Bedrest day 5

We're still here! Good job baby!

Things are much the same... baby is looking good on the monitor, and no contractions to speak of. I can really feel her when she moves because of the lack of cushion, it's like a big bag of elbows squirming around in there, but I'm happy she's still in there, so it's ok I guess... :-)

Since there's nothing new to report baby wise, I'll tell you about the wonderful visit I had this evening... two of the awesome ladies from the Mommy group that Fiona and I are members of came by and in addition to entertaining me also brought a big basket full of fun! They put together a basket of really thoughtful and useful items that I'm looking forward to using! Here are some of my favourite things...

Christmas ornaments to decorate myself to brighten the room!

Socks that are not brown and hospital themed...

And Sara made this wonderful little picture of Fiona to keep around... this is great because every time a new nurse comes on I make them wait for me to pull up pictures on my computer to show them, so this will save them some time ;-) I love it!

Thanks for all the wonderful gifts and the fun visit you guys!!

For today's featured menu item I think we'll go with breakfast. My lunch and dinner was good, but for breakfast I forgot to ask for milk to go with my raisin bran so I just mixed it in with my yogurt instead. I could have called them for milk, but I was hungry and didn't want to wait so I went with it!

Presentation: 2/5 - Looks a bit strange, like Fiona invented it...

Taste: 3/5 - It was definitely edible, but probably not a flavour you'd go looking for...

Repeatability: 2/5 - I wouldn't specifically order raisin bran with yogurt again, but it was interesting! If I get really tired of the other food, who knows...

Total score: 7/15. Not bad for such a bizarre breakfast :-)

Bedrest day 4

We're still here! Happy December eveyone!

Here's today's run-down...

My regular doctor stopped by this morning to chat about things. She said that 34 weeks is as long as she is comfortable letting me go to balance the risk of infection with the benefit of further gestation, but it's not very likely that baby will stick around in there that long. 34 weeks exactly would be Monday December 27th.

She looked great on the monitoring that was done this morning - heartate good, hardly any contractions. I'm hooked up again right now, and she's squirming all over the place trying to get away from the monitor, so she's definitely still in there :-)

Fiona and Ben came to visit, and we were able to hang out at McDonalds and have chocolate sundaes for dinner. Fiona liked the ice cream, but wasn't particularly bothered that I was there. It was nice to see her though! Her hair is longer and she seems older already! I forgot to bring the camera down, so there's no picture, sorry!

All in all, nothing much to report, which is good. And since one of the more exciting parts of my day here is getting to order food, I thought for your entertainment I should start including some hospital food reviews!

They have a pretty good menu, so I choose what I like, then call, and they bring it up to me... today's featured item

Lunch: Cheese and salad sandwich. I don't eat meat, so I thought I'd try just cheese, and this is what I got...

Scores out of 5:

Presentation: 4.-the cheese looks a little crusty, but someone really tried to artfully arrange those tomatoes and the whole thing looked much better with the top on!

Taste: 4. it looks a bit dodgy, but I added some mayo and it was actually pretty good!

Repeatability: 5. Fairly healthy, tasted good, and was small enough to also be able to justify eating a brownie with it. Excellent overall score of 13/15. Winner!

That's all for today... stay tuned for tomorrow's feature :-)

Bedrest day 3

Well, we made it through another day! This morning at 5am they stopped giving me the drugs to prevent contractions, and I'm happy to report that all has been quiet since then.

I was also moved from the "wait and see" area into the "long term care" area, and was given permission to shower. Ahhhhh heavenly! People no longer make the nose wrinkle face when they get too close! If you'd like the phone number for my new room, let me know.

Baby was monitored a couple of times today and did great, her heartbeat looks really good. I'll also be getting biophysical profiles twice a week to get a more in depth look at exactly what's going on in there. They score it out of 8, and she scored 6 which is considered to be a pass, particularly because the part she did not score perfectly on is not considered to be as important. She passed on the amount of amniotic fluid left, which was very reassuring, despite the fact that we were able to see her bladder empty during the ultrasound, and then witness the resulting gush from me, resulting in a bed change... gross, but kind of fascinating also!

