Counting Down the Days!

Gina- 36 weeks

I have no excuse for not updating this. I am at home on bed rest and absolutely HATE being trapped at home. I know it's what's best for me and baby, but man it stinks!

Currently I am 36 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I am being watched closely for preeclampsia due to high blood pressure and protein in my urine. I have been back and forth to the hospital to get IV fluids and have tests done about 3 times this last month. The good thing is that with rest and blood pressure medication, it seems to be controlled.

I really could have this baby any day! Depending on my blood pressure, I could be induced as early as 37 weeks and they won't let me go past 39 weeks. Pretty soon we'll get to meet our sweet baby girl. The longer she stays in the better, so hopefully she'll continue to cook for a little bit longer.

I can't believe it's already been a month since Jillian got to hold her baby boy in her arms for the first time. He is such a sweetie and she is a great mama! I am hoping they'll come visit me soon, so I can hold that little man in my arms. He really is a good looking baby!

Hopefully next time I update this, I'll have a birthing story to share. A good one I hope!

Here is a pic of us just before Jillian went into Labor - I can't wait for our babies to meet and fall in love :).

Dean William Anderson - A birth story

Jillian - Disclosure: This is a long post!!

Today is January 19th.  My due date. 

As I look over at my sleeping 3+ week old, I am still in awe that he his here and yet I already can't imagine my life without him.  

Here is the birth story of my little "December Dean."

I made it through Christmas, which was a big goal of mine, considering the difficulty of my pregnancy and how extremely uncomfortable I had been feeling.  Almost as if the baby could sense this, I woke up on the morning of the 26th to some bright red bleeding and immediately called my doctor. I went in to get checked out and was still only dialated about a finger tip and the nurse practitioner could not find any specific reason for the bleeding and since I was scheduled for both an ultrasound and NST the very next morning, I was sent home under the order that I should take a couple of benedryl (I was coming down with a cold) and get some sleep.  If only I had known that would be my last chance for sleep!! :)

I had been packing my suitcase for the hospital for a couple of weeks and that night, Eric saw me throw a couple of items in there, which prompted him to ask "hey, do you think I should pack a bag for the hospital too?"  Haha.  Thank goodness I said yes, because he packed up his duffle bag right then and there.      

I was SO uncomfortable and nervous all day and just feeling different, so I actually downloaded an app that times contractions, because I was having so many irregular braxton hicks (mind you, I had been having daily contractions since the 24th week of pregnancy, but I knew these were starting to feel different). 

At exactly 4 a.m. on Friday, December 27th, my eyes snapped open and I was overcome with terrible backpain that shot around to my front.  I grabbed my phone and started timing the intervals.  They were exactly 7 minutes a part, lasting 45 seconds a piece.    I layed in bed, too scared to move, and I timed the contractions for 2 hours, from 4 til 6 a.m.  I didn't want to wake up Eric, partly because I was in denial, but also because I knew his alarm was going to go off at 6 and I was trying to formulate a plan.  I made it til 6 and once his alarm went off, I told him that I thought the baby was going to come today and there was no way on earth I was going to make it to my 8:15 a.m. doctor's appointment and that he should go about his normal morning routine like usual, but speed it up by about 10.  As soon as I stood up out of bed, everything started progressing more intensely and I could barely make it into the bathroom.  There was more blood and my contactions jumped to 5 minutes apart.  I called the emergency line at my drs office and waited for a call back from the on-call dr.  I could barely speak when she called me back becuase I was in so much pain and obviously, she told me to head over to labor and delivery. 

Eric took the "back way" down Lyndale all the way to Abbott and I felt every single bump in the road as we drove along.  I thought I was going to die.  :)

Once I was checked in at the hospital, the nurse in maternal assesment checked my cervix and told me I was at a one.  At this point the contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart and I couldn't believe any of it was happening. The nurse proceeded to check me a little more thoroughly and I will never forget the look that came across her face when she told me she thought she felt my placenta and rushed off to call the on-call dr I had spoken to just an hour earlier.  She told me the doctor had just left the hospital was turning around and would be there in 5 minutes and would do an ultrasound.  At this point I started to panic, because all I could think about was placenta previa and how that would mean an emergency c-section and my Type A self was completely prepared and researched for a vaginal birth and not major abdominal surgery!  The doctor arrived within 5 minutes and was immediately performing an ultrasound where she broke the news to me that the nurse did not feel my placenta, she felt my sack of water and the baby's butt because he was frank breech!!! I was also now dialated to a 3 and my contractions were steady at 3 mins apart.  Becuase I was in full-blown labor at 36 weeks pregnant (statistically only 12% of women naturally go into labor before 37 weeks gestation), my doctor told me I was going to be having an emergency c section and they were adjusting the schedule so that I would be next (the OR was appatently booked solid this day as everyone wanted the tax deduction!!)!  I started bawling and just felt like everything was spiriling out of control.  I was so scared and never in a million years thought I would be having a c section because at all my visits my doctor kept telling me the baby was head down (boy, was she wrong) when in reality, he had been breech for maybe months and his head was jammed in my ribcage.  The super nice nurse who was with me in maternal assessment took my hand and told me a bunch of reasons why in the long run I would be happy I had a c section, and she did actually calm me down and make me feel better. :)

