Everyone is gaining!

Yesterday we had 2 appointments. One for Haley and one for Mommy/Baby.


Haley's was her 2 1/2 year -old well appointment :) According to the growth chart, she weighed in at the 50% for her age at a whopping 25.9 lbs. This is the best she has ever done for her age and we no longer have to analyze what she's eating/ drinking. Although we are hoping she continues to have her healthy appetite :)


She should be getting her new glasses sometime as we ordered them last week. It will be interesting to see if she will actually wear them. We are going to have one more Early Intervention Evaluation to look another look at her gross motor, after she turns 3 she is considered pre-school age and getting her any type of therapy (if needed) turns into a different process.




Following the good news we went to see how Sara/Baby are looking. Sara is now 28 weeks 4 days and had a growth ultrasound, which showed the baby to be around 2 lbs. 12 oz. This is great as he is already estimated to be bigger than Haley was at this point. Other than that nothing terribly exciting. We will continue to watch for signs of active labor and call with more than 4 contractions in an hour. With hopes that all things continue to stay quiet we will be continuing the restricted activity until 36 weeks, at which point the stitch will be removed and they won't do anything to stop labor if/when it starts.


We are staying home for the Holidays and some family is coming to celebrate Christmas Day! We can't wait for Santa to come and Haley is super excited :)


Continued thanks for the love & prayers.


Happy Holidays!!!

A girl, her dog and a carrot.

This is an interaction between Haley and Dunken yesterday as we were sitting on the couch. I almost filmed it but then realized that not everyone has had the limited social interaction that I have and therefore might not find quite as entertaining.  Your welcome.

As if it needs to be said, I am still bored and on bed rest. Last Friday we had some excitement and I got a "free night out". No, we didn't get to go on a movie date or to dinner, we spent the evening at the Pediatric Emergency Room. Haley took a little head first dive off the stairs (she was on the first stair). We didn't think much of it but she woke up vomiting about an hour later. Given Mike's history with concussions (he's had 7) he knew what to look for and we aired on the side of caution and took her in. She vomited again while being monitored at the ER but we didn't do a CAT scan since she was responding normally (walking, talking, tracking, etc.) The ER doc explained the caution over each scan as it is the equivalent of 12 continuous years of sun exposure! She's had them in the NICU so no need to push it. We won't talk about the "tan" that Mike should have...

Needless to say we spent the rest of the weekend begging Haley not to climb or jump off furniture.

We don't have a baby doctor appointment this week :) We go next Monday. I hope everyone is gearing up and enjoying the festivities for the upcoming holidays.

No button nose?

In Haley's early ultrasound we identified that she might have this cute, tiny button nose. We always joke about the origin of her nose, blondish hair, and blue eyes as they are clearly recessive. Today at our check- up we saw baby boy's facial features pretty clear. We are thinking maybe he will look more like Mommy and Daddy?

Today's appointment was okay, after the ultrasound we had a pretty detailed conversation with the doc. I failed my initial Gestational Diabetes screen, this is fairly common, so tomorrow I have to take the 3 hour test for a more accurate measure. After that we will have a better idea if I need to alter my diet to better regulate blood sugar, etc. 


The doctor talked to us about last Wednesday's events and commented that I was "contracting like crazy". She shared that while we were there they did conduct a FFn test. Fetal fibronectin is a protein that acts as a "glue" during pregnancy, attaching the amniotic sac — the fluid-filled membrane that cushions your baby in the uterus — to the lining of the uterus. If the fetal fibronectin test is positive, your health care provider may take steps to address premature birth — such as prescribing medication to enhance the baby's lung maturity. If the fetal fibronectin test is negative, you can be assured that your pregnancy is likely to continue for at least another week. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fetal-fibronectin/
Luckily, mine was negative. We wish they had shared this with us at the time it might have helped to alleviate a little of the stress but we were happy to hear this today regardless. Today's check reassured no changes although he is hanging out very low everything looks stable and closed. Other than that she recommended the continuation of what I am doing (getting up for meals and occasional stretching) and monitoring contractions, she said to not be surprised if that isn't our last trip to Labor and Delivery. She explained to us that they will send me there so that they can monitor more effectively and have interventions (meds.) on hand. At this point, we didn't discuss any meds. to prepare the his lungs for an early arrival, which we are looking at as a positive.  I'll be 27 weeks on Thursday.


We kept Haley pretty busy this weekend. She finger painted on Saturday and "made" Christmas cookies on Sunday.

It's not all boring...

Since most of our recent posts have been "baby news" I figured I would share some of our family. Even though we have to stay pretty close to home, we have still have had some recent fun getting ready for the holidays. Haley is very excited about Santa coming this year, although she was careful to stay a safe distance when she saw him at the mall.