A representative from the NICU also stopped by and explained some more about what will happen when baby 2 decides to make her appearance and what to expect immediately after her birth. She mostly reinforced the message that by 30 weeks the most risky time has past and outcomes are very good, and babies usually just need help eating, breathing, and regulating their temperature at first. It was nice to talk with her, and I feel better knowing exactly what to expect when she's born.

Fiona is still doing fine, Grandpa Bill sent me some pictures this morning of her having fun with megablocks, so I at least have some cute pictures for your entertainment this evening...

Just look at that girl stacking blocks!

The last exciting thing is that I was also given permission to have one wheelchair trip a day, so tomorrow I might be able to meet Fiona in the lobby/McDonalds area downstairs (the only part of the hospital she is allowed to come into) for a quick visit.

Thanks for all the emails and calls and well wishes, we really appreciate them!

Bedrest day 2...

We have nothing new to report on the baby 2 front... she's still hanging out in there. Her heartrate is great, and she seems happy. She's probably just relieved that she doesn't have her big sister squishing her and using her as a snack table any more...

I don't even have to be monitored all the time any more, which makes it easier to get to the bathroom as there is only 1 thing to unplug instead of 3, and less chance of me tripping over my cords getting there.

Ben's parents visited tonight and gave me the Fiona update... she's doing just fine, coping very well without me, which is great. She's having fun building towers of blocks, making herself laugh, demanding things, and playing with bells and toys. It's only been 2 days but I heard about her doing things I've never seen her do before, so that's exciting. It was nice to hear that she's happy and having a good time. I think Grandma and Grandpa are probably going to need a good night's sleep tonight though :-)

And just to prove how clever my little girl is, here's a picture of her trying to eat a rock...

It tasted so good, she'd like to share...

Thanks Fiona.

Baby 2 just can't wait...

Fiona has always been impatient... she does not like to be kept waiting. She'll yell at you if she thinks you're taking too long to get her her the drink she's demanding. Heck, she'll yell at you if she thinks you're taking too long to get water for the dog. She has no patience. In fact, in this picture (taken today at Thanksgiving dinner) she's probably saying 'I'm almost done chewing this bite, you'd better have another one ready for me!".

However, she's far and away more patient than her little sister... unfortunately on the 27th of November at about 3.30, my water broke at 29 weeks and 6 days of baby cooking. I'm writing this from the hospital where they have free wireless internet.

Here's the scoop... I'm on bedrest, and am only allowed to get up to use the bathroom. We're hoping to keep this baby cooking for 4 more weeks. 34 weeks is a milestone in terms of being able to eat and breathe without too much assistance, so fingers crossed for 4 weeks of bedhead.

I've been given medicine (steroids) to help mature baby's lungs. I get another dose tomorrow. No, I do not suddenly have awesome biceps.

I'm being given medicine (Magnesium Sulfate) to stop contractions hopefully until the steroids have a chance to work. After it has, they'll stop the magnesium and we'll see if I go into labour or not. If not, we wait. Quietly.

Babies born at 30 weeks onwards generally do very well. According to the doctor there is no real long term difference between a 30 week baby and a full term baby. Survival rates and long term issues are the same. The only difference is that a 30 week baby will need time in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) to learn how to breathe and eat. Once they learn that, they're good to go. Most babies get to go home around what would have been 38 weeks.

So there you go. Feel free to email me if you'd like more info, or if you'd like to chat about movies or books or the weather or that guy from Twilight. I'll hopefully be sitting right here, bored out of my brains :-)

And just in case you were feeling sorry for me that I missed out on Thanksgiving dinner, Ben brought me some in a box. And it was delicious. So don't worry, see?! :-)