Eric quickly called our families and before I knew it, I was getting a spinal tap and being strapped to the table.  Eric watched everything from up by my head and even took pictures of the delivery (it took me a week to look at those pictures... you could see my insides)!  The whole experience was actually worse and longer than I thought it would be.  I cried when I heard my sweet baby's first little wails, but they took him away so fast and I sent Eric to be with him.  The meds they gave me made me very sick and I threw up while they were still sewing me back up.  I just wanted to hold and see my baby, but they only gave me a quick look before they took him away to Children's Special Care unit, as he came out with the cord around his neck and was having trouble breathing and his blood glucose was low.  They brought him over to me for a quick kiss and then I didn't get to see him again for several hours. 

 First glimpse of my sweet baby boy.  A healthy 6lbs 4oz for a late-term preemie.

 

 

The proud daddy and his whole family!

 

 

We were really in awe of how smoothly they have things running between Children's Hospital and Abbott's Mother Baby Center.  When I was finally able to leave recovery, they wheeled me in my bed directly into my baby's Special Care Unit and laid him on my chest so I could finally hold him for the first time!

My Family!

 

Our sweet little man spent 2 days in the Special Care unit receiving IV antibiotics and being monitored.  We LOVED the nursing staff at Children's.  They took SUCH good care of him and at the same time, the nursing staff at Mother Baby Center took such good care of ME.  Recovering from a c-section took a lot longer and was a lot more painful then I could have imagined.  We also loved that although these were 2 different hospitals, my room and my baby's room in Special Care were on the same floor.  Just down the hall and through 2 sets of doors and we were there!  Visitors were extremely restricted in the Special Care Nursery since it was the height of cold and flu season, but once Dean was discharged to us on our 3rd night in the hospital, we were able to have some more visitors. :)

Dean William Anderson went 2 full days without a name, but I'll get to that story in a later post. ;) 

Welcome to the world sweet boy.  The moment I looked into your eyes, I knew you were mine and I fell completely in love.  My life will never, ever be the same and I wouldn't want it any other way.   

 

 

Homestretch!

Jillian - 36 weeks

Finally in the homestretch!  And it really could be any time... I was offically put on bedrest Friday afternoon... No more work, no more activities, just laying low and trying to keep the little guy in.  I would love to make it to 38 weeks, but I know it's totally up to baby and when he wants to make his appearance. :)

My blood pressure has been high and I have had lots of swelling in my legs and feet and so of course the doctor is on high alert for Preeclampsia.  I had a panel done last week that came back negative, but my Bp has gone up since then and I have to do a 24 hr urine test this weekend for protein.  

I also had a 30 min NST done on Friday (Gina has had this done as well and I had several after my car accident).  The baby still looks great, but I was having contractions throughout the entire time I was being monitored (the contractions are not new for me either, I have been able to feel them for 3 months, but I am very aware of them all the time now, especially when I stand up or do anything on my feet). 

It is hard to believe Christmas is 3 days away!  Time has been flying by, as there is always so much to do this time of year (but don't worry, I have crossed everything off the list and no more plans until baby)!  I had some really great baby showers put on by both sides of the family and I feel so lucky and blessed that there are so many people awaiting Baby A's arrival!  

My dad also reached a milestone in his life!  He offically retired this past Friday and I am so happy that we were able to attend his wonderful retirement celebration a couple weeks back and that my sister and I were able to surprise him as guest speakers during the well-deserved program his work put on for him. 

Here are my last several weeks in pictures:

Spending time with family and celebrating grandma's 85th birthday!

 

At the Minikahda Club for a beautiful shower and luncheon

 

With mom and her sisters at my Juris family shower!

 

Dad's retirement party at Edinburgh :)

No!!!

