Jen's Pregnancy Blog

I must apologize for not keeping this blog up-to-date. The past two months have been a little crazy.

Grace was born on September 17^th. We were able to go to 32 weeks gestation, which was great. I ended up going into labor and they couldn’t stop it. My c-section went great. I stayed in the hospital for five days to recover. After that, I was home and feeling pretty good.

Grace was in the hospital for 38 days. She did everything they say a preemie of her age is supposed to do; a textbook case. Our little sweetie has been home now for a month and I’m loving motherhood!

For those of you who are also little people, I wanted to spend a minute on some of the things that have helped keep me mobile and mostly comfortable during my pregnancy. The first thing I highly recommend is finding a good physical therapist and work with him/her early to strengthen your abdominal muscles. Those are what support your back, even during pregnancy. I had a wonderful therapist to whom I give a lot of credit for keeping me on my feet. <>

Along with the exercises, I also recommend a belly belt. There are many varieties available at pregnancy specialty stores, but a physical therapist may also be helpful in finding something supportive of your growing belly. <>

Another part of my physical therapy included massage. My therapist would do some stretching of my legs and back as well as massaging my back as a part of my therapy sessions. I also get a full body massage once a month from a trained massage therapist. That has also proved to be invaluable to my overall comfort level. <>

A few other suggestions I have are getting an egg crate foam pad for sleeping, using hot pads on trouble spots, changing positions frequently (both during the day and when sleeping), and Tylenol (if your doctor says this is okay). <>

There is another invaluable resource I need to mention. Help from people! All kinds of people! Friends, family, hired help, whatever it takes. A good friend volunteered to paint the nursery and is helping me put the finishing touches on it. Another couple of friends put the baby furniture together. I have a wonderful gal come in once every two weeks to clean the house. My mom comes over and does odd jobs for me or takes me to appointments. And there has been an army of people from my church bringing Brian and I home cooked meals twice a week. <>

People are kind and thoughtful – let them help you! I was extremely stubborn about that at first (just as Brian!). I am such an independent person that I have trouble asking for help. But as I’ve gotten further along in this pregnancy, getting extra help as become necessary. <>

And I can’t forget the biggest helper of all – Brian! He has taken over so many little things around the house, plus taking on all the errands and grocery shopping. Having a supportive spouse means a lot.

Brian and I took several baby classes sponsored by the hospital where I will deliver. The first one, about C-sections, I attended alone; Brian was out of town unfortunately. This was a great class because I learned a little about what to expect and I could ask specific questions because I was at the hospital where I will deliver. <>

The second class we took was about basic baby care. This is the fun one where you get to play with dolls! Most of the class was focused on how to comfort baby. I’m certain these techniques will become very important to me over the next few months. I took careful notes, believe me! <>

The third class was about breastfeeding. For me, this was a great class because, although I’ve had lots of friends and family who breastfed, I didn’t really know how the process worked from start to finish. Although parts of the process sound painful, I know that it’s the best thing for Gracie and I intend to keep up with it for at least six months. <>

Overall, attending the classes was reassuring. They gave great information and lots of handouts, which I like because I can refer to them later.

We have had several doctor’s appointments since my last posting. The first one after my hospital stay was a little trying. Because of the high blood pressure, Dr. B suggested that Grace may have to be born at 30 or 32 weeks, which is MUCH earlier than we had anticipated. There are more risks for her being born that early and I was very concerned. Since then, however, my blood pressure has stayed under control and that is no longer a fear.

In fact, we are doing so well, the doctors are now back to the goal of 34 weeks. This is great as far as Grace’s development, so we are happy. At our appointment last week, Dr. B even suggested that, in a couple more weeks, we will actually go ahead and schedule my C-section for sometime during that first week of October! I can’t believe it. There is an end in sight and I will finally get to see my little girl. Dr. B is so optimistic that he even suggested that she might weigh as much as 2 kilos (or just over 5 pounds)! (As of Aug. 28^th, they estimate her weight at 3 pounds 2 ounces.) And, he pointed out that lung development is pretty much done at that stage. Both factors suggest that Gracie may not be in the Neo-Natal Unit at all and may come home with me! That idea really blows my mind! I was sort of counting on a couple of weeks of sleep at night while she was in the hospital. I better get rid of that idea quick!

Now that my blood pressure was consistently normal, they sent me home. I was told to stop working for now and to “conserve energy”, which technically means I’m allowed to wander around the house some, but to take breaks, lay down, that sort of thing. I am allowed to drive, but nothing too strenuous. I try to save that for necessary doctor appointments and occasional trips to the grocery store.

Because of the blood pressure issue, they had me buy a machine so that I can monitor it myself. I monitor it four times a day and call in my log every few days to the doctor’s office so that they can keep track of it as well. And I’ve now gone from seeing the docs once every two weeks to once a week.

The first few days at home were kind of tough. Brian was still not back yet from Washington, DC (Oh, did I forget to mention he was there the entire time this was going on? He asked if he should come home and I told him no. There wouldn’t have been anything for him to do at the time). Anyway, for the first two days at home I slept. I could not stay awake for more that 2-3 hours at a time. It started to worry me because I wasn’t even hungry much. And not being awake that often made it even harder to eat. Apparently both the sleepiness and the loss of appetite are side effects of the blood pressure medication. Fortunately, those side effects have worn off.

<>Unfortunately, the appointment on the 17^th was not all fun. Turns out my blood pressure was up. Way up. They tested it several times and each time it was high. So, after some discussion, they took me across the street for more assessment. I spent some time in triage where they did more assessment, like tracing Baby’s heartbeat and to see if I was contracting (which I was not). After my blood work came back as normal, they really could not figure out what had caused this sudden and alarming change in my blood pressure. After some thought, Dr. K decided to go ahead and admit me. (My doc, Dr. B, was of course on vacation at the time so his partner, Dr. K took care of me.)

So, they got me a room in the Antepartum Care Unit. The room I had was really nice. It was big and had a television, VCR/DVR player, microwave and mini-refrigerator. There was a place of someone to sleep (besides the hospital bed) and a nice glider to sit in. The desk had a chair and a CAT5 internet hook up. There was even another internet hook up close to the bed!

While I was there, they did several tests, all of which came out fairly normal. They checked my blood pressure every couple of hours. At one point it was 190/105, which is extremely dangerous. First we tried my anxiety medicine (thinking that perhaps I was having a panic attack), but that didn’t make much difference. So, they started me on some blood pressure medication. It took a couple of days of trial and error before they were certain they had the dosage right. Overall I spent four days in the hospital.

I visited the docs again on the 17^th. I was scheduled for an ultrasound to check on Baby’s growth and development. I am constantly amazed at how much you can see in the ultrasound pictures. The first thing Carol did was to try to get some 3D pictures of Baby’s face. She thought it might be a little too early to try, but she did it anyway. Although Baby would not quit moving, she was able to get three shots of Baby’s face. In two of them, either Baby’s arm or umbilical cord were in the way of most of her face. But Carol got a great shot of Baby’s face on the first try. Baby is grimacing a bit, but it’s great to be able to see what she looks like.

After that, Carol moved on to the regular ultrasound mode to check on Baby’s growth. Baby is still progressing on the growth charts just like any other baby, further cementing the diagnosis that she is an average-sized baby. Her brain development is still right on target. I could see all four chambers of her heart, beating steadily. Baby’s stomach and kidneys are also functioning just as they should at this stage. At 23 weeks gestation (almost 6 months along), it’s amazing how many of their organs are present and beginning to function.