Today I had my 36-week appointment, which was probably a lot different than your average 36-week appointment.  The main purpose of this appointment was not to check on swelling, test for strept B or that the baby is head down, but to determine whether or not the placenta has moved away from the cervix.  So I had my 6th ultrasound today, got to see my little baby, and you know what? In the past 4 months the placenta still has not moved.  Shocking!  That being said, we are now scheduled to have a baby on Thursday of this week!  Logan will be 37-weeks when he’s born (considered full-term).  Happy birthday, Logan!  Please pray that he does well, doesn’t need any fancy NICU services and that I don’t have any complications from the surgery.

Tomorrow, I will go to work then officially go on maternity leave Wednesday.  Wednesday night Lava will head over to her friend Maya’s house for an extended puppy play date.  Logan will be born on Thursday and sometime on Sunday my family will arrive from California.  That’s the plan.  We are very excited to have our baby boy this week!  As the hospital does have wifi, be prepared to be inundated with pictures soon. 🙂

Guess now I should finish packing my hospital bag.

Saturday was my Colorado baby shower.  Thankfully, I didn’t have any complications this time around and was able to attend!  Here are some pictures from the event.

Especially when it’s compounded by the fact my computer is still not in working condition.  I did manage to acquire Windows to install but am awaiting drivers.  Once I have drivers I can rebuild. 🙂  Thankfully Noah’s computer is at least capable of getting me on facebook so I could play farkle and wordscraper.  My phone, a brilliant little computer itself, and the TV let me remain connected to the outside world as well as somewhat entertained.

On Tuesday I made it home a few hours before Noah but had a couple of friends over at the house to keep me company (thanks Melina, Amy and girls!).  The rest of the week I would rise with Noah and he would carry me downstairs and make sure I was settled on the couch with plenty of food and water while he went off to work.  Most of the time I challenged myself to sudoku puzzles, pet my dog, and processed my way through the DVR recordings.  One day my friend Jessica and her infant daughter came for a visit.  That was a welcome break in my mundane “schedule”.

Friday I finally heard back from my doctor’s office on whether or not I needed to stay on bed rest past my orders from the doctor in California.  Since I had not had any further complications I was upgraded from bed rest to what Noah and I have dubbed “chair restriction”.  Basically it’s a step-up from bed rest. I’m allowed to move around the house (Noah no longer needs to carry me up and down the stairs), but no cleaning, running errands, shopping, walking/standing for long periods of times or long distances and lots and lots of sitting.  I did get clearance to go back to work only because I have a desk job, and even with that, I’m not allowed to leave my chair.  My boss is very happy to have my back and is more than happy to make concessions around my limited mobility.  It’s also good to be doing something productive instead of perfecting my bump on a log skills.

Yesterday we met with the perinatologist specialist to be rescanned for the previa.  This appointment was actually made before we even went to California.  His scan showed that the placenta is still partially covering the cervix, which coincides mostly with what I was told last weekend.  I go in again for another scan at 36 weeks to check the location one more time.  If it has not moved by then, which the doctor isn’t expecting it to considering it hasn’t moved yet (he said maybe a 30% chance it will move out of the way), Logan will be born later that week by c-section.  Despite the 30% chance, the doctor’s told us not to bother with attending a birthing class (to get our money back instead) and to hold off on making the 38-week appointment.  So today I canceled the birthing class and now just need to figure out when to reschedule the hospital pre-registration appointment, because right now it’s planned for the end of March.  I’m not concerned about needing to have a c-section as we’ve known this is a possibility since week 19 and was told in CA, and essentially yesterday, that that’s what will have to happen.

The doctor yesterday also agreed that I’m fine to continue my current limited mobility status, so as long as I don’t have any bleeding or contractions.  Those symptoms will put me on the fast track back to full bed rest.

Previa topic aside, it was wonderful to be able to see Logan again yesterday!  We got one picture, and as soon as my computer works I will scan and upload it to his album.  The doctor said Logan is measuring right around 32-33 weeks and is in the 75% percentile for weight – estimated at 4.5 lbs!  If Logan was born at 40 weeks he would weight between 7.5-8.5 lbs, which fits right along with what Noah and I both weighed at birth.

Also, thanks to my increased mobility allowance, Noah and I were able to reorganize Logan’s room over the weekend with all the gifts he received at the California shower.  So at least our baby will now have clothes and diapers to wear once he’s born!  I did remind Noah last night that with the last month of my pregnancy being eliminated, the time-line for finishing the crib has been cut in half.  It’s a good thing it’s almost done, really just needs to be put together and stained.  And just in case, it’s also a good thing that Logan will start off sleeping in a cradle!

Thankfully my stay in the hospital remained uneventful, as far as medical emergencies go, and I was released yesterday at 5:00pm after receiving my 2nd round of steroids.  Additionally, the doctor gave me the go ahead to fly back to Colorado, but beyond that little bit of travel I am on strict bed rest, at least for this week.

