this isn't the case and everything will be fine. I'll keep everyone updated on this but no worries!

That's all for now.

32 Weeks!

I've made it to 32 weeks today. Still not many changes. She is still rolling all over the place in there. I have to go to the bathroom like three times a night because I think she has dropped so she is putting a lot of pressure on my bladder! At 34 weeks I'll pull out the exercise ball to try and get this girl to come early. I'm so ready for her to get here! I have a doctors appointment this Friday so I'll let everyone know how I'm doing then. I believe we have two more appointments one at 34 weeks and one at 36 weeks then we go to weekly visits. I know at 36 weeks we have our last ultrasound to take measurements and check her weight. I remember with Jackson once I started my internal exams it was two weeks later and he was born. They definitely brought on the contractions! That's all for now!

Jackson at the pool

Our neighborhood pool opened a couple of weekends ago so we took Jackson and he had so much fun! The water was freezing but that didn't seem to bother him. He was so brave jumping from the side of the kiddie pool to Scott. He also liked splashing mom!