Gina - Goddammit! It's happened...I have stretch marks.

Getting Real!

Gina- 28 weeks

I can't believe how close we both are to meeting our babies. Jillian only has a month and a half to go and I have 2 1/2 months.

Charlie and I recently had a 4D ultrasound done and were able to see what our baby girl looks like. The best news what that she looked healthy and was measuring on schedule. The other good news was that she had lots of hair already!!! I was so excited to learn that. The technician said that most babies grow their hair in the last part of the third trimester, so if she has hair now, she's gonna have a lot when she is born. Yay! Bring on the ribbons and bows :).

Below are a couple of photos from the ultrasound. He said her nose was smooshed right against by belly and that she was trying to suck on her hands and toes. He also said she is very active (which I already could feel) and that she had detached earlobes. Isn't that just so amazing? Take a look for yourself...

Today, I had my 28 week check up. I didn't realize this, but I am considered to be a high risk pregnancy, because I had high blood pressure prior to getting pregnant. So from here on out, I will be going to the Doctor weekly to have an ultrasound and measure the baby's growth and biophysical something or other. Also, my cervix is soft, so they will also need to check that each week to make sure I haven't dilated. So far so good with everything... let's hope the results of the glucose test come in ok. I didn't realize I'd be going weekly, but I am excited to have the ultrasounds and get checked out more often. If anything, it'll just be reassuring. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you are having a wonderful day and spending lots of quality time with family! 

Love, Jillian and Gina 

Update...

Jillian - 30 weeks!

It has taken me a little while to write this post, but on the day of my last entry, (aka Halloween and my husband's birthday), I got into a car accident on the way home from work.  It was one of those horrible flukes at a 4-way stop that I drive through every, single day.  It was my turn to go and I'll never know if that other car ran the stop sign or just didn't yield, but the details aren't important.  It happened.  I just hope no one reading this EVER has to experience the terror of being in a car crash when you are pregnant.  My airbags deployed and my car was totaled.  Thank God the airbags did not hit me, because the seatbelt was holding me back in my seat.  The downside is that my seatbelt was right across the middle of my large belly and once the accident happened, I was full of panic and fear that something awful had just happened to my 28 1/2 week fetus.  I was shaking from head to toe and I knew that I (myself) was physically okay, but there was enormous pressure on my stomach that I was feeling as I climbed out of my car.  An ambulance showed up immediately and I instructed them to take me to the Mother Baby Center at Abbott Northwestern Hospital where I plan to deliver.  If anything bad was going to happen, I wanted to be as close to Children's Hospital as possible. 

A terrified ambulance ride through rush hour traffic followed and I was brought into maternal assessment where a wonderfully, sweet nurse named Henrietta kept Eric and I calm for the next several hours as we waited on bloodwork to see if a placental tear had occurred.  The baby's heartbeat was strong and everything looked really good on the fetal monitors.  The preliminary test came back that DID confirm some of the baby's blood had crossed over in my bloodstream and that meant the impact from the accident did cause a small tear in the placenta.  This meant I would be admitted and would be spending the night in the hospital.  It was my first overnight hospital stay and I was scared and nervous and didn't sleep at all.  I just watched my baby's heartbeat on the monitor and tried not to move so I wouldn't knock the sensors out of place. :) 
My Dr. came in to see me the next morning and told me that as a precaution she wanted me to spend 24 full hours in the hospital and they would talk about discharging me later that evening. 
I am just so grateful that everything ended up being okay and that Baby A is still cooking away in his oven. :) This whole event taught me that things happen that are out of my control and I need to relax and not try and do a million things like I am so used to.  I am taking the rest of this pregnancy EASY, even though the last week did have some big events that I could not miss... I just stayed off my feet as much as possible and I am obsessively counting kicks and always putting this little baby first! :)
Here is my last 2 weeks in pictures:

The fetal monitor.  I've gotten to know this machine all too well!  Strong, happy heartbeat and great stats!!

 

Gina had her MN reception in Stillwater!  It was beautiful!!! (My sis and I with the bride)

 



My college besties threw me a wonderful baby shower!!!

I was a bridesmaid and soloist (sang Ave Maria at the Basilica) at my dear friend, Kelly's wedding last Saturday!

(With Nicole, Kelly's new sis-in-law and also a soloist)

 

Eric and me at the wedding!

 

I will be going to the Doctor every 2 weeks for checkups now.  We have our hospital tour tomrrow morning.  I am looking forward to it, even though we got an early tour with our Halloween overnight... :)