This morning I had the fun task of trying to get my hospital records from CMH transferred to my doctor’s office in Colorado.  The doctor here gave his office number for my doctor’s office to contact to get the information.  However, my doctor’s office won’t do anything without a records release signed by me.  So I call the L&D department at CMH and they told me I need to talk to the doctor’s office.  So I called his office and they told me that since I was treated at CMH my records would be there.  The number they gave me was disconnected so I had to Google the hospital phone number.  I called only to learn that the medical records department won’t be open until 8am tomorrow morning.  Lovely, I’m leaving around that time to head down to LAX.  To try and get the ball rolling, I wrote a letter and had it notarized requesting my records be faxed to my CO doctor’s office that my mom will drop off tomorrow morning.  It would be absolutely lovely if CMH accepts that document!  Of course it would have been nice and tidy to leave CMH with this information, but again, the records department was closed over the weekend and today due to the holiday.

I am grateful that I do have permission to fly home.  Noah left today with Lava and the car loaded up with shower gifts.  His mom and 6-year old nephew are along for the ride, which makes me feel better that he is not having to drive the distance by himself!  They are only going halfway today and will spend the night at a hotel in Utah, then continue on with an early start tomorrow morning.  We should arrive home within a few hours of each other.

As for my legs of travel, I am taking a direct flight from LA to Denver and my dad arranged with the airline for me to have curb-to-curb wheelchair service.  Hopefully this means I get to go through the express security lane and I should have priority boarding. 🙂  I have one friend meeting me at DIA and another bringing us dinner for tomorrow night.

I still have to call my boss and tell her the lovely bit of news that I won’t be in at all this week.  Since I probably won’t remember to call by 7am PT tomorrow morning, I’m going to leave her a message tonight.

All that being said, please continue to be in prayer for:

• Safe travels – Noah driving and my flying back to CO
• No more bleeding (I really don’t want to have to cause the plane to make an emergency landing)
• That I take to bed rest well – so far I feel like a useless mooch
• My records get transferred to CO with ease and my doctor can make an informed decision on my care.

Continual praises:

• I haven’t had any new bleeding since Saturday
• My friends and family are wonderful!

I write this as I sit in my hospital bed at CMH and on a loner computer from my dad too.  Let first say that it’s hard to type with a doodad attached to my finger.

Backtracking, Noah and I left Colorado Thursday afternoon, driving to California for the weekend.  The reason for the vacation was for the baby shower my sister and two close friends threw for me and all my California family and friends.  Of course I brought my laptop with me and handed it off to my dad to do some regular maintenance.  Unfortunately, when he turned it on it refused to boot.  C’est mal.  Looks like my brand new hard drive bit the dust.  Really crappy.  Hopefully the data on it can still be recovered.

Just when I thought that was going to be the biggest downside of the weekend…I guess that’s what I get for thinking.  Everything was going fine until around 11:30 this morning.  That’s when I noticed the blood, which is never a good sign at 31 weeks.  I called my doctor’s office in Colorado and they told me to go to the hospital, and here I still am.

After being attached to monitors, had blood drawn, another ultrasound and a very uncomfortable examination, I have officially been diagnosed with placenta previa.  If you recall, this was listed as a possibility at my 19 week ultrasound and I have had another scan scheduled for the 22nd of this month.  Because of the bleeding and the previa I was admitted for a 48-hour observation to ensure no more bleeding.  I am also being given steroids to boost Logan’s lung development, should he need to be born early.  Praise the Lord that he is doing well!  His heartbeat and movements are wonderful and show no sign of distress!

The original plan was to head back to Colorado tomorrow night, getting in on Monday, but that has been put on hold as I won’t be released until Monday.  Then, there’s the question of if and how I will be getting home.  Driving has already been vetoed and the doctor said based on how things go while I here he will determine whether or not I will be allowed to fly back to Colorado or have to stay in California.  He said if it were up to him, this incident would officially put me on bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy.  He thinks the doctors in Colorado will end up saying the same when I get back to them.  If that’s the case, I can already predict the panic attack my boss will have…but to save my own sanity and so I can still bring in income, I will try to convince my employer to let me work from home.  But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

So as I was admitted to the hospital, I did miss my shower.  🙁 Noah attended in my stead and got to open all of the gifts and meet many people I mention a lot but he did not know.  I really think they should have measured his “belly”.  That would have been hilarious! 😀  From what I’ve heard and seen on video and pictures, the aspect of Noah at a baby shower was pretty comical.  Thanks to all my friends and family that still went even though Logan was not present!  He just got stage fright. 😉  I am glad that many have come to visit me in the hospital so far and hopefully more will come during the rest of my stay.  My sister has been great in bringing in gifts for me to see and dropped off cards for me to start writing thank yous.  Praise the Lord that I’m in a hospital in my hometown with my family just minutes away!

