Final Countdown

The visit with the doctor went well today. No real change to speak of. The big difference is that they will be inducing on Thursday. We go back on Wednesday just to make sure nothing has spiked, but they have us scheduled for 5:00AM on Thursday. They did say that it will be a long process because Steph's body isn't ready yet. She probably won't deliver until early morning on Friday and we will probably be in the Hospital until Sunday. Steph is doing great aside from a bit of cabin fever. I don't know what else to write, so I am going to shut up now...

The Waiting Game

Back from the Doc. Still without a baby. I guess that is good news, but Steph is ready to get off the couch, and the anticipation is killing me. This is the fourth time in a row that they have said, "I don't think you will make it another week." It kind of sounds like most people don't follow the doctors orders, and I think this is part of the reason they keep saying less than a week. Steph has been pretty good about keeping to what the doc said to do, and so far it seems to be working. She has tried to do a few thing she shouldn't be doing. I just wack her over the head with a big stick and put her limp carcus back on the couch. Her BP is up, but her lil brown jug had less protein than the last time (and that is a good thing). More bed rest to come. Our next appointment is on Monday afternoon.

Return of the Lil Brown Jug

We had another stellar visit with the doctor today. Basically everything is the same again, which is good. They are very happy that the preclampsia is not getting worse. We go back on Thursday. I thought if we made it to Wednesday, they would be getting the baby out, but it sounds like they are going to continue to monitor steph and the baby and make decisions based on that. (Making decisions with the most current information available??? What the crap is that...) They did say it probably wouldn't be more than a week, but thats what they said last wednesday...

Anyhow, Steph's reward for layin on her booty for three days....

Thats right, everybody's favorite JUG-O-PEE!!!

No Change

Well, we dropped of Steph's jug this morning and then had some other lab work done. Then we went to see the doctor this afternoon. They put Steph on a monitor to check the baby and checked her BP (which is still high). Basically, nothing has changed since Wednesday except that she has some protein in her whiz. They sent us home. I guess its good that she hasn't gotten worse. Steph is still on bed rest and we go back to the doc on Monday. I'm glad that the baby will have some more time to develop his lungs, but it sucks that we have to wait and worry for the rest of the weekend. If nothing changes by Monday, we go back on Thursday and Steph gets to fill another jug. I guess I should dig that stupid blue pee plate out of the trash.

I tried to put the car seat in the back of Stephs car earlier today. The base fits great, but when you put the carrier in, the person in the passenger seat will get a mouth full of their knees. Not really sure what we are going to do about that...

Jug-o-pee

gross. That blue plate is going in the garbage...

Hospital Info

Hospital Address:
500 South Cleveland Avenue Westerville, Ohio 43081

Its on the North side of Columbus; North from 270 onto Cleveland Avenue.

More info is available at:

http://www.mountcarmelhealth.com/85.cfm

Whoa Baby!

Steph and I had a follow up doctors appointment earlier today. Her blood pressure is still very high (even though she spent all morning on the couch doing nothing as directed). She is on bed rest, and gets to "can" her pee for 24 hours. They sent us home with a pilgrims hat and an ugly brown baby bucket seat (pictured to the left) to help her collect her samples. I don't really know how these things are supposed to work or help her with her "specimen", but Steph seems to get it. They also said we have to keep it refrigerated, so no drinking mountain dew from our fridge.

On a more serious note, Steph’s high blood pressure, swelling, and the spots she has been seeing are all signs of toxemia/preclampsia/pregnancy-induced-hypertension. If untreated, this could send Steph into seizures and can also harm the baby. Treatment for this involves bed rest and the cure is delivering the baby. We have to return to the doctor on Friday, and he said to bring Steph’s bag and the car seat. We are doing a balancing act between keeping him incubated and maintaining his and Steph’s health. The doctor wants us to make it to Wednesday September 12th before inducing, but said depending on the results of her 24hour peepee and our visit on Friday, we might be sent to labor and delivery to be induced Friday afternoon.

As of today, she is 35 weeks along and they estimated the baby’s weight at 4lbs, 9oz (10th percentile for this stage in the pregnancy). The doctor would like Steph to be at 36 weeks before he induces her, so that would put us at next Wednesday. The major concern is his lung development and the doctor said that lung development has no correlation with weight, so him being just 4.5 lbs doesn’t factor into his lungs. At 36 weeks, baby survival rate is essentially 100% and 90% of infants go home with mom. At 35 weeks, we are still at a very high survival rate, but typically a significantly higher percentage has to stay in the hospital for several days or weeks.

We are hoping for the best, and I think the doctor is preparing us for the worst. I will update again as soon as I can…