Mike and Haley at the XMAS tree farm.

It took a while to get Haley to understand that we could get a big tree, she liked the "baby trees".

I got the ok from the docs to take the short trip too!

Haley "decorated" with candy canes, most of which seem to be missing now??

Thanksgiving weekend we had some visitors, this is Nama reading to Georgia, Haley and Ruby (in flight)

Haley and Daddy took a trip to the mall, Haley at a "popsicle diggity" aka corn dog for lunch

Haley also went to Strong Museum, she loves the craft table and made Mommy a card to bring home.

No Strong visit is complete without a shopping trip to Wegmans

Butterfly exhibit.

First trip to Labor & Delivery :(

Well Wednesdays are usually my days for check-ups/ultrasounds after last weeks great appointment they decided to wait until next Monday and go a week and a half since I was stable. However apparently the baby missed the memo or just wanted the extra attention because we ended up at Strong yesterday anyway.

I noticed Tues. night that the 'contractions' I have been feeling became a little stronger. Many women experience Braxton-Hicks which are deemed "practice contractions" usually painless, and do not have an effect on your cervix so therefore do not progress labor. The problem is, is that's all I thought I had with Haley too, so they have asked me to pay close attention to them monitoring if they become constant or increase.
At about 10 am I called my doc and reported I have been feeling different and I think I might be contracting, so they sent me into Labor and Deliver to be monitored.  Once being hooked up to the monitor I was definitely contracting and they started with fluids just in case I was dehydrated, which wasn't the case. After a bit they gave me a shot of terbutaline which is kind of like a muscle relaxer for the uterus. This helped and although it makes you feel like your heart is going to explode, it seemed to lesson the contractions. I have several exams and ultrasounds and they concluded that everything looked stable, my water hadn't broken and I wasn't progressing into labor. I do have an infection which is being treated, which just increases my risk for premature labor (thanks, I think we've covered that) due to PPROM (or increased risk for ruptured membranes, aka water breaking).

So, after all this excitement, I returned home (relieved because I really was hoping to stay out of the hospital) to my comfy couch to wait and see what happens... There are other medicines they will try if the contractions return and if things stay quiet I keep my regular OB appointment for Monday.

Here's hoping for a quiet weekend :)

Again thanks to my NS friends who continue to keep us fed and entertained through their generosity, especially Heather, Paige, Jackie, Traci, and Barb. Thank YOU!!!

The baby is 26 weeks today! One funny thing that did happen is he got the hiccups when I was hooked up to the monitor, it was so funny to hear it.   :)

Sweet potatoes, stuffing, and turkey..

We already had our Thanksgiving feast. We were thankful that Sara's parents came last Saturday giving Mike some free time to cook, and they helped entertain Haley. After eating leftovers for a few days we have decided that since it's just the 3 of us (or 4 depending how you look at it) on Thursday, we will just be thankful we are all together and eat some other yummy stuff instead of the traditional feast. 


We had an appt. today and it went well. For now they are going to stop measuring her cervix, since it has seemed to stay stable since this all started, the doc basically said even if it were to change (shorten) they would only treat the "symptoms" and not the change, since we have already done everything we can for that. So, if she starts to show signs of pre-term labor we will cross that bridge with the necessary interventions (meds.) if we get there.  Overall, it was a good appointment and the baby is 1 lb. 9 oz. with LONG legs and arms according to the sonogram tech.


We hope everyone enjoys the beginning of the holiday season with a weekend full of family and fun. When we ask Haley what she is thankful for this year, she proudly responds "crayons".


~~Also a thanks to the Michaud, Foote, Pepper, and Parker families for thinking of us this week. 


We certainly have much to be thankful for!!  Happy Thanksgiving.

World Prematurity Awareness Day!

I was looking back into the thousands of photos we have of Haley searching to find one of her to post today, from our NICU stay, when I realized that Mike had uploaded them to our external drive. It seems as though we have put that behind us and it's probably better I didn't take a walk down memory lane. However, I do want to recognize today, World Prematurity Awareness Day and the families who have had the experience of pre-term delivery. I can say that it changed me forever and I admire all of those who work with these tiny warriors. 

We are all doing fine, trying to stay busy. At my weekly appointment yesterday, things continue to look stable, no changes, which for me just means "continue what you are doing". I am 24 weeks today, which is gestational milestone in the sense it means the baby is viable and survival rates go up from this point on. Yesterday Mike said, "I feel really good about this. He's going to keep in there and now I just have to keep you from going crazy until then". In the end, each positive appointment just affirms and keeps me/us going and we are so thankful.

Continued thanks for those who send treats and well wishes, especially friends at Northside: Jenn, Cassie, Paula, Irene and Sharon, who graciously thought of us this week.