With the previa, that does mean Logan will be born by c-section and not born on tax day.  My friend Emily said I need to pick a day that will coincide with a future Easter.  🙂  Planned c-section births are scheduled for 39 weeks, which if done on that exact day would put Logan’s birthday on April 8th (coincidentally enough, his original due date).  If that becomes the day he his born, his 2nd birthday will be on Easter. 😀

So, that’s the latest news.  Now, for a recap of the positives:

• Logan is doing great!
• My family is only minutes away!
• No new bleeding!

Prayers are always welcome and wanted.  Some specifics to keep in mind:

• No more bleeding!
• Logan makes it to full term!
• I can travel back to Colorado safely!

Thanks and love to all!

On Friday of last week I got a call back from the doctor’s office saying my glucose levels were high and that I needed to go back in for a 3-hour glucose tolerance test.  Thankfully, due to the holiday yesterday I was off work and able to spend the morning at the hospital lab to complete that test.  The test yesterday had my get a blood draw, drink the glucose, then have a blood draw once an hour for the next three hours.  The glucose for this test tasted stronger (sweeter) than what I had to drink on Thursday, and was a larger volume.  It also gave Logan a bit of a sugar high!  🙂  After the test was completed, I told Noah yesterday that I look like a junkie with all the marks and bruises along the veins in my arms.

I do have to give Kaiser at least minor props, however.  They do contact me with test results fast.  I had the results from Thursday’s glucose test on Friday morning.  Yesterday morning I got a call about another one of Thursday’s test results (that I am a carrier for GBS and will need to be on antibiotics during labor), and yesterday afternoon I was called with the results of my 3-hour GTT.  The result: I passed!  Yay!  Bring on the carbs – no gestational diabetes!!  This is a big answer to prayer.

Yesterday I approached the HR director at my work and asked her if I had a permanent membership number with Kaiser yet.  Oh right, well apparently she got it a couple/few days ago and forgot to tell me about it.  Oy.  At least Kaiser managed to make my temporary number my permanent number so thankfully that eliminated some confusion there as today was my “new patient” appointment at my new doctor’s office.

The whole routine is different from my previous physician.  I had to check-in on the ground floor in grand HMO style, then get paperwork to take up to the 4th floor, where the OB office is located.  There I had to check-in again, and fill out new patient paperwork and let the waiting commence.  I don’t know why they always want pregnant women to come in with full bladders when they make you wait so darn long before you can pee in the cup.  Logan wasn’t helping that situation at all either with all of his stretching and kicking.  I was about to go up and say something when they finally called my name, about 20-30 minutes after my scheduled appointment time.  Did I mention I got to the hospital 30 minutes before the appointment too?

The nurse finally call my name and and went through the routine check-up procedure.  This office had me take my glucose test today, so that eliminated one of the tests I needed this month.  And instead of having a 28-week check-up they did everything at 27 weeks, so took care of two appointments.  My prior doctor wanted me to have an ultrasound to check on the location of the placenta at 28 weeks too, but the new office is sending me to a perinatal specialist at 32 weeks to have that scan.  Tomorrow I’ll call and set-up that appointment.  Logan was definitely squirmy again today. The nurse practitioner I saw was able to find his heartbeat easily but as soon as she did he would move away.  It took about 4 times of relocating before he stayed still enough so she could count the beats.  She also measured my abdomen at this appointment, which is on track for 27 weeks. So, I may look small, but Logan’s growing right along schedule. 🙂

After all the routine stuff and clearing up when to have scans I was sat down in another room to watch a DVD of pre-term delivery.  Kinda unnerving to think that this could be a possibility and one I pray I won’t have to experience.  After the DVD finished I had to go back downstairs and wait at the lab to have my blood drawn for the glucose and anemia tests.  If I don’t get a phone call the results are normal.  Here’s hoping for no gestational diabetes!

All in all, I was at the hospital for 2.5 hours!  Next appointment is in 4-weeks, right before we leave for California.  This time I’ll actually get to meet the doctor (with whom there is about a 1 in 50 chance will actually deliver Logan).

Today I had my last appointment with my current doctor.  I’m going to miss her, and hopefully like whatever new physician I end up with just as much.  Although the doctor said she will miss not having me as a patient she did mention that it might work out better for me as they had a patient who went through a similar situation as I am with insurance companies.  To make a long story short, despite the insurance company promising coverage, they refused to cover services and the patient ended up with a HUGE bill.  I’m already not looking forward to the now 20% coinsurance I’m going to have to pay, I dont need to deal with a lying insurance company as well.

Aside from that, Logan is doing great!  His heart rate sounded “perfect” and he squirmed and kicked the entire time I was at the doctor’s office.  No worries for travels, just need to be sure I stay hydrated and walk…a lot.  I think our layovers will help with the walking, if nothing else but to prevent boredom.

Next month will be busy with appointments as I enter into my third trimester.  I need to meet with a new doctor, have another ultrasound and get a glucose test.  Then, if the new doctor goes with the same schedule as my current doctor, I will also switch from monthly to bi-weekly appointments.  Yes, a busy month indeed.